The MMA Fighters

Kenny and his dad, Colonel, brought in two Jiu-Jitsu/Muay Thai fighters they know, guys named Nino and Frankie.  Kenny explained that while both are good MMA fighters, they needed work on their punches.

Both Nino and Frankie worked with Kenny inside the ring..  The clip above shows a round between Kenny and Frankie.  Later, Nino and Frankie worked together on their MMA moves, and they were good.  Some of those kicks were really exciting to see. 

I asked Kenny about throwing uppercuts; I seldom have success in getting any off.  He told me that I have to be very close on the inside in order to throw them on someone who is taller than I.  Also, he pointed out that throwing overhands rights at someone who's taller than I is not that effective.  Usually, I'm able to pop their shoulder, and that's it (although, I remember landing good ones on Eric and Alan).  Those work better if I'm roughly the same height as my opponent.  Problem is, I don't often spar with people who are as short as I.

Speaking of which, I was sparring with Sarah again, and I was gassed out before the first round ended.  Alan kept telling me to keep my hands up and to "go from the body to the head".  I just couldn't do it.  Sarah's punches kept bouncing off of my head like a series of Wham-O Super Balls.  She popped me in my mid-section a couple of times, too, and I was not prepared either time.  Wishing for the bell to ring in order for the round to end is self-defeating self-talk, but I was relieved each time it did.  The last round ended fast because Sarah briefly lost one of her contacts.

"You were really tired today," Alan grinned afterwards.  Over the past several days, there have been many times where I've struggled to keep my eyes open.  I have not been sleeping well at all.  If I get three hours of sleep a day, I'm doing good.

Alan said that we're going to Harrison Park's boxing show on the 25th of this month.  I haven't been up there in awhile.  It's a fairly new field house with a beautiful swimming pool inside.  Hopefully, they'll be enough fights for everyone to take part in. 

One Of Those Days

Earlier at work on Wednesday morning, I eased myself into a chair in Pastor Roger's office.  "Have you ever had one of those days when you feel. . .", I began.  "Old?" he said.  "Like you feel every bit of what age you are?" I asked.  Pastor went on to talk about a friend of his who went to the doctor with complaints.  The friend said that ever since he turned 40 years of age, he'd been feeling aches, pains, and other woes.  The doctor pointed out that the friend was forty years old.  "See Aaron, this is what you have to look forward to," Pastor laughed.  Aaron is 23 years old, he was also in Pastor's office, and he was chuckling.  "Yep, and each time you go to the doctor after that age, it appears they find something else wrong," I said.

Sarah and I sparred later in the evening, and I was just not on point.  I kept standing in one spot and taking her punches, I wasn't returning as many as I should, and I kept letting my hands drop.  I truly felt like an old woman.  When I saw Jimmy in the park yesterday -- he was working at his dad's hot dog stand -- he commented, "I saw you in the ring with that tall girl before.  I don't know how you manage."  Right before stepping inside the ring, I practiced a combination of ducking, stepping in and throwing a right to the body, followed by a left hook to the body.  Only twice did I manage to get that in during sparring.  "If you can't dance away from her, then walk around, but don't be a punching bag.  And move your head," Alan told me.

Above is a clip of Jimmy and Jacob sparring, the clip I intended to post on here a couple of days ago.

Josh came in, which was a surprise, since he hadn't been there in a few months.  He worked with Kenny on the punch mitts.  He and Kenny are featured in the clip below which is just a general look at what goes on in the gym once the bell rings to start a round. 

Jimmy was the only one who was matched up to someone for the boxing show at a field house on the west side.  Unfortunately, he didn't come in the gym; I hope Alan has his phone number.  None of the other guys got anything, and Alan told me that the coach over there "has no girls" with whom I could match up.  So we just try again for the next boxing show, as usual. 

Available To Fight

It was raining as I walked to the gym Monday night.  Carolyn was no where to be found when I got there, so everyone had to wait until Alan came in before we could get into the gym. 

Sparring was done between Jacob and Jimmy, Oscar and Jesus, and Sarah and myself.  I did get footage of Jacob and Jimmy, but I left my camera at the gym.  I'll post that up later this Wednesday.  Sparring continues to be a dicey dance because half of the ropes are still down on the ring.  I did do a better job of catching some of Sarah's punches before they reached my face this time. 

There's a boxing show at Sheridan Park this Friday; Alan asked some of us did we want to fight there.  "If someone is available, sure I'll fight," I told him.  That's the key word where I'm concerned -- available.  The guys are usually able to get fights, and some of the women who are younger than I are able to get bouts.  I have some factors that are not in my favor: being female (there doesn't seem to be a lot of women fighting via the Chicago Park District gyms), being short, and being older.  This may be my last year as a competitor, so I'm going for whatever opportunities there may be for me to step into the ring.

The Funky Gym

Alan had to go out of town on business, so he wasn't in the gym Wednesday night.  As soon as Jilberto opened up the gym door for myself, Oscar and Jesus, the mix of blood, sweat, and hot air rushed into my nose.  Phew!  I've been noticing the "funk" in the gym too often these days.  I didn't even bother turning on the second fan or fussing with opening the ancient windows.  The second fan, which is built into a window in the back of the gym, does nothing to blow air out, and no breezes ever seem to come in through the windows.

Kenny worked with several on the punch mitts, including Jacob (shown on the right in the photo above).  Kenny really gives some great pointers on how to throw punches and when. 

