47 Fights

I judged 23 fights at the Chicago City-Wide Boxing Tournament last night.  There were 47 fights in total.  Two rings were set up at Curie Park to handle all of the action.

Derek, who runs the North Lawndale Boxing League, had two of his fighters "representing" LaFollette in the tournament.  "Did Thomas talk to you about this?" Derek asked.  "No, he did not," I said as I made a face.  I kept wondering why I hadn't been told -- for the second year in a row -- that Derek's fighters were registered to fight out of my gym.  It was curious to me that Derek was allowed to check his fighters in when protocol states that I should have been responsible for that since it's my gym, not his.  Allegedly, Derek will have a gym within the park district soon.  But he doesn't have one yet.

I was in the mood for sarcasm and an argument.  But sometimes, it doesn't pay to say anything.  Another coach commented that the situation sounded "shady", and I agreed since it was apparent I was kept in the dark about Derek's fighters' participation until the last minute.  But things have a way of working themselves out.  Derek admitted that his fighters had no sparring experience before the tournament.  He grinned at how he made them run a lot instead.  "This ain't gonna go well for them," I thought to myself.

There were a lot of tough fights.  Just like at the Chicago Golden Gloves, few competitors show up with the intention of playing around.  That's why I didn't allow any of my fighters to register for the tournament.  People can't half-step when it comes to training regularly then expect to do well in a tournament.  If someone gets seriously hurt, I'm going to be asked why did I allow them to compete when it was apparent the fighter didn't train well or enough for it.  Some coaches will put someone in the ring knowing that the fighter is too green.   I'm not going to put someone in a match just because their name is on my attendance sheet.

An announcement was made from the ring across from the one where I was sitting that one of Derek's fighters lost their match.  I ended up judging the match that his other fighter was in.  All I saw was wild haymaker punches, poor footwork, and a lack of technique from his fighter.  The other two judges agreed with me, and the win went to the other youth.