Friday Night's Best Fight

The photo above is of Brandy and her dad.  He and Brandy's boyfriend Nick were in attendance at the Golden Gloves.

I got to the tournament at Gordon Tech High School early on Friday, around 5:30 PM.  I finally caught up with Rita and got a sticker placed in my coach's passbook.   I was very appreciative of her doing that for me. Before that took place, Rita talked with a young lady who was wearing a pink sweatsuit.  She looked familiar.  Later, I learned that she was Brandy's opponent.

Barry was there early also with Eric, who had won his prelim match previously.  Eric was going to face an opponent in the semi-finals.  Eric's fight was the eighth one of the evening, and Brandy's fight took place after his.

A couple of rounds before, Alan held the pads for Brandy.  I asked if he was going to be okay doing that since his hand is still on the mend.  "I might start off with the pads, and have you finish up with them," he told me.  In the end, Alan held the pads the entire time, catching Brandy on the right side of her face a few times.  "Keep your hands up," I said.  Alan had her doing hooks.  "If you hit with those hooks, you'll knock her out," Alan said. 

The picture above is another taken during the time Alan was warming up Brandy.  The guy in the shot is Bill, who is the boxing coach at Hamlin.  "Meg's got several women down there to spar with," Bill told me.  Meg is the woman I fought and lost to three times.  He also told me that there's a woman who's a plus-size model sparring down at his gym.  "You should come down there and get some sparring in," Bill said.  I need to go, because I need the practice and the exercise.  I told Bill that I would try to make it down to his gym soon.

Percy was working the glove table, as usual.  He made jokes with both Brandy and Alan when they went to have her wraps checked.  Alan picked up a pair of gloves.  "If you pick up some gloves again, you and I are going to get into it," Percy said.  Alan said, "I got Hillari here for backup."  "Oops, I forgot," Percy said, laughing.  Brandy couldn't use her own headgear because it wasn't regulation.  Fortunately, other headgear was available.  Alan and I tucked her hair underneath the headgear. 

Eric hung in there with his opponent, but the hand of the other guy - Javier from Rumi Maki Gym -was raised in victory.  No sooner than Eric came out of the ring, Alan, Brandy, and myself walked up to the ring.  Dr. Dave, the referee, came over to our corner and gave Brandy a list of instructions.  Rita was in the other corner with Vanessa, who fought out of DLG. 

It was all action from the ringing of the first bell.  Basically, Brandy never let up on Vanessa.  But that's not to say that Vanessa was just taking the punches.  She was firing back.  Vanessa would back Brandy up on the ropes; Brandy would rally back and set loose a series of punches on her.  Brandy caught Vanessa with a straight jab to her face.  Vanessa had a grimace on her face, and took a moment to answer Brandy's punch.  Every time it looked like Vanessa was getting the best of the situation, Brandy would push herself to keep swinging. 

Alan was yelling, "Stay on her!" each time Brandy would overwhelm Vanessa with punches.  I was going to be quiet, like I usually am when I work someone's corner.  But after awhile, I was yelling, "Go! Go! Go!" The crowd was really into their match.  They were clapping and cheering, and a big roar would go up at the end of each round. Nick later told us that the crowd was on the edge of their seats.  "The people sitting near her dad and I were cheering Brandy on.  They were really surprised to learn that was her first fight," he said.

Before the beginning of the third round, Alan told Brandy, "This is your fucking fight!  You can do this!"  Later, Brandy said she was surprised at Alan cursing in the corner.  I've heard him say similar stuff to Professor, Kenny, Carlos, John, and myself in-between rounds of fights.  Both Brandy and Vanessa were tired in the third round, but that did not stop either of them from continuing to throw punches.  Brandy showed a lot of heart as she kept advancing towards Vanessa.  At one point, she had Vanessa in the corner and was pounding on her.  The crowd was going wild.

When the fight ended, the crowd gave both women a standing ovation.  I gave Vanessa a hug when she came over to our corner.  "Great fight!" I said to her.  Rita gave a thumbs up when I looked in her direction, and I waved to her.  I also waved to Alan R. who was judging from the other side of the ring.  The fight was close.  The winner was Vanessa.

Brandy had no hard feelings.  But she was amazed at the damage she took.  There was a scratch on her shoulder, probably from Vanessa's glove rubbing across it.  Brandy also slipped and fell during the second round, so there were bruises on her other arm.  Under her chin was a bruise, and her bottom lip suffered damaged too. 

 Johnny the promoter shook Alan's hand and declared, "That was the best fight of the night."  He wasn't the only one who said that.  Most of the people who I talked to and who congratulated Brandy thought she should have won. Alan said Brandy might be declared to be the fighter of the night.  We didn't stick around to see if that came true.  Alan went home, and the rest of us went out to eat.
Nick, Brandy, Gerry (Brandy's dad), myself and Sarah went to a bar a few miles away.  It was the first time I'd had a beer in about ten years.  I'm allergic to beer (the wheat hops mess with my sinuses), but I felt the occasion called for a beer.  It had been on my mind for some time to have one, anyway.  I had a shot of whiskey, and I was amazed how smoothly it went down.  I hadn't had a shot since. . .wow, it must have been nearly thirty years ago.  I've never been that much of a drinker. 

We talked about the match, and about boxing in general.  Then we left the bar and went to a Mexican restaurant down the street for something to eat.  Brandy's father said he was a little concerned about her being in the ring, but when he saw how she was taking care of business, he felt better.  Both he and Nick were proud of Brandy's performance.  So was I.  Now I can't wait for the park district tournaments to begin this summer.  Brandy could get a lot of fights.