Before I had gone to the gym, I hoped there wouldn't be any incidents, major or minor.  Unfortunately, too many times when the coach is absent, something negative jumps off.  Fortunately, it was an easy, quiet night.  Leon came in briefly, talked to Colonel for awhile, then left, probably because no sparring was going to happen.  I spotted one of the many teenage boys that haunt the basketball courts peering into the gym, but he didn't come in for a closer look. 

The old boxing poster above features a picture of John Collins, a former professional boxer who is now a coach.  His niece, Erin, used to attend the gym, and she once had a fight at the Sabre Room, out in Hickory Hills.  I started thinking about all the people who have attended the gym since I've been going there,  I wonder what happened to most of them.  Lan has crossed my mind lately.  Outside of myself, she was the only other woman who was very consistent about coming to the gym.  Most of the other women who have come through last a session on average, then they're gone.  She was in the military, and that was why she stopped coming to the gym -- she was eventually stationed at a base outside of the state.  Jilberto would often ask me if I knew if she had been deployed overseas.  Steve, the former coach, tried to keep in contact, but the last email address he had for her bounced back. 

I pulled some pages out of my locker that I had copied out of The Gleason's Gym Total Boxing Workout for Women a few years ago.  The pages were of different combinations, so I decided to practice those.  I really like the jab-jab-left uppercut-right combo, so I worked on that for a few rounds.  I was awkward doing the jab-step-left hook-right cross combo.  I kept goofing up on the step part.  I did combinations on the bags too in an effort to check myself from just throwing one punch then stepping back all the time.

Alan told me on Monday that I catch too many jabs with my face, as opposed to blocking them with my hand.  It's true.  I do know how to tap incoming jabs down, but for some reason I don't do it.  I practiced a little blocking while shadow boxing in Rogers Park Baptist Church's gym yesterday. It was as hot in the church's gym as it gets in Loyola Park boxing gym, but I had to get a workout in.  Pastor came in and imitated some of the moves I was doing.  It looked as if he was attempting to dance (which he can't do, poor thing) instead of shadow boxing.  Aaron, the custodian, peeked in, saw me and smiled.  "I gotta play some Christian death metal music for you that I have on my iPod.  That could be used as workout music," he said.  I'd heard of death metal, but was surprised at the fact that there are Christian death metal bands.  He played some for me today.  I'm not into death metal, Christian or otherwise, but that could easily be blasted out of radio speakers at a gym, and it would work. 

Paulette told me that she saw the videos of me sparring.  "It looked like you kept backing up, when you could have been more aggressive," she said.  That's not the first time I've been told that.  I'm beginning to think that my backing up is a holdover from grade school when I was always having to back away (and not usually successfully) from some other kid's wild punches. 

Monday Toughness

Not too many showed up at the gym Monday night.  Nathaniel asked, "Where's everybody?"  "The heat must be keeping them away," I answered.

Jesus and Oscar sparred, as did Professor and Nathaniel.  Alan once again spent most of the time making sure people weren't falling out of the boundaries of the ring and tripping over the ropes.  The video clip below shows part of the action between Professor and Nathaniel.

Sarah and I sparred, and I took a hit to my left eye.  Usually, she always gets me in my right eye, but it was the other eye's turn to spin around after reeling from the impact.  Luckily, I blocked several overhand rights that came down on my head.  I got a few shots in to her head.  I tried to do what Kenny had showed me the last week: throw a right uppercut, then dash off a left hook.  I wasn't effective.  Alan had to keep telling me to duck under her punches.  I was only successful at doing that a few times, which bothered me because I'm way shorter than Sarah.  It should have been easy to do. 

I went down to the washroom afterwards.  Sarah's sister Amy was jumping rope out in the hallway.  "How did it go?" she asked.  "Your sister is tough," I said, still trying to get my wind back.  

Danger and Forgiveness

I have written here many times about how some people have admonished me over the years for participating in boxing.  One of the best came from Ma, who told me back in 2001, "Can't you find something else better to do?"  It has been pointed out to me more than once that boxing is, well. . .dangerous.  I tell people how much I love the sport, and I laugh it off, but they're right.  Precautions are taken (especially in the amateur ranks), but sometimes, things go wrong. 

One of the most horrific tragedies happened on March 24, 1962 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.  Emile Griffith, a boxer from the U.S. Virgin Islands, fought Benny "The Kid" Paret, a Cuban.  It was the third time the two had fought, and the match was aired on national television on NBC.  The first time they faced each other, Griffith won the welterweight title by knockout.  The second time, Paret regained the title.  The other night on ESPN Classic, I watched a documentary, Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story, which detailed what happened that night. 

During the sixth round, Griffith backed Paret into a corner and pounded him with punches.  Some of the people in the documentary differed as to how many punches Paret took.  Now I've been hurt myself in the gym and in the ring.  I've seen others, both professional and amateur boxers, get injured on TV and during matches I've seen in person.  The footage of Griffith beating Paret however, had me cringing with my mouth open.  It was one of the most brutal beat downs I had ever seen.  The referee, Rudy Goldstein, jumped in too late to stop it.  Paret had been knocked unconscious while still on his feet, then he slumped slowly down to the canvas.  A reporter interviews Griffith, who regained the championship, right after the mayhem.  Griffith and his corner people look cautiously over at the corner where Paret, who was still out of it, was laying.  Griffith commented that he hoped Paret "is feeling very good." Paret never regained consciousness, and he died ten days later, leaving behind a wife and a young son.  Paret's widow is interviewed throughout the film.  Several times, she is wiping away tears. 

