"Stay On His. . . !"

I was waiting in one corner of the ring for the bell to ring.  Oscar was in the other corner.  "I want you to stay on his ass like you did the last time," Alan told me.  I nodded.  I did okay, but I have a bad habit of letting the other person get two or more punches in before I respond.  Bursts of energy take place, but I don't keep going with them.  They are allowed to dissipate, and it takes too long for me to build back the energy again.  Meanwhile, Oscar -- who's about 25 years younger than I -- zipped around and away from me easily.  After the three rounds were done, Alan asked me to help him put on sparring gloves.  I was struggling to stand up straight while trying to help him.  Sparring with Oscar is no joke.  Luckily, that happened near the end of the evening, so I could sit down for a long rest.

Kevin basically does the same thing.  Earlier, he was in the ring with Paul, Alan's boss at his day job, and Kevin kept close to the ropes.  He waited and waited for Paul to get tired.  When he thought he did, Kevin came flying off of the ropes throwing bunches of punches.  Paul wasn't sure how to handle Kevin when the latter kept leaning on the ropes.  I kept wishing Paul would work his jab more.

Oscar got into the ring a second time with Alan.  Alan did not wear any headgear.  I was half paying attention during the first round they were in the ring.  When I looked up during one of the later rounds, Oscar's headgear was off.  I thought maybe Alan knocked it off.  Ray confirmed that Oscar had pulled it off during the action.  "I kept trying to get a piece of Oscar, but I couldn't," Alan said later.   Oscar did get a hit in on Alan's back, which wasn't good.  It was in the same spot where Alan had been hit during a sparring session over a week ago, and it's still sore.

Reggie and Ray sparred.  Ray had his thumb on his left hand taped up.  Like Jacob, Ray had injured it during a sparring session some time ago.  It's not broken, like Jacob's thumb is, but it is badly bruised.  It bothered Ray a lot during the sparring session.  Someone, maybe Reggie, suggested aspirin, but Ray said, "I don't do medicine, man.  I take vitamins.  You know what I take for pain?  A shot of whisky. . .seriously!" 

While talking with Pastor Roger in his office earlier this morning, I kept rubbing my lower back.  "Not as young as you used to be, eh?" the pastor smiled.  I told him about sparring with Oscar.  "You should do like Tyson and watch the other person's rhythm, then throw a punch in the middle of that," Pastor Roger suggested.  I'm so busy trying to land something that I seldom pay attention to the other person's rhythm.  I don't believe I have much of a rhythm while I'm boxing.  While dancing, it's perfect, but boxing, not so much.  I just keep coming forward, as Alan has pointed out. 

Kenny was tentatively scheduled to fight at the Standard Club downtown this Thursday, but that doesn't look like it'll happen.  Kenny's been ill, and he's been busy at work.  No one else was really available, either. . .Jacob's thumb is still on the mend, and I don't have an amateur boxing license (and most likely, no available opponent), so that was that.