A Sport That Needs To Have Clean Hands

Boxing has a reputation for being a dirty sport.  I believe that is one of the main reasons why the sport is no longer mentioned in the same breath as football, basketball, and baseball.  Many Hollywood movies have shown the underside of boxing - Requiem For A Heavyweight, The Set-Up, the Rocky series, etc.  They are not far off the mark when it comes to professional boxing.  But amateur boxing doesn't have clean hands, either. 

A few years ago, there was a scandal involving how the Chicago Golden Gloves was being run. Apparently, issues had been going on for a long time.  Situations have since been corrected but for a time, it appeared that the franchise was in danger of permanently being put on ice.  That would have delivered a hard blow to many amateur fighters, especially those who had their eyes on moving on to the Olympics and/or a professional boxing career. 

Often, I hear stories about sketchy moves that take place in amateur gyms here and elsewhere around the USA.  Someone told me that they took offense that several individuals claiming to be boxing coaches were allegedly hanging around in an amateur gym trying to recruit people to fight in what appeared to be an unsanctioned, underground show.  Underground shows, or smokers as they are sometimes referred to, are illegal.  Fighters who participate in such shows run the risk of being seriously hurt.  Several years ago, a female amateur boxer was paired with a professional female boxer during such a show.  I believe it took place in New York City.  The amateur boxing took a beating that left them with permanent brain damage. 

Sooner or later, coaches, fighters, officials, parents, and guardians, as well as others dealing cards from under the deck where boxing is concerned will get caught.  However, people tend to get away with stuff for long periods of time.  When the actions are finally exposed, major damage has already been done. It just gives more ammunition to those who constantly push for boxing to be banned altogether.  The sport also further gets pushed into the status of a niche sport, supported by a few devotees, but not receiving the resources, attention, endorsements, etc., of other sports that are seen as more "acceptable". 

I don't put up with much so I run a clean gym.  It's better, in the long run, to do that for the fighters as well as for my conscious. 

All The Fellas and One (Sick) Female

After being in the gym for about a half-hour, I realized that none of the other women came to the gym tonight.  The place was pretty full.  Franco, Colonel, Kenny, Rich, Andres, Paul, Andre, Nathaniel, Adam, Igor, Greg, and Owen were there. 

Franco (in the orange) was wearing headgear that covered his nose completely.  It was a new kind of style that I hadn't seen before.  He got in the ring with Owen, who seemed to have gained some more confidence since the last time he sparred.  Owen connected with a few good rights to Franco's head.

The last time Owen sparred, he was on the receiving end of most of the punches.  "You didn't get photos of me being banged up the last time, didn't you?" he smiled at me.  I told him the pictures were mostly like the one above, with Owen lining up against an opponent.

Adam asked me to videotape his sparring rounds with Nate.  The last time I did that, Adam got in a solid cold punch on his opponent, but the camera didn't pick it up.  I didn't press the right button.  This time, the camera gave a "not enough memory" message during the second round.  Adam knocked Nate down and that didn't get taped, unfortunately.  This photo, taken with my camera, shows Adam in the ring right after Nate hit the canvas.

Like Owen, Rich's confidence keeps raising up.  In this photo, Rich (on the right) takes on Andres.  Rich had Andres all up against the ropes in the later rounds.  It looked as if Andres grew tired, and Rich took advantage of it.  Andres took a lot of hits to his head.  The two men got tied up a few times, and Colonel told Rich to keep his arms open and his elbows out. 

Kenny was irritated because he wanted to spar, but he couldn't.  He accidentally sliced the tip of his thumb off with an Exacto knife while at work.  "I was going to throw it away, but good thing I didn't," he said.  A doctor sewed the tip back on, and Kenny went right back to work afterwards.  It's going to be awhile before Kenny can box fully. 

Adam and I agreed to move around in the ring, and the plan was to push me around so I'd learn to keep my balance. "Last week, you're were the first girl I've ever hit, and today, you'll be the first girl I've pushed around in the ring," he told me.  I always assume that most guys I meet have had a fight with a girl at least once, either some girl they went to grade school with, or one of their sisters at home.  "I have a sister who's seven years older than I, and she used to beat on me all the time.  But no. . .I was raised to pull out chairs for women, open doors for women, and never to hit a woman," Adam told me. 

My stomach was acting up long before I got into the ring with Adam, but I decided to ignore it.  I figured the energy I put out in sparring would clear up whatever was going on.  I made it through the first round.  The bell for the second round rang, and I didn't come out of the corner.  I took my mouth piece out.  Adam was across the ring, waiting for me.  "What's wrong?" Alan asked.  "I feel nauseous all of a sudden," I said.  For the first time ever in the gym, I had to use the spit bucket.  I was coughing, and not a lot came up, but I couldn't go on with the round.  "Maybe it's something I ate earlier," I told Adam and Paul once I was able to rest.  I was irritated with myself because I really wanted to work with Adam and get the practice in.  Once again, I was felled by some middle-aged physical mishap, and I'm getting tired of being a victim.

In an effort to combat some of this, I ordered a balance board which arrived today.  It's a challenge to stand on it and keep the sides from touching the floor.  If I use the board every day, hopefully, I can correct the problem I have of tripping over my feet -- or getting knocked off of them by someone else.  It's important for me to learn to be aware of keeping my weight distributed evenly over my feet.  I not only need to learn that for boxing, but in general.  I'd rather not be one of those senior citizens like the ones on the TV ads yelling, "I've fallen, and I can't get up!"