Boxing doesn't have a patent on deaths.   Cars spin out of control during races, jockeys fall off horses on the racetrack and are trampled. Luges crash, bulls stomp on their riders, and skiers slam into trees.  But people are more scandalized about a boxing death because animals, sports equipment, and machines didn't contribute.  It was purely at the hands of another human.  It does not matter if the fight was sanctioned, or what the referee observed, or how the judges saw the bout.  People will cry, "Murder!", and the calls to have the sport banned will be raised -- again.  Indeed, that fight was the reason why boxing disappeared from network TV for the rest of the 1960s, not to be seen again until the 1970s. 

Some thought that Griffith may have intentionally beat Paret like that due to Paret using a gay slur towards Griffith during a weigh-in.  Griffith seems to admit to being bisexual during the documentary, but there seems to be confusion about that, even on Griffith's part.  He said that the slur didn't bother him.  Footage of him being interviewed in the ring after the fight shows Griffith looking at the playback of the action.  He appeared to be surprised at the intensity of his punches on Paret.  Griffith gives the impression that he got caught up in the moment, and just followed the directions of his trainer to keep punching. 

As harsh as that night was, as well as some other messy aspects of Griffith's life -- a brief marriage, an assault that nearly killed him, dealing with puglistic dementia -- the documentary offers a most poignant and hopeful coda at the end.  Paret's son, now an adult,  finally meets Griffith.  Initially, Griffith has trepidation, as anyone would in that instance.  How will Paret's son react to him?  What can Griffith say to the son of the man he killed?

The two men meet in a park.  Paret's son tells Griffith that his mother still has a hard time about his dad's death.  But the son has no hard feelings.  Griffith hugs the younger man and cries on his shoulder.  Forgiveness is a hard thing to do.  I am not fond of the concept, and I admit that I'm guilty of carrying grudges.  I'm not the only one.  But the documentary taught me that it not only can be done, but it is necessary for closure. 

Lessons From Kenny

I did a round robin session of sparring with Sarah and Taheerah.  Sarah got in with Taheerah first.  I was impressed at how Taheerah hung in there with Sarah; she's not that much taller than I, and Taheerah is petite.  But she was able to handle Sarah's punches.  When I got in with Sarah, it was the usual; I took hits to my head and to my right eye.  A right hook grazed me across my face.  I focused on giving out body shots, but none of them slowed Sarah down.  I'm convinced that Sarah should try to get a fight at the field house's boxing show next month.

Taheerah's head gear kept coming off while she was sparring with Sarah.  The same thing happened last week when she and I were in the ring.  She has a lot of hair, plus the head gear Alan put on her was old.

Kenny noticed that it seems that there are fewer sparring and bag gloves on the table each time the gym is opened.  "Sometimes, Barry locks up equipment," I said.  When the gym was given a lot of free equipment back in 2007 when the International Boxing Championships were in town, Barry had to put a lot of it under wraps for safety.  Unfortunately, a lot of that equipment -- the gloves in particular -- walked anyway.  Kenny figured that maybe some of the equipment was beginning to walk again.  

Kenny held pads for a few people, including me.  He showed me another way to throw an overhand right.  Usually, I do it the way Alan does, like a bolo punch (which is what that punch was originally called), setting it up like a right cross, but coming down with it in an arc.  The way Kenny showed me was to come over my opponent's jab so that my fist ended up striking their chin or cuffing them behind the ear.  He also had me throw right uppercuts and immediately follow up with a left hook to the body, as I would already be in position to throw the hook from leaning in to deliver the uppercut. People were watching us, including Taheerah and Ray, who cheered me on. "There you go!" Ray said, and Taheerah laughed as she told me, "Don't try those punches on me when we spar!"  Next week, Kenny is going to show me some more combinations and how to step over to avoid counter punches.

I sent an email to Steve on his birthday; I believe he's now 38 years old.  He emailed back and told me he saw the letter I sent to The Ring Magazine praising them for finally including regular articles about female boxers.  He asked if I was still going to Loyola Park and how the gym was going.  I gave him an update and asked him to say hi to Ellen (his wife) and their kids.

Tommy and I were talking about energy drinks on the market.  "Have you tried that Five Hour Energy?" he asked.  "I've never drank a full bottle.  Half of one is enough to have me hopping," I said, and I comically demonstrated the effect.  Tommy laughed.  "I drank a full one, and I was sitting on the train when suddenly I felt pumped up!' he said.  I don't trust most of the energy drinks I see advertised because I'm not really sure about the ingredients that go into them.

Alan and I were the last ones in the gym at the end of the night, and I told him, "I forgot to take pictures of the action."  "Take a picture of the ring.  You can put a caption on it that says the ropes are in distress -- much like Leon's love life," he chuckled.  "If Leon sees this on the blog, I'm going to tell him that you put me up to it,' I laughed.

Ears and Eyes

Earlier in the day, I was wondering how I was going to make it at the gym Monday night.  The usual menopause insomnia and fatigue had plagued me the night before, despite the fact that I did get a few good hours of sleep.  Sometimes I feel tired in the gym and push on, but other times, like last night, I'm able to shake it off.

While walking through the park to get to the field house, I saw a little boy who looked familiar.  "Nico?" I called out to him, and he stopped in his tracks and looked at me.  I waved to him.  Nico is one of the children who regularly attends my church.  Jesse, who used to be an intern at my church, and who's also a friend of Nico's parents, saw me and waved.  I guess he was watching over Nico.  Nico has often played with Jesse's young son Emmit. 

