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 2nd and 3rd 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.”
