Nerdcore Boxing

I have a fight scheduled in 4 weeks. But excitement is turning to frustration. My left rotator cuff (shoulder) has been killing me for the last few weeks and isn’t getting better. It’s not the kind of thing that would keep me from fighting, but it’s effecting the snappiness of my jab. I’m training hard and doing my roadwork, but I’m feeling exhausted. Dare I say I’m feeling old?

There was a bright spot the other day when I went to another gym and sparred with an open class fighter (10+ sanctioned amateur fights) and easily handled him. But then tonight I got in with a heavyweight that was 10x as mobile as me, despite a 30-40 lbs weight difference, and I could do seemingly nothing with him.

Worse thing is this guy has the style of boxing I hate the most, and have still not learned to face. He fights off his back leg from a philly shell. I have to penetrate deep into his defenses to land all the while he counter punches and rolls off punches. But this guy is even worse, he changes leads thus screwing with my entry angles and he’s all over the place.

I initially started this blog because even though I’ve been training in combat sports for seemingly forever, I want to compete. I want to enter the ranks of the real fighters. And I don’t have an abundance of time to get going. My wife is pregnant and due in mid January. I really need to fit in some amateur fights this year.

My ankle injury has been a major setback in this quest, but I’m over it. While an injury is a legitimate reason to miss training, last Friday night I skipped class and sat at home eating pizza. There is just no excuse for that.

October Is Crunch Time

I have work to do, about a months worth. I’m 178 lbs, 10 lbs up from my goal weight of 168. My trainer wants me to get in another 30 rounds sparring and be able to do 5 rounds at a time before fighting.

The good news is October is a new month. But if I don’t bust my ass this month, my dream may never happen.

I’m Making a Pact

These things I swear:

• I will not miss any sessions with my trainer
• I will do my roadwork/cardio a minimum of 6 times each week, and not miss any of our boxing club’s organized runs
• I will not deviate from my diet, and I will lose 10 lbs
• I will start fighting in November

I’m still working on the best way to do this, but I’m planning on dividing this blog into two. I will feed in my daily training diary, but the main aspect of this blog will be training tips, resources and commentary.

I’m working on a way to display the training dairy as a side blog and offering separate RSS feeds for those with newsreaders.