And it was a good thing I was able to keep the tiredness at bay as I sparred with both Taheerah and Ursula (Renee and Amy opted not to spar).  Ursula only did one round and she was done. I was in the ring for two rounds with Taheerah, who got in a few good shots to my stomach.  Trying to be slick at one point, I covered up my mid-section, but left my head wide open.  Taheerah clocked me in my ear with her right hand.

A pop to Nathaniel's eye from Jacob ended the sparring session they had.  But Kenny, who had gone into the ring earlier with him, and Ray, who had observed their pairing, had nothing but praise for him.  "He's got a lot of heart," Ray said, while Kenny exclaimed, "That mother------ kept coming despite taking hits!  I have to give him his respect!" 

Ray helped Jimmy along while they sparred in the ring, encouraging Jimmy to throw more hooks.  Alan was trying to keep his eyes on them as well as all the sparring that went on, while keeping an eye on the damaged ring.  A few times while Kenny sparred, he kept stepping over the rope, and Alan would gently push him back onto the playing area. 

In the photo above, Jacob spars with Kenny (who's facing the camera).

I got the name of the cream that Ursula recommended for helping with arthritis pain: it's called Arnica, and I'm going to look for it tomorrow.  My knees felt pretty good today.  Taheerah had seen me out with my bike a few weeks ago.  "I have rode as far as Highland Park, but these days, it depends on how my knees feel," I told her.  I've only rode my bike once this season, but I'll need to pull it out more beginning next month as part of the training plan for the tentative fight I'll have in September.

Fighters and An Old Sitcom

I've been watching reruns of "Car 54, Where Are You?" over the weekends on MeTV.  For those not hip to cult TV history, it was a sitcom that aired from 1961 to 1963 on NBC.  The main characters were a couple of New York City cops: tall, college-educated bachelor Muldoon (Fred Gwynne) and short, none-too-bright married man Toody (Joe E. Ross).  There were a couple of episodes where the cops were trying to catch up with a gang of thieves.  There was one guy who appeared as the muscle of the gangs in both episodes.  I was surprised to read the credits at the end of the episode to find out the guy was real-life boxer Jake LaMotta.  As of this writing, LaMotta is 90 years old, and still very much alive.  His life story was chronicled in the movie Raging Bull (1980), with Robert DeNiro playing the boxer. 

The writers and producers of "Car 54" must have really liked boxers, because just this past weekend, I saw another episode featuring two of the greatest boxers of all time.  The episode, "Puncher and Judy", had one of the cops, Kissel, (Bruce Kirby) bragging about how he was going to take on an opponent.  Toody informs Kissel that he took the liberty of signing him up for the Golden Gloves.  He even has the name of the opponent, some guy named Tony.  Suddenly, Kissel's not so brave anymore, and decides he's going to back out, but not before snapping on Toody for putting his name in the competition.  A woman (played by the late Shari Lewis, who was also a popular voice over actress) shows up at the station and begs Toody and Muldoon to convince her boyfriend Tony, a gentle hairdresser who has customers who are crazy about him, not to fight in the gloves.  The cops take Tony to a boxing gym, and arrange with a trainer to have one of the pros at the gym pop Tony one good time in order to make him lose his confidence.  To the surprise of Toody and Muldoon, Tony wipes the canvas with his opponent, and has to be pulled off of him.  The part of Tony was played by boxer Rocky Graziano.  His real-life story was also done on the big screen: Paul Newman played him in the movie, Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956).

The cops get the bright idea to get an even more experienced pro to beat Tony in order to keep him out of the Gloves.  They manage to convince the pro to disguise himself as an old man as to not bruise Tony's feelings too bad.  Tony doesn't want to get into the ring with a "70 year old man" but Toody and Muldoon convince Tony to give him a few rounds.  What Tony doesn't know is that the "old man" is actually Sugar Ray Robinson in disguise.  Tony is knocked to the canvas, and decides that boxing is not for him.

However, when Tony returns to his hairdressing job, he's mean to his customers.  Tony threatens to cut off all the hair of one customer, and he sends another woman running out of the beauty shop crying.  His girlfriend realizes that boxing was the way Tony let out pent-up emotions, so she begs Toody and Muldoon to convince him to go back to boxing.  The cops and Robinson let Tony know how they tricked him at first, and all ends well with Tony beating down three guys at one time at the gym as his girlfriend cheers him on.

It was an amusing episode.  Graziano exaggerated his boxing moves, beating guys after they had already fallen onto the canvas by pouncing on top of them (something that is not in the boxing rulebook).  Robinson was getting fitted for a suit by a tailor when Toody and Muldoon approached him to take on Tony.  "I don't know fellas. . .I have to train for a fight," Robinson said, then he casually flung a backhand fist at a nearby speed bag as the tailor measured him for the suit.  Robinson's manager handed him a contract for his next fight.  The boxer asked if all his demands had been met, which were all outrageous, including 92% of the box office receipts.  The manager assured him the demands were in place, and Robinson signed the contract.  The manager walked away, then a thought occurred to Sugar Ray.  "Wait!  Who am I fighting?" he asked. 

Graziano did meet Robinson in the ring for real, in 1952.  Robinson knocked Graziano out in three rounds.  It would be Graziano's last attempt at a middleweight title.  Graziano was entered into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991.  Robinson was entered there in 1990, as was Jake LaMotta.

The Coach, His Son, and Pizza

Taheerah and I sparred Wednesday night, and I honored her request to go light.  Her husband, Nate, gave her tips from the side.  I heard Alan say to me, "She's your height!  Throw straight punches!" 

