Head of his class

Dean Juipe

Thursday, June 17, 1999 | 10:39 a.m.

Manny Sobral's list of exceptional qualities is lengthy enough that it's entirely possible he's the least typical professional boxer in the sport.

He has the characteristics of a scholar, and speaks with professorial ease on any number of intellectual or physiological topics. Be it the value of homeopathic medicine or the cleansing traits of Epsom salts or the daily fluctuations of the stock market, Sobral has formed opinions based on knowledge and experience.

He has a wide range of interests, which befits a high-school teacher who is pursuing a master's degree.

He's also 26-0 as a fighter and is within hailing distance of a world-title fight. As it is, Sobral is the British Commonwealth champion at 154 pounds.

Born in Spain, raised in Canada and now a permanent resident of Las Vegas, Sobral, at 29, has accumulated a library's worth of practical information that tends to separate him from the average practitioner in the dangerous sport.

Taking roll

Some of the reasons why Manny Sobral, "The Fighting School Teacher," is atypical of most prizefighters:

He has three years of teaching experience at the high school level.

He is pursuing a master's degree at San Diego State.

He is considered an expert on homeopathic medicine, the cleansing traits of Epsom salts and the daily fluctuations of the stock market.

"I've come a ways from being a fat kid who got beat up on the playground," Sobral said after working out at the Nevada Partners gym, where he's preparing for a June 24 fight in Edmonton. "One reason I like boxing is that there are always pitfalls, which makes it a microcosm of life. You'll be going along and thinking everything's great, then you'll hit some obstacle and your only recourse is to pick yourself up and get back in the game."

Sobral's boxing derailments have been limited to minor injuries (a shoulder in particular), plus the fact he's not aligned with a major promoter. Nevertheless, he is unbeaten and moving up in the rankings toward what he hopes will be a significant fight by the end of the year.

He's fighting Tony Padilla next week in Edmonton but he's really eyeing World Boxing Council champion -- and fellow Spaniard -- Javier Castillejo, or, perhaps, Oscar De La Hoya when he gets to 154 next year.

Regardless, Sobral carries a unique nickname -- "The Fighting School Teacher" -- and enough peripheral pluses to be truly marketable.

"I can't give up on boxing now," he said. "I'm too close to really making it."

Because he had already signed to fight Padilla, that sense of loyalty prevented Sobral from accepting a recent offer to step in and fight former world champion Yory Boy Campas next week at Mandalay Bay. Journeyman Ron Weaver took the assignment that Sobral felt he had to pass on.

"I'm ready for a guy like Campas," Sobral said. "And I hope something like that happens sooner than later. But I'd already signed to fight in Edmonton and I figured I had to honor that."

He sets and holds himself to a high standard, and, as a result, is part of a speaking group known as the "Esteem Team of Athletes" that gives inspirational talks to students and prisoners in Canada.

"I talk about staying in school and about sticking with your dreams even if something happens to interrupt your plans," he said. "I know those things were important to me, so they're the focal point of my presentation."

Sobral has three years of teaching experience and is taking a correspondence course through San Diego State University in an attempt to add a masters to his resume.

While he undoubtedly would attempt to rationalize with any student that might disrupt his classroom, Sobral could just as easily fall back on a right hand that has helped him knock out 17 of his 26 boxing opponents.

Much of his improvement and rising stature in the sport can be traced to hooking up with trainer Jerome Coffee some 18 months ago.

"He's got the physical ability but we've still got some work to do," Coffee said. "My question is: Does Manny have the mental toughness? I believe he does, but he has to continue to mature and work on his focus."

By "focus," Coffee is referring to Sobral's ability -- or is it inability? -- to narrow his sights and not be impacted by extraneous stimuli.

"When he loses that focus, he's vulnerable," Coffee said.

Sobral knows what Coffee is saying even if he doesn't wholeheartedly agree.

"Jerome's taking me to the next level and that's what I need," he said. "But I think more than 'focus' my problem is that I get overconfident. I'll be going along and I'll start to admire my work and think 'This is too easy' rather than keeping busy and doing what I'm supposed to be doing."

He practices visualization in the ring.

"I'm pretty good at it," he said. "Using progressive relaxation I can see the whole 12 rounds, like a skier can picture himself going down a hill. What I would say is that while visualizing I don't get distracted, but I sometimes find myself looking out and becoming aware of something that has caught my attention."

The visualization procedure is another of what Sobral calls his "psychological ploys" that add to his well-roundedness. Along those lines he will occasionally put on a tape and sit in an Epsom salt bath, which, he says, relaxes both his mind and body.

He's also a proponent of the type of Eastern or Asian medicine that's homeopathic in nature and says it helped cure the shoulder problem he developed in 1994.

Many of these progressions were beyond Sobral's comprehension when he initially strolled into a gymnasium as a chubby 14-year-old who had just been beaten up by the neighborhood bully.

"I was starting to get interested in girls and wanted to lose some weight," he said. "I went to a gym not too far away, on skid row in Vancouver and told the guy what I had in mind. He said 'No, what you really want to do is box.' "

From that humble introduction, Sobral went on to earn a spot on Canada's 1988 Olympic team. He also won an international competition in Florence, Italy, and still holds the Canadian record of 19 consecutive international wins.

He turned pro in 1992 after emerging as the champion in a Toughman competition in which the entire $11,000 purse went to the champion in a winner-take-all format. Sobral had entered the event in an attempt to earn the money and pay off an $8,000 debt he had acquired for student loans.

"I always had the bug for boxing, even when I was going through school," he said.

But now school's out and Sobral has some fighting to do. When he faces Padilla next week, he'll be taking on a man he has already defeated, albeit one with a 20-3 record and power in both hands.

"He has to be able to get past guys like this and add to his accolades," Coffee said. "When Manny fights in Canada it's a big deal because he's a big fish in a small pond. But down here, even in this gym, it's a lion's den and when you step into the ring a master's degree doesn't mean much of anything.

"The only degree that counts here is the one you have to earn the hard way."