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.