The ring itself continues to be in disrepair.  I heard that it might take a year for maintenance to fix it, which I can believe.  When the back door of the field house was broken, it took about that amount of time before that was repaired.  As Kenny pointed out, it makes it hard for the fighters who need to learn how to work off of the ropes.  It's also hard to gauge where one is at during sparring because half of the ropes are down on the canvas.  Alan and I are constantly calling out, "Watch out!" when someone gets too close to the edge.  In my opinion, what's needed is a ring that doesn't have its canvas bolted down on the floor.  The last time I was in JABB Gym, I remember they had a small ring that was only a couple of feet from the floor.  It didn't take up a lot of room; such a ring could probably fit into Loyola Gym.

The temperature in the gym was very hot, and no wonder -- it was about 100 degrees yesterday.  I was banging on the teardrop bag when I noticed my bag gloves were slick with sweat.  Jilberto told Colonel and I that most of the other field houses didn't open that day due to the heat.

I got some more good tips from Kenny on how to throw uppercuts.  I had reverted to my old habit of bringing my arms all the way before throwing them, which is a good way for an opponent to step in on me with hard hooks.  The last time I sparred with Taheerah, I tried to sneak a couple of uppercuts in, but I wasn't close enough, and she danced away very fast before I could execute them properly.  That's the one punch that I never feel I do correctly, and the one I feel I need to practice the most. 

Lots of sparring, despite the heat -- Kenny, Jimmy, Jacob, Matt, Nathaniel and Nate -- all took turns on the canvas. 

After the gym, Alan, his son Matt, and myself went to Giordano's.  Matt had chicken, while Alan and I split a pizza (the leftovers of which I will have for dinner tonight).  Alan had me cracking up with a some "Curb Your Enthusiasm" moments he had.  One involved him asking a woman if she was pregnant.  She wasn't.  "You never assume that a woman is pregnant unless she tells you," I laughed.  I think of all the times people have seen my gut -- which I have been trying to whittle down for the longest -- and assumed that I had an ankle-biter on the way.  It's one of the quickest ways to tick off most women.

We had a good time.   I could tell that Alan worries a lot about Matt, and like most young folks, Matt thinks his dad's fears are unfounded.  However, father and son appear to have a comfortable way of talking and relating to each other.

Sparring All Around

I turned on the fan that's built into the back window of the gym, as well as the box fan.  It didn't do much.  Ray commented, "You can just stand around and sweat and lose calories in here!"  Despite of the heat, the gym was well attended tonight.

Taheerah and Ursula sparred.  Taheerah kept coming forward.

 

Then I got into the ring with Taheerah.  I put out as many straight punches as possible, including an overhand right.  The video clip of us sparring looks odd because Alan was holding my camera, and he hasn't quite got the hang of how to operate it.  Plus, I had problems uploading it, so it's not featured here.

After some coaxing by Leon, Jimmy agreed to spar with him.  Alan got into the ring to referee, and he had to warn Leon several times to go easy.  Jimmy did take a shot to the side.  "He didn't hit me as hard as he could have, but I feel it," Jimmy told me later.

Matt, Alan's son, came in, and he sparred with Oscar.  Matt plans to go to college for a year here in Illinois, then transfer.  He's eyeing a kickboxing team at a school out in California.

Ray and Alan had a great sparring session -- with no headgear -- which ended prematurely because Ray slipped and fell.  Ray got in a nice, crisp uppercut on Alan right before Ray fell. Kenny, Oscar, and Marcus also sparred, so the ring was used a lot tonight.

Recognizing A Southpaw

I stayed at work a little longer yesterday because I had come in late (didn't sleep one wink the night before).  Paulette had come in to help set up for that night's Vacation Bible School session, and she gave me a ride home.  As we were leaving, Pastor told Paulette that he'd see her later that evening.  He looked at me and said, "Box somebody for Jesus!"

Tommy sparred for the first time last night, and Alan picked me to get into the ring with him.  As I've mentioned before, I have a hard time building up some sort of manufactured antagonism towards opponents, even when I have regular bouts.  Also, Tommy is a holdover from when Steve was the coach, and the only connecting person currently in the gym to that past time.  I felt kind of guilty for having to hit him, and I didn't want to go hard. 

Around the middle of the first around, I began to notice that Tommy was using his right hand to jab.  I kept moving to his left to avoid that hand.  He was moving a lot faster than I was, too, considering that I usually plod, and I'm more flat-footed in the ring.  In the second around, I caught some shots to the mid-section, then a right hood grazed across my eyes and the bridge of my nose.  "You okay?" he asked, and I said, "yes" as I backed up real quick.   After the third round ended our sparring session, I asked, "Are you a southpaw?"  When he answered in the affirmative, I exclaimed, "Ah-ha!"  Tommy has an advantage.

The video clip above is of Jacob sparring with Nate.  I stood on the opposite side of the ring so I could also include Alan in the shot.  He's the guy shadow boxing near the ropes and keeping an eye on the action at the same time.  Jacob also sparred with Oscar and Jesus, getting in several rounds.

There's a couple of Rocky posters in the gym; this one is for what (is supposedly) the very last movie in the series.  Sylvester Stallone, the actor who plays Rocky, was recently inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame.  Many people thought that was a dubious choice, but the Rocky character is considered one of the patron saints of boxing.  A lot of people took up the sport because of those movies. 

Did I mention that I used a free pass to workout at XSport Fitness this past weekend?  I wasn't overly impressed by the place, and even less so when I went in the back to find two heavy bags and one double end bag.  The double end bag wasn't even filled properly with air.  I punched one of the heavy bags for about twenty minutes.  Afterwards, a woman told me, "I really liked how you were punching the bag.  You don't see many women boxing."  A black man who was walking nearby looked at me and grinned, "Yeah, especially black women!"  Humph. . .I could have told him stories.

