I was derailed in my attempt at switching gyms. I called up my leading prospect and in the process of talking to the trainer I found out their guys only compete a few time each year. My current club has guys fighting every few weeks, often every weekend. I guess this is not surprising since theirs is an MMA gym and they’re dividing their resources scheduling fights in several sports. Still I will consider them in the future when I migrate back to MMA, but not right now.
I turn 35 in April, which means I’d have to compete in the Masters division if I don’t fight by then. So this is my last chance to compete in the main pool of amateur boxers. Lining up fights can actually be tough and disappointing if your opponent drops out, so to ensure I can fight by April I need a gym plugged into the local boxing community.
I’m coming to the conclusion that changing gyms is not a good idea right now. I think I need to have “one for the road,” a fight with my current club and then move on. This means I’m going to have to do the travel for sparring thing, and go with my trainer to other gyms for sparring partners. I’m not a big fan of this, because on foreign soil where other guy is not on your “team” it’s sometimes not sparring but an actual fight. Most guys are cool but sometimes your opponent is looking to practice KO’ing strangers with his big right hand.
My trainer is spinning the situation saying the road warrior route helps him train better boxers. He said it toughens us up and shows us lots of styles of opponents. I’m not sure if he believe it, but it’s a good bit of rah rah propaganda nevertheless.
