Fighting Talk

Justin Theroux is a man with good instincts – both in life and in his training. MH caught up with the actor-producer-writer to find out why patience, tenacity and calm focus are the keys to going the distance, whatever you’re up against

- Mike Zimmerman

I’m feeling an excessive amount of eye contact,” says Justin Theroux. So he punches me in the face. For the record, I wasn’t staring into his hazel eyes – I was watching his boxing gloves, positioned just below his eyes to protect “home base”, the point of his jaw. The funny thing is, though I do make excessive eye contact with those gloves, I never see the jab coming. It’s a quick right; he tags my left eye and nose with a sharp sting. He pops me again a few times. He’s punching at will now, and there’s nothing I can do about it.

Perhaps this shouldn’t be surprising. Before today, the closest I’d come to boxing was when I was nine years old and watched Muhammad Ali spar. I’d never had my hands taped, put on headgear, or stepped into a ring with anyone. For the 47-year-old Theroux, on the other hand, boxing is his primary workout.

We’re at Gotham Gym in New York’s West Village, not far from where the actor lives. Sunlight streams through the front windows, but the dozens of boxing gloves hanging from the ceiling announce: “This is where people come to work.” Despite the chasm in ability between us, Theroux is quick to offer reassurance. He recounts a story about sparring with a female trainer who was about 6in shorter than him. “I hate getting hit,” he says. “But she’s so fast, far better than me. A couple of times, she really rang my bell. I was a combination of hurt and pissed… Am I gonna cry, or knock her head off? But I couldn’t touch her. She was too quick. I see that a lot: people get emotional, and that’s the point. Just keep breathing, remain loose, not tense.”

Getting Lucky