Blood On My Work Shirt

Yesterday was the boxing show at Ogden Park.  Initially, I was concerned about having my fighters come there because it is far from LaFollette Park.  Kenny, the coach at Ogden, wanted a rematch of one of his girls with Ashley.  Yet Ashley hasn't been in to train in weeks.  So that left Kishaun, whom I had been trying to get a fight for the longest time.

First, Kishaun was the eighth fight of the evening.  But there was a switch-up, and Kishaun ended up having the fifth slot instead.  Tommy wasn't there for the weigh-ins, but other staff were, including a guy named Dan.  I'd never seen Dan before, but he seemed to be very concerned about making sure everything was on the up-and-up.  I got there after Kishaun and his family did, so I immediately had Kishaun to weigh in.  I filled out a paper indicating my fighter's age (11 years) and how many fight he'd had (none).  But Dan asked Kishaun those questions again to verify what I had written.

"Gentleman" Gerald was the referee for all the fights.  Gerald is the boxing coach at Ada Park, and he's also a professional boxing referee.

Rocky warmed Kishaun up while I kept an eye on the fights.  The fight before Kishaun's ended quickly, so we had to rush up to the ring.

Kishaun's fight didn't last long, either.  Even though my fighter hesitated too long sometimes to throw punches, Kishaun kept his guy against the ropes and in the corners.  Then suddenly, the other boy was in his corner, holding on to his face after the first round ended.  I made Kishaun sit on the stool in our corner.  Gerald came over, waving his hands.  "It's over," he told us.

I looked down on my shirt and saw specks of blood on it.  Kishaun wasn't bleeding.  The other kid was bleeding, however.  The blood from that kid on Kishaun's gloves got on me when I took Kishaun's gloves off.  Well, that shirt has to go into the laundry.  Luckily, I have extra work shirts to wear.

My fighter clearly won the fight.  However, no winners were declared in any of the fights that took place.  The hands were raised of each fighter, and the announcer would say, "They are both winners!"  That was the first time I had seen that happen for every fight at any boxing show I've seen.  I understand the reasoning behind the "every kid wins a prize for participating" issue, but I'm not in agreement with it.  Kishaun had waited a while to get a match.  I wish his trophy had "winner" imprinted on it.

That's okay.  I'll just make sure I talk up his win the next time I'm in the gym.  Hopefully, that will not only encourage Kishaun to keep going in the sport, but will inspire other kids to try boxing, too.