Athlete of the Month June 24′: Al ‘The Postmaster’ Marro
Support Us By Sharing!
Al Marro is a local heavy weight champion and fan favorite in the Capital Region. Not only does Al have a very impressive competitive fighting history, but he also has a very interesting story of how he got to where he is today.
Early Influence and Introduction to Boxing
While many fighters often credit a particular fight for the reason they got into the sport, Al’s story is a little different. When he was a young kid, he remembers being picked on in school and wanted to learn how to defend himself. However, it wasn’t a fighter who inspired him to begin boxing, rather, it was sitcom television on Nick at Nite. Al remembers watching shows such as Family Matters and Everybody Hates Chris and recalled how the protagonist of both shows learned boxing as a way of self defense. So at the age of 12, Al began boxing.
While we have sitcom television to thank for inspiring Al to find a boxing gym and coach, he too has different fighting influences that have played a part in inspiring his journey. Al’s grandfather, who had always been a big supporter, noticed that he had taken up an interest in boxing. His grandfather recommended Al check out Rocky Marciano, who held the world heavy weight championship from 1952-1956. From there he really dove into the rabbit hole and has watched virtually every match Rocky has ever had, personally finding Rocky vs. Jersey Joe Walcott and Rocky vs. Archie Moore as some of his favorites. In the MMA world, Bas Rutten is one of Al’s favorites, as well as Dan Severn.
At age 14 Al began wrestling. After Al had beat up a kid on the wrestling team for making fun of his friend, he was given an ultimatum to join the wrestling team, or he would be suspended. After two suspensions already that year, he opted to join the team.
Introduction to MMA
Al told me a story of a backyard fight he was in at 14 years old which started friendly and quickly turned heated. His competition had taken him down with some really good wrestling moves. After feeling defeated, he decided to let that fuel his fire to improve his own technique and pursued a local gym, Mohawk Valley Mixed Martial Arts (MVMMA). He started training at this gym at 14 years old. While he claims it took him a little bit until he got the hang of it and he didn’t really pick up on a lot of it until he got older, this is a big factor in what caused him to get into fighting.
In fact, Al started coaching when he was only 16 years old. He was injured and his coach asked why he hadn’t been showing up to class. Al’s coach promptly encouraged him to learn to coach if he’s not able to participate. He started teaching private lessons with some people from his high school who wanted to learn how to box. Being only 16, he was still learning himself, but he states that coaching really helped him personally to know the sport and adapt by thinking of it in a different and critical way as the teacher. He received his USA coaching license for boxing at a Silver or Gold level, but has not coached at that boxing level in 4-5 years. Al doesn’t believe that there is a cookie cutter approach to coaching, everyone has a different body type, mindset and learning capabilities.
In the early stages, Al went by the nickname of ‘The Utica Blockbuster’ to pay tribute to Rocky Marciano. So where does ‘The Postmaster’ come from you may ask? Just prior to Al’s first MMA fight, he tragically lost his grandfather, who also happened to be the postmaster in his hometown of Ilion, New York. In order to pay homage to his grandfather, he wore all black to the fight and called himself ‘The Postmaster’. From there, the name just stuck, allowing his grandfather’s legacy to be carried on.
Athletic Achievements
While many of us may know Al from his Cage Wars Heavy Weight Championship, he has a very impressive list of achievements leading up to that.
Going back to the early days, Al had won the North East Silver Gloves four impressive times, which is more or less a Golden Gloves competition for competitors under 17 years old. He went on to win the New York State Junior Olympics twice, and continued to make a name for himself as he won the Adirondack Boxing Region Championships three times. Al was also a division 3 scholar athlete in college.
Al worked his way up to get into a tournament that consititutes as an Olympic qualifier. However, he took fourth place in this competition and you need to be in the top three in order to qualify. This weighed heavily on Al, but The Postmaster doesn’t roll over to defeat that easy. He would continue to become the Cage Wars Heavy Weight Champion, and has won or defended his belt at least 5 times, always walking away victoriously. He is also the Gladius Light Heavy Weight Champion.
Al holds a Pro Record of 2-0, and an Amateur Record of 9-5.
Rolling With the Punches
I asked Al what has been one of his biggest obstacles to overcome during his journey, and he very humbly expressed that mental health has been a big part of it. Growing up in a very hostile childhood wasn’t great for him, and he carried this weight with him throughout his entire life. This has affected Al’s confidence, causing him to question his own value as a fighter and as an individual. Even to this day as a fan-favorite, Heavy Weight Champ, he still struggles with this from time to time. Once he began growing confidence through his hard work, he realized that he is better than he gives himself credit for, which has helped him get over that hump and allowed him to keep climbing the ranks.
