Fighter ready for Nevada Invitational

RENO - University of Nevada heavyweight John Lorman has a lot on his plate.

In the last semester of his senior year the 27-year-old criminal justice major is taking on more than a full credit load (15 credits), working a fulltime job and training - all while keeping together a relatively new marriage and raising a 6-month old son.

And the 6-foot-5 Lorman has had a lot on another kind of plate - the kind from which you eat food - as well.

Having boxed the last three seasons at 215 pounds, Lorman hit the refrigerator and the weight pile and has bulked up to 245 pounds, with no fat.

The fifth-year senior, originally from Glendale, Calif., is hoping his new physique will serve him well in Nevada's first home boxing invitational Friday at the Eldorado Convention Center, where he will face the Air Force Academy's Ian Tuznik.

Lorman stopped Tuznik in the third round of their last meeting (March 19, 2005) to claim his first National Collegiate Boxing Association (NCBA) regional championship.

"After last season I hit the weights like crazy," Lorman said Monday at the Jimmy Olivas-Wolf Pack Gym, as he stood to his full height, neck muscles bulging. "I got sick of fighting big brawlers who didn't know how to fight. They'd slug you to death and gave me no respect because I weighed less than they did."

Lorman, a southpaw, said he's been having a tough time holding his busy life together.

"Everything's a job," he said. "I try to give everything 100 percent, but I can't always give 100 percent to all areas. I need to find a balance."

He said things should get quite a bit easier after he walks through in May and he gets on as a police officer somewhere on the West Coast. He said bad credit eliminated him from consideration at the Reno Police Department and Sheriff's Department in Reno.

In the meantime however, Lorman has already embarked on a mission to make the streets safer in his capacity as a retail security officer for Raleys. A couple weeks ago a man stole some Advil and, after dropping an F-bomb on Lorman, got dropped himself.

"After he (dropped the F-bomb) I grabbed his arm and he pulled back to punch me," Lorman said. "I Maced him in the face. He ended up having three warrants - two misdemeanors and one felony."

As with boxing, where he has learned to anticipate his opponent's next move, Lorman has learned some valuable lessons from some encounters with past retail malefactors.

"I've learned how to read people," Lorman said. 'I feel it if something is wrong - like if they're going to reach for a weapon or try to hit you. I read their body language."

As tempting as it might be, Lorman has refrained from using what he's been taught to do inside a boxing ring.

"I never punch anyone," Lorman said. "I throw them on the ground. I use concrete because it's super hard. You can't be my size and go into a court with a guy 5-5 and having laid him out. The judge will wonder if I could've done anything else. I can use an arm bar. I use pain compliance."

Lorman said he plans on exercising a different form of pain compliance on Tuznik - who owned a victory over Lorman before last year's regionals.

"(At the regionals) I hit (Tuznik) with so many hard punches...I think he may be gun shy," said Lorman, who hopes his new bulk can be used as a psychological weapon against his opponent. "This time... 30 pounds heavier...He's going to see me in the ring and wonder, What has this guy been doing?"

Besides getting buffed out, Lorman has been honing his skills in the ring and late last year sparred former IBF cruiserweight champion "Koncrete" Kelvin Davis.

"Sparring Koncrete gave me some confidence," Lorman said. "He gave me compliments and said, 'It looks like you're in better shape.' We went four hard rounds. In the third he dropped me with a shot to the kidney. He said it was OK if I wanted to stop, but I said I wanted to go another round. He said, 'That's what I want to hear.' He likes to inflict pain on people."

Lorman said he wasn't just on the receiving end with the former champ.

"He said he took too many punches," Lorman said. "You always want to hear from a world champion that you held your own."

But merely holding his own isn't in Lorman's plans during his remaining collegiate boxing career.

"Winning the national championship means everything to me," Lorman said. "After everything I've been working for, I'm not going to leave with empty hands. I've seen people leave here every year and you know what happens? Absolutely nothing. There's no big going away party. They're just cut off.

"I'm not going to be cut off without having something to show for it. I want to have a trophy (or a belt) to show my kids and say, 'That's what I worked all those years for.'"

In addition to Lorman, at least seven other Nevada boxers will compete Friday: defending NCBA national champion David Schacter (132 pounds), three-time defending NCBA regional champion Jose Casas (125), Thomas Gennaro (147), 2005 Galena graduate Francisco Torres (156), 2000 Fallon High School graduate Kenneth Dyer-Redner (185), Mike Monroe (147), and sophomore Daniel Atkinson (139).

Nevada will host the NCBA National Championships on April 6-8.

What: Nevada boxing invitational

When: 6 p.m., Friday, Feb. 3

Where: Convention Center at the Eldorado hotel-casino

Tickets: $15 general admission

More info: Call (775) 786-5700 #7035 or log on to eldoradoreno.com