A Short Woman's Well Placed Shot

Joe grinned, "You had him up against the ropes!"  Alan and I sparred for two rounds.  I caught him a couple of times with a right, but I didn't realize how potent one of them was.  "You got me good that one time," Alan would say later on.    Alan usually leaves his left jaw open, and I have gotten him there a few times when I've sparred with him.  I guess I put in a real hard shot that time.  Alan and I ended up sparring because Earleatha decided not to do so.  "I'm taking a break," she said. 

Of course, he got in a good one, too, a jab that caught me in the mouth.  Mouthpieces are good things, you know.  "I just flicked it out there.  It wasn't hard," he said after it was all over with.  "Oh, yes it was," I laughed.  It slowed me down for a moment. 

Larry, a new guy, came in and sparred with Victor.  Alan stopped it when Larry got tired and was not returning Victor's relentless punches.  Victor had pinned Larry up against the ropes. 

Neither Carlos nor Jamil was in last night.  I remembered Carlos saying he had to work the late shift at his job this week  I'm not sure what happened with Jamil.  Demond, Patrick, Toya, Stacy, Cynthia. . . .all no shows.  Neville came in, and Alan didn't recognize him at first.  "Yes, he's signed up.  He just hasn't been in here for awhile," I told Alan. 

I'm going to see the Mayweather-Mosley fight later this week at a local movie theater.  "Aw, man, I have to be up at the military school with my son that day.  I'm going to have to find a bar nearby to watch it," Alan said.  It ought to be a good match, depending on all the trash talking that's been going on.  The best was when Mosley and Oscar de la Hoya were on George Lopez's talk show.  Mosley said he was going to knock Mayweather out.  Lopez gave the two men a pair of blue Everlast boxing shoes to deliver to Mayweather.  On the bottom soles of the shoes was the "Lopez Tonight" logo.  "When Mayweather is laid out, I can get some promotion for my show," Lopez grinned.

Besides being on HBO's "24/7" (where he made the outrageous claim of being a better pugalist than Ali or Sugar Ray Robinson), Mayweather has also been seen on "What Chili Wants", a reality show on VHI.  Mayweather has been friends with Chili, who is part of the girl group TLC, for years.  The show focuses on Chili trying to find love with the help of a matchmaker.  Mayweather acts like he likes her, and Chili is willing to see if their friendship can turn into a relationship.  In the episode I saw last night, Mayweather stood Chili up for a dinner date.  Not cool. 

Birthday Fight

Yesterday was my birthday, and I made plans to see the Mayweather/Hatton fight. Mike told me while we were in the gym Friday night that he was going to pop for the pay-per-view. He invited several people over including Steve and JJ.

Ricky Hatton, a tough guy from England, had Floyd Mayweather Jr. going for the first five rounds. Hatton was constantly moving around, and he popped Mayweather good several times. Unfortunately, Hatton stopped moving his head during the sixth round. Then, from that round on, Mayweather figured out his style and started timing him. Not long into the 10th round, Mayweather put a combination together and knocked Hatton down. Hatton got up as referee Joe Cortez ("I'm fair but I'm firm!") reached the count of eight. Mayweather caught Hatton again with another set of punches, and Hatton couldn't get up as easily. Cortez stopped the fight, Hatton's corner through the towel in, and Mayweather remained undefeated.

I was hoping that Hatton would win, just to bring cocky Mayweather down a notch. Hatton had been undefeated too, up until last night. The British fans were in force last night. They even had a guy with a drum and a few guys with trumpets playing in the audience. Ol' fine Tom Jones sang the UK's national anthem, and Tyrese sang the American national anthem; celebrities like Brad Pitt and Will Ferrell were in the audience. The Golden Boy Promotions executives -- Oscar De LaHoya, Bernard Hopkins, and "Sugar" Shane Mosley -- were in attendance, along with old school boxer Thomas "The Hit Man" Hearns. It was an exciting fight.

JJ did lose his fight at Brooks this past Friday night.

Jordan's friend, the recovering addict, came in Friday night, but wasn't able to work out like he wanted. Steve checked his receipt for the gym fee, and discovered the guy had signed up for the winter session, which doesn't begin until January.

Carla, who used to come to the gym, is getting married next month in a civil ceremony. She'll have a bigger ceremony in Hawaii in February. She was talking about coming back to the gym. The main reason she stopped going was because she moved farther away.

The Laughing Boxer

Floyd Mayweather was having a lot of fun at Oscar DeLa Hoya's expense during their fight this past Saturday. I think DeLa Hoya let his temper get the best of him sometimes, judging by how some of his punches looked. Like Tracy Sr. was telling his son Tracy Jr. when they were at the gym a few weeks ago, "Ain't nothin' on those punches but your arm." Then Mayweather announces that he is retiring. JJ commented, "That's what they all say. He'll be back." He's probably right. Very few boxers stay permanently retired, except for Rocky Marchiano. The rest show up a few months or even weeks later for one to several more go arounds. The sad things is, some of them get forced out of the game after the last hurrah.

Steve showed me a new exercise on Friday night. It involved holding the medicine ball between one's forearms, then taking long side steps, above 5 to 10 in each direction, with knees bent, and up on the toes. Hard, but a good exercise. I did something similar while in physical therapy back in January. Instead of the medicine ball, I had a heavy band around my ankles.

I Didn't Think Of That

Both Mort and JJ announced that they found jobs -- Mort will be at a downtown currency exchange, and JJ has a job at Home Depot. The goal is for the both of them to move out of their parents' homes and get their own places. I was glad to hear about their new employment.

Steve asked me if there is anything he should know in case I get sick in the gym. It should have occurred to me to give him some guidelines when I first got the news that I have diabetes. Earlier yesterday, I brought some glucose tablets from Walgreens. They are for whenever my blood sugar drops low. I highly doubt that'll happen. Never heard of my dad or my two grandmothers having that problem. However, it does pay to be safe rather than sorry. I'll remember to carry them with me whenever I go to the gym.

I also told Steve that there was a possibility if I got cut open during a sparring match, it might take a long time for me to heal. I've always had a problem with slow healing cuts and wounds, long before diabetes hit me. I don't spar very often, so that shouldn't be a great problem.

Everybody seems to be hyped about the Mayweather-De LaHoya match this Saturday. Intially, Mike was going to order the fight and have people at his house, but he changed his mind. Mike is going to watch the fight with friends at a bar instead. "Eh, I don't want to go to a bar, because then you can't pay attention to the fight because of people around you yelling and asking stupid questions, " Steve said. If Barry or Gary don't get the pay-per-view, then Steve will get it. I'm looking forward to it. The Golden Boy and Pretty Boy Floyd have been talking much $100 trash for weeks. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out in the ring.