haha tnx wesrman buddy. you're 48 mins late, but the guys back at the boxing place got it, plus facebook too. Some of them were funny. Some chic wished me happy Bday, called me an azzhole and I think suggested giving me a hummer. or atleast that is how my imagination interpreted it.

Congrats on the fight too.

Keep your chin down next time.

Thanks man.

lol yea it hurts today. Could be worse tho.

Like I said, not going to be posting any fight vids, except maybe some light sparring stuff if I can get around to taping it. Here is a pic tho from a championship final match back in November. 2nd round about to start. This one ended in an RSC-O2. That means TKO, and this was on pts. As soon as there is a 20 pt difference, the computers automatically turn on the auditorium lights and fight over.




Part of having success while in the ring, is to be focused on your opponent and nothing else. Not an easy task. Some of my first fights I swear I could hear peoples conversations 6 rows back during the fight. Not a good distraction.

Tonight was more like it!

Showed up at 5:30, and a couple of our gym's top heavyweights were suiting up to spar. I warmed up a couple rounds of shadow, and some quick stretching, and then I jumped in with my southpaw buddy. I should note that I didn't feel great sparring after such a light warm-up... I'm going to have to start showing up earlier for an extended warm-up.

The first couple 2-minute rounds didn't go great for me. I was sluggish, and I didn't land too much, while taking some good shots to the jaw due to dropping my gloves. We had a break while others sparred, and we jumped in for a 3rd round. This time, I was very focused, and I stepped back to avoid nearly all of my bud's jabs and hooks, while unloading with bigger combos on him.

A younger, competitive fighter showed up (about 6'1 and 160) and I went in with him for 3 more rounds. He has his fourth fight coming up in two weeks. I have to say, I've been working very hard at training and it is showing in my conditioning. I hung with him for mixed 2 and 3 minute rounds, cardio-wise. Skill-wise, he is far more advanced than me. He was really comfortable fighting off the ropes and out of corners, so I controlled the centre for the first two rounds. I would approach, he would pop me either with a jab or a duck, and hook+follow up, and I'd have to figure out a way to get around his long jab to reach him. Great experience, and I'll be showing up for the spar class + regular workout tomorrow night as well.

After the sparring came the torture. Tuesday's at my gym are endurance nights with the competitive trainer. He set up the usual 15 station circuit, and we went around twice, with 2 minutes in between. I'm not sure if other gyms set up workouts like these, but the stations consisted of working all-out for 25 seconds on, and 5 seconds to switch stations. They included: burpees, lots of hard modified push-ups, lunges w/weights, sit-up + 1-2 combos, etc etc.

After two spins on the circuit, we hit the bags for 3 hard, 3-min rounds. #1 was speed punch-outs in 15-second intervals on and rest. #2 was a brutal round of regular bag, into speed punch-outs, into power punch-outs to exhaustion. #3 was 10-second intervals of speed, into 10 seconds of crunches, into 10 seconds of stance... repeat for the 3 minute round. Two rounds of shadow to cool down.... and it's 8 o'clock. whew!

Major weaknesses:

Lifting my chin and tilting my head back to avoid punches. I need to keep the chin down, hands up, and block/step back/duck instead.

Holding back on my right straight. I felt I couldn't reach my second opponent with it, and I got clocked every time I tried to use it, so I relied heavily on jabbing. In actuality, I'm slacking and not throwing it fast or hard enough, so I will work hard on that.

Tomorrow, 5:30 spar and 6:30 regular workout.

Sounds awesome raze!

A couple of tips to practice with some things you noticed you are doing wrong, as in dropping the hands when beginning, a big no-no. No need to explain how you'll find that out in a hurry. lol. A little exercise to help correct that is when doing heavy bag work. You're orthodox right? Put a handwrap between your cheek and your right guard, and spend about 3 rounds jabbing the bag. If that wrap hits the floor, add on a round cuz u just screwed up. That'll motivate you in a hurry to keep your guard high. It is really mportant when beginning sparring/fighting to keep a high tight guard. I say this as a person who carries an low lead left haha, but the thing is, I didn't start this way. Once you get all the basics down, you slowly develop you're own style depending on skill set and natural affinities.

To keep your chin tucked in, holda tennis ball under your chin when shadow boxing. That or a pair of socks or handwrap. These things really will help keep you on track with staying with the basics. And at this stage, it is VERY mportant you do that. Far too many people jump into sparrng thinking they are the next RJJ. And what they fail to realize is, he didn't start boxing with his hands on his hips...he developed that style to go with his super freakish speed over time. And most find out the hard way. lol

You sound like you have a really good grasp on where you are at and what is going on at your club. That's great, and it will make all the difference in how fast you learn.

I could go into a lot more stuff from what you've shared, good stuff you've done/noticed mainly, but mostly, cool post raze, enjoyed reading it.

how old are you yb?

I'd rather not say, if that is ok tbk (becuz of playin poker). But my birthday was yest. and can pretty much guarantee younger then likely everyone here.

