Nerdcore Boxing

I dropped by a potential boxing club last night and was very disappointed. The only people near my weight were chubby teens and nobody was working very hard. I saw lots of socializing near the bags and the two kids in the ring “sparring” were beating the living crap out of each other. Add to that gangsta wannabes loitering out in the front talking about a street fight they got into. Yeah, rejecting this place was an easy choice.

I’m going down the list to my second choice tonight. This particular gym has awesome hours, great facilities, a convenient location and the price is right. Historically it’s been a boxing gym, but they also have an MMA class which is a bonus. I originally ignored this place because it’s a few blocks from my club and my trainers aren’t fans of the close competition. If I choose this place my trainers will be really pissed when they find out.

It’s very easy to back off training with the delay in competing. I had Mexican food and a couple beers while watching UFC 111 Saturday night, and there was an incident with a small ice cream sundae. Also I convinced myself that my foot and ankle needed to heel and skipped running Saturday and Monday.

Fortunately training has become a habit and slacking off feels odd. I pulled it together last night to get a 2 hour workout with my trainers and this morning ran sprints.

Tonight I’m going to check out this new gym. If all goes well I’ll be with a new boxing club within a week and be able to get the same quality of work while showing up 30% less. The more convenient hours means I’ll see my son every night, handling the biggest strain on my training. And did I mention getting more sparring?

Since I’m heading for USA Boxing’s Masters Division, I have about a month before I can fight. Without the 35 year old age cutoff that gave this training camp urgency, there is no “fight by” deadline. Additionally there are not as many opportunities to schedule fights with the “masters.” So I’m currently pondering the logistics of extending out hard training for several months.

Right now I run in the mornings and do two hour sessions with my trainers Mon, Wed and Fri. Those sessions occur during the inflexible times of 7-9 PM. I go to my club right after work which means I often don’t see my two year old son those days (by far the hardest part of camp and a major source of parental guilt). Plus with my gym’s insurance issues I need to travel for sparring Tues and/or Thurs/Saturday. Yet due to tournament conflicts not much sparring has occurred.

I might take this opportunity to jump ship and find a gym with more flexible and convenient training times and plentiful sparring opportunities. I could get the same quality of work 3-4 times/week and see my son every day. I might actually be able to find one trainer I like instead of the schizophrenic approach of two trainers contradicting each other and playing style tug–of-war with me. And after all, I already had a backup gym lined up before camp started.

No matter what I decide I’m going to continue to train, post on this blog and stay in top shape over the next few months.

Last night I knew something was wrong when Mexican Style worked with all the guys fighting this weekend but me. Then at the end of the session both my trainers sat me down for a long talk. They told me that after discussing Tuesday’s sparring, they won’t let me fight this week.

They said if Tuesday’s sparring was a USA Boxing fight, it would have been stopped via TKO. I only had enough to keep it competitive for one round. My hand speed, work rate and endurance are not far enough along, which is a big issue with a stocky guy like me who has limited reach.

They said I have the skills, I work hard and I’m real tough, but my body is not responding to training as fast as it used to.  And with my gym’s recent insurance issue banning sparring and the Golden Gloves interfering with lining up partners elsewhere, I have only 19 rounds sparring for this fight, significantly below the 30 round minimum they recommend.

They explained that the sanctioned boxing scene in L.A. is full of ethnic gyms who import very experienced fighters from Mexico, Armenia and Russia to restart their amateur careers at 0-0-0, even though they may have been training since they were 6 and have 30+ fights (or already gone pro). Because of this when a young athletic guy walks in off the street, they overcompensate by giving him a couple years of steady training, conditioning and unsanctioned fights before his first USA Boxing fight.

As my regular readers know, my dream was to have this sanctioned fight before I turned 35 and enter the Masters Division. But my trainers now want me to wait until I turn 35 and fight in the Masters. Another month would allow me to drop weight, increase endurance, restore hand speed and rack up more sparring.

We briefly discussed unsanctioned “smokers,” which they say I’m easily ready for, but it will be very hard to find one I could enter within the next month. The issue is I’m registered with USA Boxing and they’ve been clamping down on registered boxers fighting unsanctioned shows. If I get caught fighting a smoker it could ruin a potential Masters career. They reiterated that USA Boxing’s Masters Division is where I should go.

I didn’t take this very well. I argued that I’ve been training for 6 years (well off and on) and have around 100 rounds sparring against a lot of Open Class (10+ sanctioned fight) amateurs and a couple pros. And I’ve outboxed a number of these guys.

They countered that after taking off 2 years, having an  8+ week camp is not enough for a 34 year old. They kept going back to where I was before the two year layoff and how much it affected me. They said I was in much better shape, almost 10 lbs lighter and had faster hands and feet. Originally they anticipated taking that guy into camp for a sanctioned fight. They said if I would have stuck with it 2 years ago I’d probably have 10-15 sanctioned fights by now, but not to dwell on the past…

They really pushed that as you get older you need to build up and consistently stay in shape, not attempt 2 month camps before a fight.

