November Punches

Keith backs Matthew up during sparring in this photo.

It's quite late.  The TV is on, and there's an episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" featuring a young Cloris Leachman and John Forsythe.  The name of the episode is "Premonition", circa 1955, and I have the sound turned down so I can concentrate on what I'm typing.  Still trying to get used to the fact that Antennae TV has moved reruns of "The Jack Benny Program" to 3:00 AM.  If my insomnia keeps up, I just might see that show anyway.

But back to the gym.  Igor showed up, then got impatient when Alan wasn't right there at the time the gym usually opens.  He bid goodbye to Teacher John, Keith, and myself, and left.  A couple of minutes later, Alan did show up.  Matthew walked in a little bit after that.  Keith and Matthew sparred first.  John and I were iffy about sparring.  John was coming off of a bad cold he caught while on vacation, and my stomach was doing flip flops again.  But we pushed on through and sparred anyway.  We just went light.

John gave me a chance to practice the overhand right then left hook to the face combination, but I only attempted it a couple of times.  I did get a left hook in to John's midsection, however.

I wasn't wearing my mouthpiece because I kept choking on it.  It was as if I was wearing one for the first time instead of for several years.  I don't exactly know what that was about, but I can't keep sparring without it.  Adult teeth don't grow back once they've been knocked out.  I took the mouthpiece home.  I plan to wear it around the house tomorrow so I can get over the feeling of having it in my mouth.

I didn't do much on the equipment, but in order to get me more motivated during workouts, I've decided to give names of people who've ticked me off lately to the heavy bags.  It helps me to throw my punches harder.

Alan's left eye is still on the mend.  "I can barely make out John jumping rope over there," he said when I asked him how it was.  I was standing right in front of him, and I wasn't much more than a blur.

I forgot to tell Alan. . . .Professor wants to know when the next show fight will take place.  Also, Rudy, a professional boxer whom Alan trained years ago, wants to get in touch with him.  Both of them contacted me via Facebook.  I sent Alan an email when I got home, but I know that Alan doesn't always check that, so if he reads the blog, he'll learn that way.  Alan does have a Facebook page; I keep offering to teach him how to use it, but like a lot of people who aren't fans of technology, Alan always says, "Why do I have to know how to do that?"  The coach would never see the message if I sent it to Facebook.