I was going to do a dramatic post about heading into one of the tougher ghettos of Los Angeles for some sparring at an unfriendly gym, but that would be disingenuous because the guys at this gym were cool as hell.
While the fitness crowd often gets the evil eye from boxers, once your willing to step in the ring to mix it up, you’ll find boxing gyms are some of the friendliest places around. It’s a very tight knit community where everybody looks out for each other, at this gym even looking out for sparring partners from other gyms.
I had the pleasure of working with two excellent boxers tonight for 3 rounds. The ring rust was so thick I felt really frustrated upon exiting the ring. But looking back it wasn’t that bad. Here’s the good and bad:
The Good
- My footwork improvements from this past year have been substantial. Even with the ring rust my footwork tonight was 10X better than at my peak 2 years ago.
- I moved backwards smoothly, creating space with a single step back, and switched to lateral movement as needed so they couldn’t catch me.
- I was slipping the first and second punch well.
- I started landing a sweet counter left hook, stepping and leaning back while the guys charged in. This is cool because I never really tried this before. It was one of the major weapons of one of my old sparring partners, he was actually one of my toughest opponents, so this is a welcomed weapon. One counter hook I landed really clean, another I landed just alright.
- My trainer originally said I’d get 2 rounds, but they accidentally left me in for 3.
- I’m still pretty. Not a mark on me.
The Bad
- I was reaching like hell on my punches (throwing them before being in range). As a result I got countered a lot.
- I felt like I could never reach the guys. I’d double or triple the jab, and even if I didn’t get countered they’d lean off to a side and I’d forget to follow with an uppercut.
- One guy kept switching leads and I pivoted out once or twice to my left and ate big left hooks. I need to be careful doing this or lean to my right with my shoulder raised so it slides off.
- I was pretty angry at how much I either closed my eyes or was looking off somewhere, not sure which? I felt like I was starting over a few times completely oblivious to punches coming my way.
- While facing the southpaw, when I couldn’t reach him with a straight right lead I just got confused and pawed his lead hand.
- I ate a big body punch which really stuck with me. Don’t remember the circumstances, but I want to start landing those punches.
- I can never ever get off a lead left hook, I always eat a jab counter when trying. Tried once tonight same result.
February 5th, 2010 at 3:54 am
Sounds like you’ve found a good gym for sparring, I haven’t commented before but I’ve been reading for a little while, I can’t believe your gym banned sparring, glad to hear you finally got some in
February 11th, 2010 at 2:10 am
I’m glad to see you got some sparring at another gym. I smiled as I read this because it reminded me of my own experience sparring at a gym in a fairly rough part of Chicago.
That’s great experience, so I’m happy to see you are taking advantage of the opportunity. It gets you close to the kind of experience you will have later in the bout. You probably won’t know much about your opponent. At best, you’ll know a little about his style and weaknesses. Most likely, the first time you’ll see your opponent will be when he is standing in the opposite corner of the ring. Therefore, getting the opportunity to spar with guys you don’t know is helpful in preparing you for the competitive match.
Keep up the good wok!
February 11th, 2010 at 2:11 am
Or good work, if we want to avoid the inadvertent cooking reference!