Sparring With A Guy



Once again, most of the guys were missing from the gym on Wednesday.  Alan was saying, "There might be slim pickings this year for guys signing up for the Golden Gloves."  Usually by this time, there are scores of guys hanging in the gym, getting in sparring and extra training for the competition.

Shavar, who's a Computer Science student at Loyola University, sparred with Manny (Emmanuel).  Melinda (the woman in the picture above) and I were going to spar, when Alan suggested that we spar with Manny instead.  Earlier, Manny held pads for myself, Melinda and Renee.

Both Melinda and I did two rounds with Manny.  I had asked Alan about learning to throw overhand rights better earlier in the evening.  Alan suggested that I not use the punch if I can't throw it properly.  He had noticed that my timing is usually off, and that I'm too far away most of the time when I decide to execute the punch.  However, I managed to catch Manny with one overhand right during the first round we sparred.  "I saw it coming, I knew it was coming, but I didn't get out of the way," Manny laughed afterwards. 

Melinda caught him with a right just as he was backing away from her during their second round in the ring.  Manny had been on the ropes, then he turned out.  But Melinda stepped in and threw her punch.  I would have gotten in for a third round with him, but Manny said his lower back was starting to bother him (Melinda had hit him there a few times), so he bowed out. 

Ray came in later just to see what was going on.  He explained to us about an exercise using ropes that are anywhere from 50 to 100 pounds.  Manny had a video on his cell phone that showed how the exercise was done.  It involves snapping the ropes against the ground, and it looks great for gaining arm and general upper body strength. 

I need to go into the gym tomorrow to buy a ticket for JJ's upcoming fight at the UIC Pavillion later this month.  Barry's got tickets for sale, and I should have gone in on Tuesday to purchase one.  Unfortunately, Tuesday was a bad day for me.  It was the tenth anniversary of my younger sister's death, so I wasn't in the best of moods.  I overslept, and was two hours late to work, which meant I had to stay later (thank goodness I have some flexibility with my work hours).  Then I went to see the movie called The Artist, which wasn't bad by the way.  I got home later in the evening, and the stuff I should have done, grocery shopping and cleaning the house, did not get done -- but I didn't really feel like doing those things yesterday, so I'll try again later.