"They Always Goad Me Into This S&%$!"

The new people take a big interest in a sparring session between John and Ren in the photo above.  Just about the entire gym stopped to watch.  Alan gave everybody the opportunity to spar, but of the newcomers, only John, Ren, and Tony decided to participate.  Pedro told me that he would love to do it (and I was thinking he'd be a good match up with Andres), but he wanted to wait awhile before stepping into the gym.

John (on the left) and Ren were the first up.  John got a lot of good hits in on Ren, including the one in the photo above, where he broke Ren's guard to land a left jab.  Ren told Alan and I that he didn't like to wear headgear.  "It feels so tight, and it cuts off my wide vision to an extent," Ren explained.

Franco was very eager to get into the ring, and he started with Robert, one of the newcomers.  Robert took some hard pops, but he stayed in with Franco.  "Easy, easy," Alan kept warning Franco whenever he threw a hard punch at Robert.

Franco's brother, Tony, took on Gabriel.  Tony was throwing both hands out at Gabriel.  Gabriel covered up very tight, and picked his shots.

Franco and Tony sparred, and Alan kept telling Franco to grab his brother's arms when Tony threw flurries of punches.  Franco wouldn't do it.  "Don't grab his head, that's not stopping anything!" Alan said.  Tony is heavier than his brother, and we could tell that Franco was really getting rattled from the punches.  In the middle of the second round, after Alan admonished Franco again for not grabbing and holding Tony, Franco came out of the ring.  "It's too hard for me to do.  You get in," he told Alan.  I helped Alan on with his gloves.  "They always goad me into this s&%$!" Alan grumbled.  "And you take the bait," I replied.

Alan and Tony's sparring session was rough and tumble with a lot of punches going on during the clinches.  Tony seemed to be hitting Alan harder than he did Franco.  Alan ended up falling back into the ropes after one hit, but each hard hit just motivated the coach to return even harder hits back.  Alan grabbed Tony's arms to slow him down, and then turned to Franco and said, "See?"

Another three hard rounds were done by Alan and I.  I got him with a right and a left hook to the head.  "Uh-huh, so that's how it's going to be," he grinned, before pummeling me with some body shots.  I went "oof!" a few times, and Alan laughed, "That's how I know when I've hurt you."  "Oh, alright!  I see how this is going," I said, before answering his punches with more hooks to his sides, and uppercuts to his body.
We kept needling each other like Spider Man trash talking Dr. Ock during one of their many confrontations.
Alan's going to be sixty-two years old this Friday, but apparently age is nothing but a number to him when he's in the ring.  I know I'll be feeling those punches I took tomorrow.  Especially that one I took to the gut.