A Pagan Israelite

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Soon after he learned how to box, Shemuel Pagan gave his father a bloody lip. He smashed his dad's mouth with a wicked uppercut, turning a sparring session into a mess, and setting the stage for what would become one of the most incongruously entertaining marriages between a boxer and a trainer.

Shemuel is boxing in the final of the 119-pound open division against Earl Edwards on Thursday. The Pagans belong to a religious organization called the Hebrew Israelites, which precludes them from training or fighting on the Sabbath, from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown.

They make up for lost training time at Gleason's Gym in Brooklyn, where the father yells instructions; the son tries to explain himself, and the trainers who mill about in the gym gossip about their escapades the very next day.

To make him move his feet faster, Robert uses a cane made of bamboo that he flicks at Shemuel's legs. To make Shemuel move his head, Robert uses a tennis ball taped to a towel that he waves around the ring like a lariat. When Shemuel resists, Robert and his co-trainer, Michael Kozlowski, a former Israeli and Russian national team coach, descend on him like boxing's version of Oprah and Dr. Phil, giving lots of encouragement.

Shemuel, a 5-foot-6-inch sparkplug with fast hands and fast feet, scrunches his face and glowers, but he never stops moving.

As a 16-year-old in the 119-pound novice division last year, Shemuel knocked out 20-year-old Richard Acevedo with a terrific left hand in the Golden Gloves finals. The fight was endlessly looped on the Madison Square Garden Network, turning Pagan, who is left-handed into a local hero.