What’s Next?

I don’t know. I do know that my life cannot maintain a constant 15hr/week training camp commitment for 1-2 more months. I have a wife and kid, we’re house hunting and my wife will soon start working again requiring me to be around more to pickup and watch the little guy (we have no family in LA). But yet I’m sure there are options for me to pursue my training and make the dream come true.

I have a lot to think about. I’m going to take a rest day to think things over and heal the whiplash I received from Tuesday’s sparring.

As I rolled into this gym last night I had a bad feeling about sparring. Every time I go to this one city in Los Angeles for work, I get beat up. I would name the city to give my readers insight into the Los Angeles boxing community, but I don’t want to encourage the city’s residents to whup me anymore. Instead I’ll call it City X.

The two times I’ve sparred in City X there were large gatherings of 6 or so gyms. You get matched up with a guy you’ll probably never see again. Meaning a guy who could care less about hurting you, or banging up a guy like me who has a fight this very week. Additionally the boxers at these gatherings are very experienced. It’s where I get to see pros spar and amateurs with 50 or 100+ fights. Last night was no exception.

The crowd was bigger than some of the small shows I’ve attended. The location was pretty badass, in a Spartan sort of way, a boxing gym in kind of a dumpy ghetto community center. There were about 40 or so boxers and trainers huddled around. To add to the visual flavor there was an adjoining weight room full of lifters who looked real tough but none of whom got in the ring. When I got there two pros were fighting an absolute war. After that it was mostly amateurs who decided to continue the tradition of brawling.

My Matchup

Not counting my first 30 awkward rounds of sparring I rank last night up there with some of my worst sparring.

I don’t know who my opponent was, after he beat me up for 3 rounds he beat a second guy up for 3 more without breaking a sweat. Despite a similarity in height, the guy had a lot more reach. He had fast heavy hands and great conditioning. His counter style worked great against a guy like me who often had to come forward to get past the reach. I often times walked into hard upper cuts, straight rights and hooks.

Fortunately I got the video of the ordeal so I could analyze it in depth. As always my first round was my strongest, some body work, landed some jabs, a right hand maybe. Nothing too clean or powerfully though, that was my main problem, I didn’t launch enough of a variety of offense and land cleanly enough to make him respect me. He took away my offense with counter punches then tee’d off with his power arsenal.

The second round I got tired, but I’ve been training to work through fatigue so it wasn’t as bad as usual. In the 2^nd and 3^rd rounds I tried to clinch a bunch, and got in some good hooks, more body punches and jabs. He landed lots of power shots in all 3 rounds. There was one hook that stumbled me and (with a ref) would have been a standing 8 count for sure. With the ever cautious USA Boxing refs there might have been one or possibly two other standing 8’s too. But I recovered from all those shots well, you couldn’t see any sign of them in my legs.

I know that guy was more experience, and I haven’t had sparring in 2+ weeks, but I felt terrible. I felt like I didn’t belong in there and like I was a fraud. But then I watched the video and my spirits lifted. I looked like a good boxer who was just overmatched and never made his opponent respect him. My balance and footwork were solid, my hands were up and my defense was good all things considered.. I’d love to see video of myself having a good outing against somebody of comparable experience.

The Aftermath

I’m beat up. My face isn’t marked up, but my jaw is sore and my neck is all jacked up from power punch whiplash. I jammed my thumb and twisted my left ankle. I’ve had this blister on the ball of my foot all week, it keeps getting torn up exposing deeper and more tender skin each time I work out. Without the adrenaline pump of boxing I limp when walking. But I’ll be healed for my fight Sunday.

What I Need To Work On

I’ve given up on the idea of feeling fresh for 3 rounds. Maybe it’s because I’m nearly 35, maybe to maintain this level of fitness requires for more weeks or months, maybe my gym has me overtraining… This isn’t the time to ponder the reason. When I get tired my punch count drops and my hand speed slows, I just need to overcompensate with effort.

All my trainer’s coaching points are right, vary my entry, let my right hand go. Don’t always lunge in, let him come to me and counter. I run when I’m tired but it doesn’t work, it encourages them to come after me. Instead take one step back and go back in and attack.

As they say in boxing, “train hard, fight easy.”

My last post was in error, the fight on Friday is not nearby. And instead of coordinating multiple fights Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, all my teammates are going out together to fight on Sunday. Assuming there’s a matchup in my weight class, Sunday March 27th is my fight date.

Last night was a tough workout. I feel like it’s a bad idea to overanalyze every workout I have this week to judge how I’ll do in this weekend’s competition. But last night went well and my endurance and hand speed definitely felt improved.

I need to take this one day at a time and focus at the task at hand. Tonight is sparring at a brand new gym. Tonight is all about pushing through fatigue, being efficient in moving around, countering and letting my right hand go.