Feeling Menopausal

Another hot night in the gym, and the fan didn't do much in terms of circulating fresh air around.  I was happy when I opened my locker to find the air freshener I placed inside still worked.  It will need to be replaced soon, however; I think it's been in there for about three months.

Oscar sparred with Jesus for a round, then I got in with Jesus.  "You've worked with him in the ring before, right?" Alan asked.  "Nope, this will be the first time," I answered.  He didn't give many hard hits, but he kept busy enough to prevent me from landing a lot of my harder shots.  Somewhere in the second round, I heard Alan say to me, "You're not tired -- work!"  Oh, yeah, I'm tired, I thought to myself, and the realization came that it wasn't all from the energy expended in sparring.   After the third round, I went over and sat down directly in front of the fan, my legs out in front of me.  Alan had to chuckle when he saw me.

It wouldn't have been nice to keep hogging the fan, so eventually I got up so I could watch Jimmy and Jacob spar.  "How do you feel?" Alan asked.  "Menopausal", I replied.

There seems to be a great interest among the guys in Jacob's style of boxing.  "He's really coming along.  I saw those punches he was throwing and I was like, whew!" Ray commented.  Kenny held pads for Jacob afterwards, and Jacob's punches reverberated around the room.  Some of the guys stopped their workout to watch how he was doing.  When Professor is around (he wasn't in the gym that night), he likes holding pads for Jacob and giving him pointers, too.  Alan would like for Jacob to consider taking a fight at some point. 

In the above photo, Oscar and Nathaniel wait for the bell to ring to start their sparring session.  Note the condition of the ropes at the back of the ring.  We're all hoping that will be fixed in a hurry.  

Jesus shadow boxes in the mirror some time after he and I sparred.

Kenny works with Oscar on the pads in the photo above.  One of Kenny's ribs got separated from the ribcage.  "How did that happen?" I asked, thinking about the time I bruised a rib while ice skating.  "I think it happened during sparring.  Luckily, it didn't puncture a lung.  I figured I wasn't coughing up blood, so it's all good!" he said.

Bedbugs and Boxing

Alan is always giving advice and pointers. . .in the photo above, he talks to Amanda after her and I sparred Wednesday night.  As soon as I took the first punch from her, I figured out quickly that she had some experience in the ring previously.  She moves very well around the ring, and she did some nice bobbing and weaving, especially when she sparred with Sarah.

 
Sarah and I commented on what good conditioning Jacob appears to have.  He went several rounds with Alan, and caught him with a good right hook.  "Remember that other day when he did several rounds of sparring?  He wasn't even breathing hard afterwards!" Sarah commented.  I believe Jacob told me he also works out at another gym, so that would explain his seemingly endless energy.   Jacob also sparred with Nathaniel.  Nathaniel had this nice move, where he bent down a little and twisted in order to throw a hook to Jacob's side.

Tommy was really beating on the speed bag.  "That's right, Tommy, kill it!" I joked, and we both laughed.  Tommy pointed at the speed bag and announced, "I'm coming back for you!"

I was so tired when I first got to the gym.  Have I mentioned that the building I live in, like so many others it seems these days, has a bedbug problem?  I clean (using bleach and ammonia), I spray (with over the counter pesticides), I throw stuff out to keep down clutter (I've begun to sell off my old albums), but it doesn't seem to help.  If your neighbors have them, and they haven't been properly dealt with, the problem remains.  I don't sleep much because of them, which is really a trip on top of having to deal with the insomnia that comes with menopause.   I woke up around 5:30 AM, and my legs and arms looked ghastly from all the bites.  It was the worst that I have ever been bitten up by insects.  My skin was raw from all the scratching.  I immediately got up and threw out my couch cushions and most of my bed sheets, pillow cases and blankets.  I don't think I have any pillows left at all.  Then I spent time spraying before I went to work.  It is easier for me to spar ten rounds with the tallest and biggest people in the gym than to fight the bedbugs.  At least I see progress when I'm sparring.  The sofa bed I used to sleep on will have to be thrown out to the alley because it's made of cloth and the bedbugs appear to have made that their personal residence; I have to call movers this week to get estimates on how much that will cost.

A neighbor of mine, Eric, gave me a seven-day pass to X Sport, a popular gym where he lifts weight.  He loves the place because he says it has a multitude of equipment (including heavy bags and kettlebells), plus, it is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year long.  I will try to check it out before the end of the week.  I know that I'll be subject to a sales pitch because the seven-day pass is designed to get people to sign up for memberships.  I can't afford the cost of membership, but I've always been curious about those gyms that are accessible all the time.

Two Shiners

Alan was sporting the trace of a black eye he received last week, courtesy of Jacob.  Today, Sarah showed up with a bit of a shiner that had also been doled out by Jacob.  I'm surprised that I haven't had one, as many times as I've been hit in both eyes over the past two years.  Maybe I shouldn't talk so loud. . . .

I ran into Kyra -- whom I had wrongly named J here -- on the bus over the weekend.  She would like to come back to the gym, and plans to do so at some point.  But she lives out on the south side, and it's a haul traveling way up north to get to the gym.

