Pizza and Punches At Loyola Park

Caiden, his little brother, his mom, and his aunt beat me down to Loyola Park's boxing show today.  There was a good turnout, especially among the fighters.  I arrived just as pizza from JB Alberto's was delivered for the coaches and officials.

Mary, who is now retired from her position as supervisor of that park, came out to see the show.  It was very good to see both her and Carolyn, an attendant at the park.  "I miss seeing you," Carolyn told me.  I realized that I miss going there on a regular basis.  I also saw Manny, who tried to get a fight but couldn't find a matchup.  Sebastian, Kevin, and Shelia were in attendance, too. 

Ten fights were presented.  Caiden's fight was the sixth of the evening.  The boy he fought was from Humboldt Park.  They were close in weight and it was the first fight for both.  Caiden was doing okay.  I kept yelling for Caiden to keep his eyes on the other person, to stop pawing, and to throw straight punches and strong hooks.  Caiden fell once, but Shifty the referee pronounced the fall to be a slip.  The other boy won because Caiden was gassed out.  We'll have to work on that back at LaFollette Park.

I'm waiting for Ivan, who backed out of going to Loyola Park, to say anything out-of-turn the next time I see him.  At least Caiden made the effort. 

What Did Alan Say About Pizza?

Whenever Alan talks about how people should watch their diets, he always says, "You can eat pizza.  Just don't eat the whole damn pizza."  I hear his advice every time I order pizza.  Lately, I have been ignoring the advice.  He asked last night if I wanted to spar.  "I don't feel well.  I think it's the pizza I ate earlier," I said.  Alan shook his head.

The Academy Awards were on this past Sunday, and I always order food in on that night.  Domino's has been running a two-pizza special.  Normally, I don't eat Domino's, preferring the superior JB Alberto's pizza instead.  But the Domino's soft crust is not bad these days, and neither is the price.  I didn't eat all of the pizzas Sunday night, but I practically polished it off on Monday.  I ate the leftovers for lunch, and then again for a snack before I went to the gym.  The slices were talking to me by the time I got down to the gym.  I guess I could have woman'd up and sparred anyway, but I decided to err on the side of caution.

St. Louis and Young Ed have signed up for the Golden Gloves, too, I learned.  They got in their sparring time.  Once again, my back was turned to the ring, so I didn't see what ever hit Young Ed took that brought him to one knee.  

A bracket had been put out by Sam which broke down which weight classes would fight on what nights during the Golden Gloves preliminaries.  I left the copies I had printed out from the Internet at home, but fortunately, John brought a copy in.  An email was also sent by the tournament organizers letting people know about the dates of the tournament and the cost of the tickets.  It also had information about following the tournament on Twitter.  I forwarded a copy of that to Zach, Alex and Pastor.  The first night and the nights of the finals bouts are usually the most crowded. 

The fog that covered Chicago all day had gotten thicker by the time the evening was over.  Alan dropped me off on the corner up the street from my apartment.  As I stood there waiting for the light to change, the fog reminded me of all those old Universal Studios horror films I used to watch on "Creature Features" when I was a kid.  "Creature Features" was one of several horror movie shows that were a part of Chicago's local TV history; it used to air on Saturday nights on WGN.  As I walked down the block, I have expected Lon Chaney Jr. to jump out of the shadows in full Wolfman makeup.

Slugfest Snorefest

"That fight was garbage," Manny said to me when I ran into him outside of the Howard 'L station.  I had to agree that the Mayweather vs. Marquez fight was a washout.  Now I wish I hadn't paid to see it on pay-per-view. 

You know it was a bad night when two of the undercard fights were better than the main event.  Cornelius Lock knocked out Orlando Cruz and Michael Katsidis had some good moments over Vincente Escobedo.  I expected better out of Rocky Juarez during his match with Chris John.  John just danced around Juarez, and hit him at will.  But then, I didn't mind, because I thought the Mayweather/Marquez fight would be exciting.

"What is Marquez doing?" I kept thinking to myself as I munched on pizza (it was a special event, so I figured I turn in the twenty coupons I had to get a free pizza from JB Alberto's).  The man hesitated to throw punches the entire night, and when he did, there were few combinations given out.  Oh, he caught Mayweather in the head a few times, but "Money" just smirked at and out-slicked him.  Mayweather can be beaten, and he probably will one day if he doesn't retire again.  Marquez wasn't the man to do that, however.  His game plan, whatever it was, did not work against his undefeated opponent.

The most exciting part of the broadcast came after the fight when "Sugar" Shane Mosley told Mayweather that he wanted to get a fight with him.  Mosley and Mayweather seemed to be respectful of each other at first, then they got into an argument.  Announcer Max Kellerman was in the middle, trying to bring order.  Mayweather snapped that Mosley disrespected him by interrupting his interview with Kellerman, but it looked like Mayweather had told Mosley to come over in the beginning.  Kellerman tried to get a question in about fighting Manny Pacquiao, then Mayweather turned on the announcer like a Doberman.  "You talk too much", Mayweather snapped, and Kellerman looked taken aback.  As animated as Kellerman used to be during the boxing broadcasts on ESPN, I was surprised he didn't snap back on Mayweather.  Kellerman seemed a bit subdued during all of the fights that night.

Today is the beginning of the Fall session for the Chicago Park District, and as usual, I'm curious to see the new faces who'll show up at the gym tonight.