Kevin The Scrapper

Got all the way downstairs with my boxing gear and realized that I forgot to pack my camera.  "Oh, well," I thought as I headed towards the front lobby door.  A woman comes in and we exchange hellos.  At first, I thought she was a tenant until I saw the mail cart outside.  "She's just now delivering the mail," I thought to myself as I shook my head. 

Alan had just opened up the gym when I arrived.  The room was stuffy, and it felt like middle of August instead of late October.  I was tempted to turn on the fan, but I let it go.  We'll appreciate the heat soon enough as the weeks roll on. 

Luckily, my little chin down helper was in my bag.  I brought it from Ringside years ago when I first took up boxing.   It is basically a roll of foam encased inside a covering with the boxing company's logo on it.  An elastic strap is attached so it can hang around the neck.  The purpose of it it to get a boxer in the habit of keeping their chin down while punching.  Since it's been pointed out by both Kenny and Colonel that I have my chin up too much, I decided to practice with it to break that habit. 

I begged off sparing again.  My neck is still a bit stiff and my right side below the rib cage is still acting funny, too.  My right knee felt as if someone had taken a small ball peen hammer and hit one side of it.  There's also a mysterious scrape on the lower left side of my back.  Don't ask me how it got there.  I woke up one morning, and there it was.  I'm always waking up and finding scrapes on myself.  It makes me wonder whom am I fighting in my sleep.  Makes me wonder if I'm winning those nocturnal fights, too.

Ray and Kenny sparred, and Ray ended up jamming his thumb on his left hand.  On Kenny's directions, Ray shot a jab at him, but it grazed off of Kenny's headgear instead.  Ray's thumb turned blue.  "I love him to death, but that's what I get for listening to him," Ray said. 

Jacob's thumb wasn't doing any better; he has to see a hand specialist in a few days.  He was able to shadow box and hit the bags, but sparring was out.  Jacob was not able to fight at Hamlin Park's boxing show last week because of it.  Kenny sat it out, too; he's battling a bad cold. 

Kenny also sparred with Reggie, who seemed to be worn out after their encounter.  They came out, then Alan stepped into the ring with Kevin, who showed up wearing a mouthpiece.  The sparring between them was largely a one-sided affair.  Kevin spent the majority of the time bent down low in the corners, against the ropes.  Alan used the opportunity to work on Kevin's ribs on his left side.  The rest of us kept telling Kevin to stop hugging the corners so much, but Kevin claimed to have a plan.

The younger man kept waiting for opportunities to either come roaring out with a series of punches or one big one.  However, Alan protected himself well from the occasional onslaughts of hits.  Kevin jumped out of the corner at one point and held Alan's head down with his left hand.  His right hand pounded Alan on his back.  Alan would say later that his kidneys were really going to feel that later on. Alan caught Kevin with a sharp right that nearly turned Kevin's head around.  In between the rounds, I gave Kevin water.  Kevin swirled it around then deposited it into a nearby spit bucket.  I noticed there was not only blood in the bucket, but around Kevin's mouth as well.  He wiped his mouth off with a nearby towel and kept going.  The two of them did three rounds in total.