Professor sparred with his brother Miles.  Alan noted that they are good together because they know each others' moves.  I laughed, "If I was sparring with any of my sisters, that would turn into a war."  In particular, I imagined my late younger sister taking people on in sparring sessions.  I can hear it now: "Damn. . .Hillari's sister is vicious!"   I make an effort to be nice while I'm sparring because the goal is not to overpower someone.  My younger sister would have beat someone until the coach pulled her off of them. 

Sarah, Renee, and myself had a round robin session of sparring.  As usual, I had to focus on the body with Sarah -- it's practically impossible for me to reach her head most of the time.  I noticed when she was sparring with Jacob last week that Sarah loves to keep her left hand high up close to her head for protection.  There's no way I can get a right hook to her head because of that; I've tried. Usually, I'm just trying to survive when I'm in the ring with her.

Renee had her hands down a lot, and I was able to get in a lot of punches to her head.  She surprised me by rocking a combination of punches straight to my stomach when I wasn't covering up.  Believe me, I felt those punches.  I had to back up to get some air.  Right now, I feel fine.  But tomorrow or Friday, the pain will return, and I'll go around wondering, "What did I do?" until the reason why comes back to me.

Jimmy and Alan sparred, and I told Jimmy as they got ready, "You have to watch Alan, because Alan is slick."  Jimmy said, "Is he going to be rough on me?"  Alan said, "No, we're just going to move around."  "That's what he always says," I told Jimmy.  Jimmy gave Alan some good hooks to the head, and he kept moving around.  I called out instructions, sounding like the boxing referees on cable TV:  "Break!"  "Box!"  "Hands up!"

Jacob Does His Rounds

Alan worked Jacob Monday night.  I believe Jacob did about nine rounds with several of us: myself, Sarah, Nate, and Nathaniel.  "Poor Jacob is going to get worked to death!" I told Alan. 

 

In the photo above, Nate wards off an attack from Jacob as Alan looks on.  I believe that was Nate's first time sparring at the gym.  He did a good job hanging in with Jacob.

Sarah and Jacob are featured in the above video clip.  Alan pointed out to Sarah that she throws wild, which I know all too well.  Jacob had his hands down a few times, and she beaned him with some hooks.  Alan suggested that Sarah slow down and pick her shots.  She got tired late in the second round, and she was tired throughout the entire third round, but Sarah gamely hung on.  Jacob said he liked being in the ring with someone who wouldn't let up; it pointed out that he needs to work on his defense.

I was exhausted after going my three rounds with Jacob.  Alan told me later that the last two rounds I did were very good.  I was aiming at Jacob's head, and got him there a few times.  It was the body shots that worked better.  Finally, I thought to execute a punch from the side and avoid someone else's long arms.  I stepped around Jacob and got him in the side of his torso with a left hook. 

A little boy came in with a girl whom I assumed was his sister.  I heard him ask the girl, "They fight in here?"  before I walked over to them.  The girl said she had been going to the field house for awhile, but she had never seen the boxing gym.  I told the boy about the kids' boxing program and asked him how old he was.  "I'm five," he replied.  The boy was quite tall for his age.  "Sorry, you have to be eight years old to sign up.  You look strong, however" I told him.  "I'm stronger than my sister," he asserted.  He explained that the girl with him was not his sister, but a 17 year old who was his older brother's girlfriend.  Considering that some boys learn how to box at age three, I thought it was a shame the kid would have to wait three years. 

Coaching and Recording

While taking my usual stroll to the gym by way of the lakefront, I ran into Mathieu and Erica.  Both of them assured me their fingers were fine:  Erica had slammed one of her in a car door, and Mathieu hurt his the last time he sparred with big Leon.  Mathieu knew I had a blog, but Erica didn't.  I emailed them copies of pictures I took of them in the gym.

Not only are the ring ropes still in need of repair, but the double end bag was found laying on the floor.  One of the kids probably hit it too hard yesterday and it fell; it happens.  Alan climbed up on a ladder to fix it, but it was still not high enough for most people to use.  It was perfect for me, but outside of Oscar, I'm the only vertically challenged person in the gym.  "They'll have to punch down," Alan said.  But then Jimmy, one of the new people, climbed up to adjust the height again until it was okay.

In the above video is just one round of sparring between lanky guys Jacob and Alan.  They did five rounds in total.  I heard someone behind me, may have been Tommy, commenting, "The old guy looks pretty good in the ring", referring to Alan.  "He must have been boxing for a long time," Nathaniel (another new person) said.  The two men kept going like Energizer Batteries.  I shadow boxed near the ring to watch them during the other four rounds.  In between one of the rounds, I said to some others standing nearby, "Alan does good for a guy of a certain age."  Alan grinned, and said, "Thanks, Hillari", in a joking sarcastic manner.


There were three full rounds between Sarah, who's at least 5 foot 8, and Oscar, who's my height (5 foot 1).  I noticed that when Oscar got in head shots, he reached up to Sarah using angles.  "Ah-ha!  So that's how it's done!" I thought to myself. 

I sparred with Ursula again who asked beforehand, "Are you going to be nice to me?" I pulled as many punches as I could, but the harder ones kept slipping in.  I thought we had done three rounds, until Alan put on a set of gloves -- but put on no headgear -- and stepped inside the squared circle.  "You have to do three rounds," he said.  I was tired out, but managed to make it through that last round, trying to catch Alan as best as I could.  I got him in the face with a right, but that was the only significant punch I made. 

