It's The Shoes

I had ran into Barry on Tuesday afternoon as I was coming home from work. He was very concerned about Deo and his injury. I told him what Deo had said Monday about his progress. "I'm thinking of having a boxing class for 18 to 21 year olds," Barry said. That might be a good idea. Sometimes, I sense that the people in that age group may feel a little out of place training with old folks like myself. But then, I might be wrong.

Once again, I only lasted one round on Wednesday with Oscar during sparring. My stamina is way down, and I can't blame it all on age. Ieisha did better while she was in the ring with Jamil. Carlos sparred with Alan again, and he kept going like the Energizer bunny.

It's good that women's boxing will be in the 2012 Olympics. It's not so good that only three weight classes are allowed for the women. One of the men's weight classes were dropped to make room. Well, I guess having three weight classes is better than women not being allowed to box at all in that competition. Hopefully in 2016, the female boxers will be included more.

My boxing shoes have to be almost two years old. I noticed they're holding up pretty well. The last pair was made of faux leather. I'm very hard on shoes, so they wore out quickly. I've only worn my current pair outside once on Halloween. I was still working at the non-profit agency, and I dressed in my boxing shorts and jersey for the occasion. Not wanting to take the time to change back into my other clothes to go to lunch, I went outside as is. A lot of curious looks came my way on the Evanston streets that day.

Get your Everlast boxing equipment for less.

Ieisha pointed to a chest protector near the headgear. After Alan and Carlos sparred, she suggested that maybe Alan should wear the protector. "You're still able to feel those punches if someone hits hard. It's just like headgear -- it only offers so much protection," Alan explained. My chest protector is somewhere at home. It's somewhat of a pain to put on. But there have been times that I've wished I had it on during sparring.

International Fighting

Yesterday, G hooked us up with some tickets to see the fights at the World Boxing Championships. JJ invited along two friend of his, and Steve brought Eli. Several countries were represented including the USA, a guy named Demetrius who won over a guy from Latavia.

Two rings were set up in the UIC Pavillion, and the judges watched the action on laptop computers set up in front of them. Counters showing the points each boxer scored were in front of each ring. The fights were also broadcast on a huge screen, along with trivia about the World Boxing Championships. I found out that this is only the third time the event has taken place in this country.

I heard that professional boxer Andrew Golota was somewhere in the building. I saw referee/official Shifty running gloves back and forth, as well as Rita, another professional boxer, doing the same thing.

The fights themselves were a little slow. Olympic-style boxing is a bit different from regular amateur boxing and professional bouts. There are many rules, and I noticed the referees giving hand signals to the boxers to indicate which ones they had broken.

There was a fighter from Mongolia competing, and when he was in the ring, it seemed that the entire Chicago Mongolian community was there cheering him on. The Irish boxer who fought and won had a good sized cheering section, as well.