Dave Vacco

Dave Vacco is the head boxing instructor and the Boxing I instructor at Titan Fitness & Martial Arts.  He also coaches the Penn State Boxing Team.  Dave became involved with boxing as a student at Titan Fitness & Martial Arts five years ago.  Since then, Dave has several years of experience competing as an amateur boxer under coaches John Robertson and Tommy Wilt, out of Altoona Boxing Club.  Dave has also learned from Walter Kravitsky, Steve Bumbaco, and Walter Blake.

As a boxing coach, Dave has coached dozens of competitive boxers in hundreds of bouts, including four All-Americans, seven NCBA national qualifiers, and one national runner-up. In the 2009-2010 season, Penn State Boxers had 52 fights.

Dave has a life-long love of the sweet science.  He teaches the “Boxer-mover” style, which involves slick footwork, out-fighting, and counter-punching.  Dave treats boxing as a chess match, teaching his boxers to strategize and out-smart their opponents.  The Boxer-mover, commonly called the “European Style,” or “in-and-out” style, is the most successful style on the international boxing scene, most notably utilized by the Cuban National Boxing Team.  By taking advantage of the scoring system of amateur boxing, the boxer-mover style teaches a boxer to score and get out, building up points and out-hussling opponents.  Dave learned this style from a former member of the Russian Olympic Boxing Team.

Dave also teaches aspects of “pressure-style” boxing, which involves relentless forward movement, head-movement, and attacking combinations.  Commonly this style involves steady hussle, trapping opponents on the ropes or in the corner. This is the style Dave’s coach, Tommy Wilt, used to win 6 open-class golden glove state championships, competing on the U.S. National Team, and gaining a 21-7 professional record.  Dave’s boxers have the pressure-style in their toolbox, allowing them to “switch gears” when the time is right.