Four and a Half Rounds

You may be wondering why there is a photo of comedian Lou Costello on here.  Believe it or not, Mr. Costello boxed for awhile before going into comedy.  


Amy, Sarah and myself were waiting at the gym door when Alan arrived.  Before he got there, Sarah said, "I hope he's not disappointed because only the three of us are here.  We could just have the masters boxing women's class tonight!"  As Alan unlocked the door, Sarah told him, "We're having the over 35 years of age women's boxing class today."  "As far as I can see, all of you look good to me," Alan smiled.

Initially, Sarah didn't want to spar.  It looked like I was going to spar with Alan, who already said, "I'm going to get you!"  He also said that I should go four rounds.  "I'll push myself to do it," I said.  "That's why I like you, Hillari.  You never say no," Alan said.  Then Sarah decided that she would spar, but we'd have to go light. Her and I were in the ring for four and a half rounds with.  We went light, but it was still an aerobic workout.  I was dancing around the ring more than I usually do. 

 Now you're asking, "Why is Martin Lawrence's picture on here?"  Mr. Lawrence boxed when he was a teenager.  He made a joke about it during one of his live concerts.  I read somewhere that he was a Golden Gloves contender. 

 Ray was the only other guy in the gym, and he arrived later.  Ray and Alan had a good sparring session.  Ray was throwing some wicked uppercuts that the caught the coach with several times.  Then Alan tried to sneak in a right, and Ray quickly blocked it.  Ray was in his Philly Shell stance.  I named Alan's stance the Skokie Skate.  "Coach is the shit!  I love sparring with him!" Ray exclaimed in-between rounds. "That's what light sparring is supposed to be!"  

While I was watching Ray and Alan spar, there was a twinge in my back on the lower left side.  Alan thought I had been hit there, but Sarah didn't do that.  I didn't remember Alan hitting me there on Monday.  The pain went away as quickly as it came.  I figured it was another sign of middle-age-sliding-into-old-age.

"Come on now.  What does Dean Martin have to do with boxing?" you might be asking.  A few years ago, PBS ran a special about Martin's 1960's TV variety show.  The guy who produced the variety show, Greg Garrison, pointed out that Martin had a certain way of holding his hands.  Garrison explained it was a holdover from when Mr. Martin was a boxer.  I looked it up, and sure enough, the singer had boxed for a time.  There are a lot of entertainers who boxed, either as amateurs or professionals.  Oh, here's one more guy:

Robert Conrad was the star of one of my favorite 1960s TV shows, "The Wild, Wild West".  I watched it every week when I was a little girl.  Conrad, who's from the south side of Chicago, had several matches before he became an actor.  Word is that Conrad was a very tough fighter.