"Can't Hit Him While His Arms Are Down?"

In the above photo, Alan lifts a 25 pound kettlebell over his head as he watches Andres and Sarah spar on Monday night. 

Before Sarah got into the ring with Andres, he sparred with Gene.  Igor was watching with interest as usual.  I heard Alan ask Igor about sparring, since Igor had asked about doing so last week.  "Next week," Igor told Alan.  "It is next week," I thought to myself.  Just a repeat of what he used to tell Steve.  I was going to go back through the blog entries to check whether or not Igor ever sparred with anyone.  I thought he might have gotten into the ring with JJ once and did only one round.  The blog was started in September of 2005, three years after I first started going to Loyola Gym.  By that time, Igor was no longer a regular attendee. 

I sparred with Andres (forgot to ask Alan to take pictures again), and the best shots I got in were to his mid-section.  But I didn't pace myself, and I burned out quickly.  Andres was leaving himself open at one point so I could practice offense, but I was lagging.  "What, you can't hit him when his arms are down?" Alan said to me.  I mustered up what little strength I had to finish, but after the third round, I felt like I had gone through torture.

Sarah's energy was better than mine when she took on Andres. 

She kept getting him with some good shots to the head.  Then she backed him up on the ropes several times and kept digging to the body.  Andres was encouraging her to keep going.

Andres met a promoter who's talking about having him fight in an amateur boxing show at a club out in the south suburbs.  At first, the guy thought Andres had too much experience, even as Andres explained that he's only had a few fights.  I believe the fight will take place sometime this week.  Andres will let us know if he gets on the card.

Alan then ran some boxing drills with Gene.  When I saw the coach put a pair of gloves on, I gave him a look.  "Be careful about your eyes," I said.  "He's not gonna hit me," Alan smiled. 

Just remembered that I meant to ask Alan to take another picture of me so I can change out the small one of me on Facebook, but I forgot.  Facebook has that Timeline deal, which I'm not crazy about, but I usally change the bigger cover photo out with a picture that I've taken in the gym the day before.