Sparring With A Golden Gloves Winner

 Colonel said at the end of the evening, "There was a nice mix of people in here tonight!"  He and Kenny brought in three people from the Evanston Boxing Club: two guys, John and Jackie, and Erica, who I learned had competed in this year's Chicago Golden Gloves tournament.  She won in the 110 pound category.

Erica and I took turns sparring with Colonel, who did not get as winded this time around.  Alan told Erica to make sure she kept her right up to block Colonel's jabs, because he likes to throw a lot of them.  One of those jabs caught Erica off guard, and she fell to the canvas.  She was fine, and they continued on.

Alan asked Laina if she wanted to spar with Erica.  I guess she overheard that Erica had competed in the Golden Gloves, too.  Someone had a copy of the program that is sold during the finals of the Gloves, and there was Erica's picture.  Laina laughed nervously, "No, not with her!"  To tell the truth, I was a little nervous about getting into the ring with Erica.  She was obviously way younger than I, and as I soon found out, very fast on her feet.

She darted in and out, getting a lot of quick hits in to my head and face.  By the time I reacted to throw most punches, I was hitting air.  "Work your way in with the jab!" Alan told me, but Erica was extremely good at staying at a good distance so I couldn't reach her most of the time.  A few times we were tangled up enough that Alan had to call "Break!"  I remembered what Kenny told me awhile back about throwing a right over her jab.  That worked a couple of times, and Kenny, who was watching from ringside, expressed his approval.  We went two rounds.  Erica was throwing punches as if she was in a competitive match, so I had to really be alert.

"She's cold, isn't she?" Kenny said later, meaning that she's good.  "Yes, very," I agreed.  Erica appreciated the work.  "Wow, that power you have!  Most guys have never hit me that hard," she smiled.  "You do hit hard, that's why I keep telling you to work your way in, then once you're inside, dig into the other person," Alan told me later.

The guys took over the ring the rest of the time.  Emmanuel, Kenny, John, Jackie, and Sebastian exchanged punches.  Alan got on the black bag to workout a little, so I was the referee when Emmanuel and Sebastian were in the ring.

Sebastian seemed to hesitate a lot before throwing punches.  "Throw the jab!" I kept saying.  Emmanuel tagged him a couple of times, sending him to the ropes.  Their sparring session was energetic, however, and a lot of straight punches and hooks were exchanged.

Gabriel, Sebastian's younger brother by six years (he's 22 years old), is seen here on the red heavy bag.

I didn't catch the name of the guy in this picture, who is recording some of the sparring action on one of those newfangled tablets.  From what I could tell, the picture was very clear.  But I'm guessing maybe the battery went out, because the guy switched to recording everything on his cell phone.

John and Jackie size each other up during their sparring session.

Momo (Muhammad) and I pose for a picture.

On Sunday, the pastor's son, Issac, kept pointing at my bag and purse.  Knowing that the boy loves going through my stuff, I brought my sparring gloves to church.  I put the gloves on and playfully punched at him.  He put his left hand up and blocked a punch.  I keep saying that boy probably has some skills that just have to be developed.