A Southpaw on Presidents' Day

In the photo above, Brandy (in the white shirt) gets a jab in on Walter.  There were not that many people in the gym tonight.  Most probably thought the field house was closed because of Presidents' Day.  But a lot of sparring took place between Walter, Brandy, myself, and Igor.  Colonel was also in the gym, but Kenny had to work, so he didn't come in with his dad. 

 

 

When Igor announced that he wanted to spar with both Brandy and myself, I had to hide the evil smirk on my face.  "I've been waiting for this!" I thought gleefully.  Igor appeared to be very eager to get into the ring.  "You'd better beat Igor's ass," Alan told me.  "Oh, you don't have to worry about that," I laughed.  Ever heard of the phrase, "they spoke too soon"?  Follow.

 

Igor and I started in the middle of a round.  He kept popping his right hand out.  I slapped it down a few times, got in some body shots, but Igor avoided the incoming head shots by slipping.  During the next round, Igor continued to keep that right hand shooting out.  A red flag should have come up, but I was so busy trying to get in big shots that I wasn't paying attention.  Then I got popped in the head.  Alan said, "Keep moving to your left!  Igor is a southpaw."

 

A southpaw?  Ugh. . . .it is so hard to fight southpaws!  I kept moving, but Igor backed me into tight spots near the ropes.  He never stopped putting his right hand out there.  I got close enough to get in some more shots to his mid-section, but when I went for the head, Igor would twist out of the way.  A couple of times he turned his back, which is a no-no.  Igor popped me hard in my head and stomach.  I was about to get revenge, but the bell rang.  Igor decided he was going to come out of the ring.  We had only done two rounds.  I was frustrated because I didn't get in as many hits as I had planned.

 

Brandy took on Igor next, and from what I saw, she was having the same problems.  Most fighters who use an orthodox stance usually spar and/or have bouts with other fighters who use an orthodox stance.  Then they get in the ring with a southpaw and have to change their whole game plan around. The southpaws always seem to have the advantage.

 

 Alan slipped Walter into the mix, as seen in the photo above.  I was waiting on the outside of the ropes, my headgear still on, because I wanted another go-around with Igor.  But Igor dashed that dream real quick when he decided not to do more rounds.  Igor claimed he had eaten too much before he came to the gym and didn't want to take a chance on getting sick.

 

So I ended up sparring with Walter, who has good head movement.  Whenever he'd cover up, bend low, and start slipping, I couldn't get any punches in.  I had to wait until he straightened up again.  "Work the body because that's what is in front of you," Alan told me.  I got in hooks to the body, but I had to be reminded to come back up to Walter's head.

 

 

 

 

We all got our workouts in tonight.  I had to stop and lean against the wall once I got inside my apartment.  I took more hits than I thought I had.  After gingerly removing my jacket, and changing into my bed clothes, I managed to limp over to the computer to type in this entry.  The pains will probably keep me up for a little bit -- that and the late night re-runs of "The Jack Benny Program" on Antenna TV.