Fighting Before The Fourth

Alan gave Pedro some advice in the above photo.  Pedro sparred for the first time with Tony.  He did okay. Tony is kind of tough, but Pedro kept his composure.

I was surprised that a good number of people showed up at the gym.  Usually, the day before a holiday, the crowd is very light.  I was fairly full of energy when I arrived, despite having had cleaned a number of rooms in the church earlier.  

I did a two-fer as far as sparring went.  Alan first put me in with Taheerah, shown in the picture above working the bag.  Besides being in good shape, Taheerah is very quick.  I wish I that fast, but my reflexes have slowed down over the past few years.  For every one or two punches I threw out, Taheerah would come back with four or five.  My hands were down too many times, and she was able to get in some good cracks to my face.  She got in a perfect jab that landed right in the middle of my face.  Alan told me afterwards that I was too nice, and I should have dug in more with my punches, especially to the body.  

Gabriel and John were up next.  I ran into Sebastian just as I was leaving church yesterday afternoon.  Sebastian was riding by on his bike.  He told me that Gabriel really needs a sparring partner.  His brother does work well with the guys he does spars with, but they aren't exactly good matches for him in terms of height and weight.  Sebastian said that Gabriel was thinking of bring St. Louis back to the gym for some sparring.  

I give John credit -- he's always willing to step in the ring and mix it up.  But like Alan pointed out, John has to relax a little more when he's in there.  "Every punch does not have to be a bomb," Alan told him.  

I made a mental note to always have paper towels in the gym from here on in.  Nathaniel gets bloodied up most of the time during sparring, and so does John.  Some of John's blood was still on the canvas from Monday.  I forgot to clean it up again.  I'm surprised Barry didn't call Alan and mention anything about it.

Before this shot of Alan and Gabriel was taken, the coach had caught Gabriel up against the ropes previously -- or so he thought.  Gabriel did a quick move and turned out.  Alan was left hanging over the ropes.  They had some good exchanges.  Marcus noted that Gabriel covered up and twisted his body well to avoid shots. "Gabriel moves like a praying mantis.  I couldn't move like that.  I might break my spine," Marcus grinned.

Pedro holds the punch mitts for Amanda in this photo.  

Robert and I sparred, and it was a good match up because Robert is not much taller than I am.  Alan told me not to take it easy on Robert like I had on Taheerah.  But Robert wasn't just going to let me walk in and administer a beat down.  He had some good hard punches.  I slipped and fell a couple of times because of overreaching to get punches in and because I tripped over my own feet.  The second time I fell in an odd way, and I hurt my left hip a little.  I should soak in a hot bath for a little while.  But because it's now late at night, I'll probably end up falling asleep in the tub and wake up freezing a few hours later.  That's happened many times before.  I'll need to get some more Epsom salt, however.