Al stresses the importance of not comparing yourself to others. At age 17, he thought he would have beat John Jones’ record by now, but he’s currently approaching 27 and is still working his way up to the UFC. He says that everyone’s journey is their own, and that’s how you have to treat it. Comparing himself was a huge obstacle that he emphasizes really held him back. Once he focused in on his own experience and stopped comparing himself to those around him, he was able to defeat his toughest opponent yet, himself.
Who is The Postmaster Outside of the Ring?
Al pursued music in college, with a concentration in Trombone at SUNY Schenectady County Community College’s School of Music. While he does not take his playing as seriously as he did in college, he still takes the time to practice roughly 3-4 times a week for about an hour at a time just to stay in good musical shape and keep himself primed should a gig pop up.
He also adores WWE, whether he is watching it or trying to learn some of the moves himself in his spare time. Aside from WWE, he loves to spend any time he can get with his wife, Tori, and their fur babies.
If he’s not already occupied with training, fighting, or all of the above, he says his biggest vice is the online game ‘League of Legends’. He can get just as competitive playing this with his friends as he does in the cage.
Memorable Milestones
I had asked Al what some of his most memorable moments have been thus far in his career. While there are many, one that sticks out above them all from his time boxing, wrestling, kickboxing and MMA combined was one fight in particular where he was able to defend his Cage Wars Heavy Weight Championship in front of one of his idols, ‘Iron Mike’ Tyson. Getting to meet Mike Tyson, let alone defend and win your belt in front of him would be an absolute honor to anyone. However, what really made this moment special for Al is that he was able to put his championship belt around his boxing coach, Willie Wilson, which was the last fight that his boxing coach was able to corner him for prior to retiring. Being able to put the championship belt that he defended on a man that he loves and respects so much in front of one of his greatest idols of all time was the single greatest moment of his career, and one of the top 3 moments of his life overall, behind marry his wife that is.
Al says that winning his first MMA championship felt different from winning boxing championships because he felt like no one really paid too much attention to boxing. He also believes there is some residual negativity that surrounds competitive boxing because of the Olympic qualifying tournament he had lost many years ago.
Al also looks back fondly on two fights that he had lost to Corey Norman. Why would Al look back so fondly on matches he didn’t win? Well, little did both competitors know, these fights would lead to the two becoming best friends and opened up the door to a 5+ year friendship. Al states that Corey has been a guiding torch for him as far as wisdom and life advice. Both fights he learned so much from Corey, and he thinks they would both agree that they had never been pushed so hard in their lives as they were during those matches.
Goals for the Future
When talking about career plans and goals for the future, Al stated that he would like to be able to make a comfortable living doing this and not have to worry so much about finances down the line. As far as competing, Al strives to get into the UFC, from there getting ranked in the UFC, and ultimately winning a UFC belt. But it’s not just about the title to Al, rather, he wants to be considered on one the best while making a good income.
If the opportunity arose, Al would even be interested in journalism, commentary, or interviewing individuals in the fighting world. He says he can’t imagine doing anything else and he loves to be around fighting 24/7, anyway to make that happen while making a steady income is his ultimate lifelong goal.
Words of Wisdom
I was curious what type of advice Al would have to offer others from his lived experience in the fighting industry. He states:
“Just work unbelievably hard. I think of all the times I cheated myself because I didn’t work as hard as I could. After each time I think I’m working as hard as I can, I find new limits in certain areas. You have to work hard when you do any type of sport like this. It’s like showing up to a paint job as a pinter and only having half a can, you can’t complete your job. That’s my number one piece of advice.”
Al Marro
Al also stressed the importance of listening to your coaches. Don’t ever assume that you know better, take the opportunity to listen to and learn from everything and everyone that you possibly can, whether it’s useful or not.
Where to Check Out More From Our Athlete of the Month
Al has a popular YouTube channel named Thee Combat Corporation which you can find by visiting the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/@combat_corp
You can also follow him on Instagram at instagram.com/combat_corp or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/theecombatcorp
Not only is Al a great fighter with an impressive history, but he is also one of the most humble and down to earth individuals out there. With a good head on his shoulders, a heart of gold, and one heck of a punch, we are proud to feature Al Marro as our June 2024 athlete of the month!
Support Jmurrayathletics for $1 a month, gain exclusive access to subscriber only content!
About the Author
Discover more from JMURRAYATHLETICS
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
