January 31, 2020: Combat and Incarceration, Part Three

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This week’s episode ends our series of conversations with Valrice “Whop” Cooper. Whop is the legendary cornerman who learned his craft training prisoners in the Louisiana DOC’s boxing program. For this episode, they discuss how he was punished inside the prison system for standing up for his trainees, how these athletes stay fit behind prison walls, the network of prison boxing inside and outside, and what Whop has been up to since his release a few years ago.

This conversation took place in December 2019 at Uppercutz, a Boxing Gym and Barbershop in Harvey, Louisiana.

The interviewer is Trey Sterling, whose recent article “Combat and Incarceration” in Commune Magazine focuses on the history of prison boxing. You can read it here, and listen to the previous episodes with Trey and Whop here and here.

We end this episode with another piece, recorded on the inside, from Muti Ajamu-Osagboro. He is currently serving life without parole in a Pennsylvania state prison. He was sentenced as a teenager and maintains his innocence. This is another piece recorded by him, called “White supremacy coded into America’s court system”.