On On Friday, May 29th, 2015 I competed in Boxing Ontario’s Golden Gloves tournament.
Bout #11, Semi-Final’s fight against Ali Greey from Atlas Boxing – an opponent who beat me 7 weeks earlier at this tourney’s qualifier – 2015 Silver Gloves.
The 7 weeks leading up to our 2nd fight, I worked like a mother fucker…
I dropped 10lbs with the support of Nutrition Coach, and fiance, Ron Dykstra.
Stepped up my conditioning with S&C Coach Daniel Smith.
Boxing Coach Tony Wallace, brought in female Pro Boxer, Natalie ‘Sugar’ Brown to push me in sparring, and strategy.
I went into this match with a mindset of win or lose, it was my mission to find my flow, and do my best. This Fight wasn’t about the win, my opponent, students, friends, or family – I had something I needed to prove to myself.
Well with all of that I lost, but learned valuable lessons…
I’ve heard stories about refs distracting Athlete’s with bullshit calls, but when you experience it….well you learn.
In the first round I was cautioned twice for low head while weaving, once for slapping, 1 suspect standing 8 that pissed me right the fuck off, and the last standing 8 that came 6 seconds before the 1st round ended.
What the actual fuck.
6 seconds?
The fact of the matter is, in a FIGHT the only thing you can control is yourself – not your opponent, the ref, judges, crowd – just YOU. I let the ref distract me from my primary focus, which was the Boxer that was in front of me. No matter the FUCKERY, you keep your mother fuckin chin down, and keep putting your combos together. THAT’S IT. That’s not just Boxing, that’s LIFE.
7 weeks of work , for 8 minutes of fight, to a Fighter those 8 minutes are glorious.
Putting together the pieces of your training into a magnificent tapestry of power, and prowess, you will encounter road blocks, obstacles, and that’s why you have Coach(s) to help you navigate, and perform your best through chaos.
I accept the loss, however, I feel robbed of an opportunity to fully express my FIGHT, but its all good, because its really not about the destination, its about the journey.
Thank you to clients, students, friends, and family that came out on a Friday afternoon to support my journey. It is far from over! Look out for team Battle Arts fighting June 13th, 2015 – We keep it movin.
