Ladies' Night

I was a little late to the gym.  Joe was back again, and he not only had Chloe with him but he brought along Natalie.  As soon as I came in the door, Alan informed me, "You can work with Natalie tonight."  Natalie sings opera, works in advertising, and is going back to school for design.  She's also a Golden Gloves winner from last year.  She fought as a senior novice the last time.  This time, she's fighting in the open category.  Natalie has fast hands, and she never stopped moving.  I took a few shots to my nose, my mouth, and my left eye. 

Matt and Cynthia were in the gym checking things out.  They plan to sign up for the Spring session.  Matt had some martial arts experience, but Cynthia had no fight experience at all.  They asked a lot of questions about the sport. "Do you spar a lot?" they asked.  "Yes, and this is the first time in awhile that I was the first to spar for the evening," I answered. 

I got back in the ring for one round with Chloe.  Like I've said before, Joe teaches his boxers well.  She slipped a right that I threw then snaked around to give me a hook.  "I've really got to work on my wind.   You find out how important it is once you're in for a few rounds," she told me earlier.  "You know it.  I need to work on that myself," I agreed.

Once again, Alan said to me, "Don't get too friendly because you may have to fight them."  "You can't be friendly with the people you fight?" I grinned.  I told him about when Meg and I saw each other in the washroom before our fight at Brooks Park back in December.  Meg was uncomfortable running into me, and I was trying to figure out what was the big deal.  "There's a difference sparring with your teammates in the gym and fighting someone you don't know.  I would have a hard time fighting a friend," Alan said.  I don't know about that.  Inside the ring, it's about business, but I don't have an objection to talking to my opponent afterwards or before. 

John told me he lost eight or nine pounds in one week.  "What have you been doing?" I asked.  "I've just been eating meat, vegetables, fruit and no carbs," he said.  I envy how fast guys can lose weight once they focus on it.  They can drop the pounds without a lot of major effort, too.  Women?  We change our diet, up the exercise, and two months later, the dial on the scale still hasn't moved much.