I showed Jimmy how to use the double bag, and showed Ray (not muscular Ray, but a new guy in the gym) how to stand and how to pivot.  Ray told me that he can't hold a baseball bat the normal way.  "One eye is weaker than the other one, so in order to see the ball better, I have to stand the other way," he said.  I hold a baseball bat in the opposite way as well, something that other kids would curse me out about when I was in grade school.  One of my eyes is weaker than the other, too, but I didn't hold the bat the "wrong" way because of that.  It was because I felt I had more power to swing it from that position. 

Double Sparring For Me

It was a full house in the gym tonight.  Nate returned with a woman whom I believed he introduced to Alan as his wife.  She said she missed the first week of the summer session.  Cynthia asked me if Ray had come in.  He didn't, and he was one of only a few who were not in attendance. 

A guy who used to box at Clarendon Park came by to see Alan.  The man had his two children with him, a boy, aged 10 and a girl 11-going-on-12.  The boy put on headgear and got into the ring for a mock fight with Alan.  Alan got down on his knees in order to even the playing field.  The man told me that his son was interested in taking up the sport, and that his daughter showed interest, too.

Below are images of two different sparring sessions that took place.  The one I didn't videotape was the sparring session between Oscar and Jacob.  Jacob is way taller than Oscar, but the shorter man handled his business.  He did a very nice job at one point using his jab to confound Jacob.   Jacob can been seen in a couple of clips here going up against Marcus.  It was the first time that Marcus had sparred.  While the two men sparred, I turned the camera around to show what else is usually going on in the gym while there is action taking place inside the ring.

The clips with the two women?  The little short dark complexioned woman is me; I finally remembered to have someone tape me while I sparred (Alan did the honors).  The dark-haired woman is Ursula, who can throw some good hits.  She caught me in the mouth and face a few times.  I kept landing jabs to her face and hooks to her head.  "Easy!" Alan warned me at one point when I was hitting a little too hard.  I inherited my late father's heavy hands, and sometimes, I don't realize that I'm going too hard on someone.  That was the first times in months that I was able to get so many head shots in. 

I had a few rounds rests in-between Ursula and Sarah, but the rest period didn't help me much with Sarah.  I tried the relaxed and easy stance that I did with Ursula, but I got dusted, as my late Uncle Fred used to say.  Sarah popped me in my right eye several times, simply because I was too slow to move my head and protect my face.  One such shot had me seeing double out of that eye for a few moments.  Remember, that was the eye I had to have checked last summer because I thought the retina was torn.  All in all, I did four rounds this evening, one more round than I have done in a long time. 

Alan wanted to keep the fact that tomorrow is his 60th birthday under the radar.  I didn't mention anything about it until the end of the evening when we were walking to his car. Guys don't usually make a big deal out of their birthdays, even if it's a milestone one, while women spend a lot of time bemoaning the fact they are getting older.  It's funny.   "It's a blessing, but I can hardly believe I got to this point.  Time goes so fast," he said. 

Ring Without Borders

The post that was barely holding up one corner of the gym was laying down on the canvas when we got into the gym.  It was totally shot; half of the ring was down.  Oscar and I sparred, and we had to be very mindful of where we were moving around.

I was moving like an old elephant, and Oscar was whipping me up.  I did manage to ward off most of his right hooks by keeping my hands up.  His straight on jabs and rights were impossible to avoid, and just as hard to ward off.  "Come on, Hillari!  Pop that jab out there," Alan barked from his position outside the ring.  A few pops backed Oscar up to the side of the ring where the ropes were not up to support him falling back.  But the guy came back extra strong behind that.  I slipped and fell to the canvas; afterwards, my left shoulder was hurting.  Oscar got close and directed a jab to my mid-section.  I covered up, but too late to stop the damage.  The beating went on for three rounds.  After the final bell, I took a seat in front of the fan in the gym for a couple of rounds.

Renee and Ursula agreed to go light for a couple of rounds.  Neither had head gear nor mouthpieces, but they were giving out some pretty vicious hooks to each others' stomachs and heads.  Alan got into the ring to monitor their progress more closely. Ursula dashed off to the women's washroom after the second round, stating that she felt nauseous.  When she returned to the gym, she said she didn't get sick, but felt like she was about to do so.

We did burn-outs at the end.  Amy and I were on one bag, and Renee and Ursula were on the other heavy bag for a couple of rounds.  Then Oscar, his friend (whose name I still don't know), and Marcus did the burn out on the red heavy bag that Amy and I had been on.

The above photo is of Renee, myself, and Alan.  Notice how sweaty I am.  It wasn't that hot inside the gym, but the combination of Oscar's beat down and the burn out really had the water going. 

I told Alan that the underside of my upper lip felt like it had been cut.  A check in my bathroom mirror when I got home showed that it had been seriously bruised.  One of Oscar's punches had landed in my mouth, and I didn't even remember it had. 

Barry Runs It

The gym was scheduled not to be open tonight.  Alan had to call off, and Mary didn't want me to have to deal with the newbies -- Amanda, Ray, Nate, Ursula, and Renee -- on my own.  However, Mary was able to convince Barry to come and open the gym.  Professor, his brother, and Marcus were also in attendance.

Professor and his brother Miles had a very good sparring session that went on for a few rounds.  Barry was concerned that the ring was going to fall down.  The ropes and a few of the poles need to be tightened up.  It always takes awhile before that gets done.

Barry went over a lot of stuff with the newbies, including working the pads.  I held pads for Ursula, and in turn, she held pads for me.  Renee and Amanda worked with Barry on the pads.  I got in a good workout doing that, as well as going in-between the bags. 

Tonight was the first time that I remember all the newbies staying until the end of the night.  Normally, most of them leave early on the first night, but they all seemed satisfied with what they learned throughout the evening.