Walking In As A Champ

On the way to the gym, I ran into a neighbor, Ginny, who was out walking her dog.  "You did what?  I forbid you to fight," she said when I told her about my fight last Friday.  She was so surprised that I had actually got into the ring.  She asked me my age, and said, "That's about the same age my daughter is.  You have to be careful!"

It occurred to me that I was the only one in the adult boxing program who won a match at last Friday's boxing show.  Everyone who didn't see the match was congratulatory when they found out about the win.  "The most beautiful part of your match was when you touched gloves with your opponent, and she thought she was just going to back up.  Then you hit her right after you touched gloves," Professor said.

Earlier in the day, I showed as much of the fight as I could to Jena and her cute little boy, Nico (Nicholas).  There were Internet problems at work.  "Looks like you were pretty aggressive there," Jena said.  I kept coming forward, but so did Andrea.  After church service on Sunday, Ann took one of my hands and said, "I can't believe you hit people with these little hands.  You're tough and feminine at the same time!"  Pastor wondered if I knew what the scores were for my fight, but I didn't ask about them. 

Alan asked me about doing a rematch at Hamlin in a couple of weeks.  Unfortunately, I have to take a final in one of my Paralegal classes that night, so I can't do it then.  But we'll probably go to Fuller, Seward and Brooks' boxing shows as they come up.  I'll be happy to do a rematch.

I sparred twice, with both Evangelina and Erica.  Erica got me hard in the chest and the stomach.  "That must come from sparring with your cousin Carlos," I grinned.  Alan commented, "This is the first time that only the girls sparred in the evening." 

Charlene and Jeannie did some very, very light sparring.  Alan stood in the ring with them, giving directions, as they wore no headgear or mouth pieces.  Jeannie was flinching when Alan was showing her how to throw her jabs.  Jeannie was putting her punches all the way out, but both Alan and I reminded Charlene to extend her punches. 

I'm still sore from Friday, and now I'm sore from sparring tonight on top of that.  I need to take Terry's (a woman at my church) advice and get a hold of some green rubbing alcohol to soak in.  I know I'm going to be hurting a lot in ten and twenty years because of boxing.  I can at least do something to ease some of the pain today.