Halloween Interviews

Halloween. . ..eh, I don't celebrate it.  It wasn't celebrated much in my house when I was growing up.  Ma would snap at the kids who rang our bell for candy, especially if they kept ringing it after nine at night.  As an adult, I saw a religious program that outlined the pagan origins of this "holiday", and I was done with it after that.  Bad things usually happen because people -- both kids and adults -- do things they shouldn't do on Halloween.  I walked to the gym watching for eggs being thrown, or other such stupid pranks going down.  Thankfully, I arrived at the gym without having to take a detour to chase down anyone who attempted to get a laugh at my expense.

Colonel showed up wearing a fright mask with hands to match.  I was laughing, as he was also wearing a nice suit.  Brittany and Amber were waiting outside the gym along with Colonel, myself, Kenny, BK, and Igor.  Brittany and Amber are journalism grad students at Northwestern University.  They were there to film some of the action in the gym, and to do some interviews.

Jacob came in wearing a splint on his left hand.  The diagnosis?  A hairline fracture on his thumb.  It happened the last time he sparred with Kenny.  He's supposed to wear the splint 24 hours a day.  It's going to take a few months before it is completely healed.  He put a glove over his hand with the splint still on.  "Be careful.  You don't want to re-injure it," I told him.  "I think it'll be okay if I hit the bags lightly and don't spar," he said.

Kenny sparred with Professor, Kevin, and Alan.  He wants to fight during Seward's boxing show, which is ten days away.  Things went well with Professor, but Kevin reverted back to some of the usual moves -- that everybody admonishes him about -- again.  Professor and BK closely paid attention when Kevin was in the ring.  Professor was telling Kenny to take advantage when Kevin made mistakes. 

I got into the ring with Alan who joked, "I'm going to smack you down."  "See?  See?  Everytime I get inside the ring with you Alan, you want to beat me down," I laughed.  I was trying my best to take advantage of any and every opening.  I noticed earlier that when Alan threw an overhand right at Kenny, he lingered a little too long.  Kenny could have come in with a quick jab or hook to his ribs.  I wanted to do that, but I forgot one thing.  I have short arms and legs.

Well, actually I forgot another thing, too.  Alan is cagey in the ring.  He has this thing where he puts out his left fist on my forehead and just holds me off as I try to get closer to get in any punches.  Kids would do that same thing to me during fights I had in grade school.  "I'm a dirty fighter," he grinned through his mouthpiece.  "I see," I replied, frustrated because I couldn't be as slick as I wanted to be.  I tried to catch Alan during round two, and I tripped over my own feet, turning my ankle a little.  That had been happening all day long.  Twice it happened while I was at church this morning.  The second fall was due to a direct hit I took.  The coach had to help me back up to my feet.

The couple of times I made any progress involved hitting Alan in a spot where he had already been hurt.  Before he got into the ring to spar Kenny, he told me that his back was still hurting from when Kevin popped there the last time they sparred.  The first time I punched Alan in his back, he groaned and moved away.  "Now I'm really going to get you," he said.  "I'm sorry. . ..I didn't mean to hit there," I said, and I was telling the truth.  We moved around some more and boom, I got him there again.  "Whoops!" I thought to myself.  Alan caught me against the ropes, and bang, bang, bang, I caught punches to both of my sides.  Afterwards, Alan told me, "I saw red when you got me there."  "Honestly, I didn't mean to do it," I apologized.  "I know you didn't, but I thought back to when I first took a hit there.  But I forced you to fight, didn't I?" he said.  I agreed.

Brittany interviewed myself, Kenny, and Alan.  I talked about always being a tomboy who liked rougher sports.  Kenny talked about how boxing helps keep him on the straight and narrow.  Alan revealed that he'd been boxing since he was 20 years old, forty years ago.  "I was considered old for starting that late.  The thought then was that boxers were about done when they became 28 years old.  Today, you have boxers who are fighting way over the age of thirty-five, so that decline has been disproved."  He spoke about Rudy Cisneros (12-3-0), a professor boxer whom Alan began training when Cisneros was ten years old.  Cisneros was one of the boxers on season two of the TV reality competition, "The Contender".  Cisneros was not the only boxer whom Alan trained who turned pro, but Alan considered him to be one of the best fighters he ever trained.  "I won't keep sparring forever because the body does break down after awhile.  But I'll keep coaching as long as I am able to walk into the gym.  I love it.  I would do this for free," Alan said.