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.