Looks like I might have a fight on June 6th. Bit of a last minute deal, but it's not too far to travel. Not sure if going to take it or not. Body is feeling weak and I really feel I need the recoup. I know it sounds silly, as we often don't fight for more then say 9 mins max, but we put a lot of effort into being prepared in every aspect for that 8-9 mins of pure physical output. Add on all the travelling time for it, and it truly does wear a person down.

We'll see. I have a home show main event fight later in June so will likely just set my sights on that. But if I feel good enough, June 6 maybe as well.

p.s. I finally ate a nice big steak today! My jaw was too sore for anything after Saturday that wasn't mushy and soft. lol

Quick recap of my workout today... goin to see Terminator soon.

Got there late due to traffic, but I still did a good warm-up and I was sparring by 6:10. I didn't do the hand-wrap trick you suggested because I needed to warm up ASAP, but I kept it in mind. I went with my same southpaw buddy, and it went well. I kept my chin tucked for the most part aside from the first round, and I added more straight rights to my game. YB, quick question - should I throw more of these rights even though I'm 99% sure the guy is out of range, and they won't connect?

I then went two rounds with another southpaw - a much more experienced boxer than me, about 6'2 and 190. He was getting over the flu, but he had a lot of cardio, and he really wore me out. I was told I was holding back a bit too much with my right still, but I kept the chin down, and that was a major win for me today. The class started at 6:45, and we did 20 minutes each of footwork drills (fun), and 20 of bag work including straight rounds, jabbing rounds, and moving. Finished as always with cardio punch-outs and today some push-ups and dips. Great workout although much lighter than yesterday, which was good because my left elbow was ON FIRE after sparring 4 rounds. It's been bothering me since I did power work on the bags on Thursday. I'm going to work out tomorrow, rest on the weekend, and hopefully it will feel good on Monday.

YB, where is the fight on June 6th?

Quick recap of my workout today... goin to see Terminator soon.

yes, jabbing isn't just about making contact, it is often more about set ups, working your way in, or creating distance and control.

With southpaws, you need to fight your natural urge to circle right, and instead circle to the left. it won't come easy, but work at it. As well, him being taller, you need to pressure him, and cut off the ring as much as possible. I know this, i'm a tall fighter and own the outside. A good shorter fighter can get me in trouble by forcing me into the ropes or corner. Just beware if he is a sick counter fighter.

Is supposed to be in Sudbury. but they are going to have to bring someone in from the states for me to fight, or an older open class fighter from Southern ON or Que. Frankly, even if it gets put together, not sure I am up to it.

So when he's taller, I gotta make the moves to get inside, right? Makes sense... when I have the reach advantage I find I can let my opponents walk into my jabs. I never considered circling left to the outside, that makes total sense as well! I'll spar again next week and I'm anxious to try this out.

I asked about June 6th because on that evening, there is an event here in Ottawa in which my gym will be heavily involved. I love fight nights

haha, cool! I know the Ottawa clubs as have meet at shows, and tournaments! My sparring partner had an Ontario championship match for mens against Victor O. from Beav., and won a close decison last Oct. I won my division for Ontario too, RSC-2. Small world. Might be going that way this summer for a visit cuz got family there. If so will be sure to hook up before hand for a visit and workout.

Who is/are you heros?

Is there any boxers that you wish to emulate, or any that have styles you find unorthodox but interesting (thinking of Frack on this one).

Ya know, I'm a bit different then many boxers in how I began. I boxed for over a year and 1/2 before I ever really knew anything about the sport outside of the ring. By that I mean, all I knew was Tyson was a beast, RJJ was slick, there were a few guys named something like Holmes and Foreman back when, and Ali was the greatest. Pretty much what any person walking down the street would know. But I knew my way around a ring.

I then decided to learn the sport, to study it. And I still am learning. Funny thing is, I learn it's history not so much from boxers, but from fans of the sport. I've really come to appreciate all sorts of fighters, for all sorts of reasons. One example is B-hop. I liked, and still do like Kelly Pavlik. I like how he carries himself, his humility, and his hard hitting style. But knew he was one-dimensional in being a straight line fighter. When he fought B-hop, I watched an older, wily fighter, a man who works harder then anyone else in the sport, totally exploit that weakness of Kelly and put on a master display of lateral fighting. That impresses me. Inspires me.

So I guess I don't really emulate anyone in particular, but do try to learn from everyone. Their strengths and weaknesses. So good question for me daveT, I appreciate it, got me thinking.

p.s. Just got back from the club, and was complaning about being drained to my coach, so he put me thru one of the hardest cardio skill sessions I've had in a while. lol. Then put me in the ring to spar with a visiting Muay Thai profesional fighter out of New York, haha What a prick my coach is sometimes, but he knows what I need I guess. It hurt like hell, not the spar, I did very well, but the workout overall. Had me on the ground gaspin g for air as he kept saying, 'you wanna quit, you wanna quit" lol knowing full well I'm too stubborn to take that kinda $hit. lol So yea. was a good night. kinda hope I got a fight on the 6th now.