Monday was fight day.
So went down to the gym and was, what’s the word, scared. I prepared as I always do and then went out and got punched in the face 32… hundred times, well that’s what it felt like. I was told that I had “done well”, that it was “not bad for your first time” but it did not feel like I had done well. I felt like I had rolled around in a cement mixer for a few hours.
Afterwards I realized we had worked on punching for months but not worked on defense at all. I blocked very few punches and dodged even fewer, not counting the times I dodged a jab and ended up right in front of a hook. I remember connecting on punches but I also remember my head bouncing back in forth between two white boxing gloves like a rubber ball with an elastic string attached to each glove.
I talked to my trainer about defense afterward to which he said, “you don’t need defense, just punch him” , right, I am sure that is a recipe for happiness, don’t worry about having teeth, any semblance of a nose, or a coherent thought just go hit him. I am sure that was the mantra by which all great men lives their lives.
If there is going to be any more of these bouts, I have to develop some sort of defense besides crying, curled up in a ball, in the corner after it is over.
Also the whole “ don’t worry about the other guys weight” is ridiculous.
Me: He out weighs me by 30 pounds,
Trainer: oh don’t worry about that, when I was fighting I fought guys that outweighed me by 30 pounds all the time.
Me: yea, and they beat you senseless and he ended up as a trainer in the Bronx, not enviable career path.
December 20th, 2011 at 5:37 pm
I’m glad you’ve taken up boxing because it provides me with entertaining reading material, but in light of this post… why have you taken up boxing again?
December 21st, 2011 at 7:19 pm
Taking blows to the face is worth if I one person is entertained, ha.
No, I got into boxing try to deal with some anger, lose some weight, and not feel like a middle aged man. The boxing is working on the first two items, no so much on the third, Fighting someone half you age, makes you feel all your age.
Plus, there are things in life that I have wanted to do for a long time that I have not tried basically because of fear, laziness, or some combination of the two.
I am trying to change that, I am going to at least try every legal and not outright immoral thing, I have dreamed of doing.
Stand up was on the list, then boxing, I want to go to China, etc, the list is long.
“And if not now, when?” Talmund