This past weekend, even more inconvenience from the Golden Gloves running over. Two shows I showed up to for registration were cancelled. Unfortunately boxing people don’t put up websites to post updates on cancellations, they don’t even have a number to call with a message you can listen to. I did a lot of driving for nothing last weekend then arrived at the third show and registering with USA Boxing. I can now fight a sanctioned bout!

My trainers had disagreed over the requirement to be registered one week in advance, and after all that driving I found out it’s not true, you can register the day of. Even more logistics, I need to get a USA Boxing approved cup, shorts that fit over the big padded cup, a tank top and shave off my facial hair. I also need USA approved headgear, but that I can borrow from my club. I’ll hit the boxing supplies store on my way to the gym tonight.

Good news is I worked out on the weekend and instead of gassing and feeling overtrained, I feel like I’m peaking. My arm/shoulder endurance and hand speed jumped dramatically. I ran eighteen 75 meter high intensity sprints up a mountain and had no soreness. This morning I casually ran 3 eight min miles. Tonight I’ll spend 2 hours with my trainers.

Bad news, no sparring last Saturday, which marks two missed weeks. My trainers either are pretending they aren’t worried about it, or they’re putting on a good face for me and worrying privately. I’m not going to dwell on it. I won’t be the first boxer with a screwy camp and minimal sparring. I just want to get in 6 rounds on Tuesday to get my timing down before the fights this weekend.

I’m going to get a fight this week for sure. There are sanctioned shows Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Los Angeles is a great boxing town…

There were no guys to spar with last night. First everyone is unavailable because of the Golden Gloves sign up. Then they have their fights. Then they’re watching their teammates advance. Now they’re recovering. Frankly I’m worried about my lack of recent sparring. Last night my trainers assured me I’m going to get a lot of sparring in the next week, and that I can make up for missed sparring rounds with extra conditioning.

Tonight I’m missing my workout because I have to drive out to a show and meet with the USA Boxing officials to get registered to fight in sanctioned amateur events. Apparently it slipped my trainer’s minds that registering has to be done one week in advance before fighting, so no fight this weekend. This leaves 3 weekends of fights before my 35^th birthday.

If you don’t count my run this morning, skipping training tonight will make it two days off in a row. Since I’m always bordering on (or actually) overtraining, the time off is nice. Last night I chilled with my family and I’ll do the same tonight. I already feel refreshed, I’m sure I’ll be itching for sparring and training tomorrow.

In the afternoon, at work, is when camp wears on me. In the mornings I’m still riding my post run high. Evenings I’m either training, enjoying the post workout buzz, or spending time with my family. If only I could skip afternoons.

My mind wanders in the afternoons. I don’t worry about being an inferior boxer, I’m confident in my skills and I’m truly not afraid of losing. Losing is 1,000X better than quitting. And I’m not afraid of getting injured, I’d happily sit back and heal over a plate of spaghetti & meatballs and a glass of red. Err scratch that, baby back ribs and beer, yeah that would be my medicine.

I am afraid of getting tired and not putting up a fight in the later rounds. The thought of looking back and regretting how hard I worked in camp sickens me. More than that I fear getting hurt and not being able to fight. To do all this and have nothing to show for it, absolutely horrifying.

Mostly I’m just tired and hungry. I miss leisure time, I miss my wife and son and I can’t wait for a time when the cloud over me lifts and I can be carefree. You can box because it’s fun, or because you have a big chip on your shoulder. In the afternoons it feels more and more like I just have something to prove.

The night started out rough. One of my trainers, Mexican Style, made a comment about one of my sparring partners who just fought in the golden gloves being, “pretty good for a whiteboy.” Said right in front of me no less (I’m white). I guess it’s not surprising because he’s always making racist comments about black boxers in private. But when one of your fighters of that race is standing right there…

It made me mad, and kept me steaming for about a half hour. It kind of implies he doesn’t believe in me or my potential. Besides, the last time I sparred that other cracker, I worked him over really good. Can’t I also be put on his white boxer exception list?

To add fuel to the fire they turned off the A/C. To my trainers this seemed like a good idea, but I’m slipping on sweat puddles. Then I’m noticing my hand speed sucked. Not sure if it was just last night or it’s not increasing through camp. A few years back this wasn’t an issue. Then I feel myself gas… I almost went home.

That was my low point, but things turned up. We have a new trainer in my gym, a really cool, laid back but tough Armenian boxer who had a long and very successful amateur career and fought in the pros. Recently he’s been grabbing me for mitt work. He gave me 3 good rounds.

Then with no rest, Mexican Style picks me up for mitt work. He pushes me hard for almost 10 rounds, skipping breaks for many rounds. Working on speed, combos and letting my right hand go. Oh your shoulders are tired? We’re going to do specific drills to work them harder, no between round breaks.

I have never sweated so much, or felt so dead after training. I passed out into bed, slept like a baby, even missing the earthquake at 4 am (was a 4.4 on the Richter Scale). Tonight there may be sparring.