Haymakers from hell

For those of you who know me, you've probably had to hear about me talk about my training for the past two months. I've been whining about giving up caffeine, alcohol, and most of my social life. I've been constantly tired, stuffing my face, watching my diet, monitoring every pound I gained/lost. If you've been putting up with all my b&$ching, thanks for the support. Special thanks to Mike, Chris, Erin, and Al for all the work you put into beating me into shape. Here's a recap of how everything went down with video.

I'm one of those people who never gets nervous until the moment before a big event, and my May 16th fight was no different. Thinking back to my last fight, I found myself overthinking and trying to be overly technical. Consequently, I lost much worse than I should have because my opponent wasn't that much better than me. The one thing I wanted to overcome for this fight was to go in with aggression and to not overthink during the fight. On a positive note, I accomplished my goal and I was satisfied with my level of aggression. On the other hand, because I was trying to not overthink things, my post-fight recap of what I was thinking is pretty boring, but I'll do my best.

Round 1 "His clinch was better than it looked"
I knew I wanted to set the pace early, so right off the bat I move in to deliver the first combo. As I finish up with a rear leg kick, I can feel my centerline slightly exposed and I see him winding up his cross for the counter. I move to cover but it still lands, solid but not hard enough to really stun. I think to myself, "Instincts were right, this guy's a counter fighter." I move back in with some combos trying to cut the angles and throw his counter's off. I land a couple solid shots while slipping some of his punches, and I feel him close in for the clinch. After watching his last fight, I knew I had to be wary of this, and now it was time to see just how good it was. I put up a good clinch battle, but my mind is so focused on not giving up position in the clinch that he lands several curve knees on me before I can think to return one. The ref breaks us up, and I can see it in his eyes. He's afraid of me from the outside and he's gonna close in for that clinch. We continue this dance, I land a few solid punches and he goes for my head disoriented until he gets the clinch and I eat a few knees.


Round 2 "The Little Cross that could"
I knew I didn't want more of the same. As the bell rings for round 2, I can hear my corner yelling to stay long. With the way round 1 went, I couldn't afford to get caught up in his clinch. I take the first half of the round. With every punch I land I can feel his legs wobble a bit, but I don't want to stay in too long. I finally fall into his clinch, but this time I remember to throw some knees. Apparently I suck at multitasking because while throwing knees, I started losing position in the clinch and had to fight to get my head up, eating some delicious knees while I was at it. Then just as the round is about to close I get him backed up against the ropes. I know he's going to reel back from my jab and attempt to follow my combo with his cross that I've been eating all night. I take my chances and throw a lazy jab to cover his sight and follow it with a huge right cross. I feel it land solid, but I see his head dropping down. Thinking he's bobbing down at first I throw 2 hooks. Miss. Miss. The ref hasn't pulled me off yet, so I'm about to follow with a rear leg kick even though I've finally realized he's out. The nice guy in me decided to pull the kick. I waited for the 8 count to end, but the round ended first. Lucky mofo... I smelled blood.



Round 3 "Haymakers from Hell"
Mike was telling me during the break that I won that round 10-8, which was great. But I knew he had the full minute rest to recuperate from the knockdown. Round 3 starts, and I part of me wants to rush in and capitalize. One look in his eyes and I see fear, but he doesn't look dazed. I feel him out with a combo, staying long thinking he's going to close the gap fast. He comes back with a nice counter. I know he's not dazed anymore. I still can sense the fear in his eyes, and now I know I can knock him out. Every time I come in I see his head open, and I wind up for a knockout punch. Looking back, everything I'm throwing turned out to be a haymaker. I land a solid left hook and watch him stumble away. I want to chase, but his eyes still look collected. He keep at it until I can tell both of us are winded. I musta missed the sign for the last 10 seconds, because right at the end he moves in for a combo and catches me with my cover down. The first shot lands, Dazed, I move in to clinch. Wham wham! I feel two more shots land solid on my head. I try to bob under and out, but its no good I eat two more. The round ends just in the nick of time. I'm not sure I could've told you my name at that moment.



The ref calls out the decision. "Winner by majority decision.... in the BLUE corner." I feel this rush overwhelm me. All those months of hard training flashed before my eyes as I held my hands up in front of the crowd. Two weeks later, and I'm still riding that high, as I prepare for my the WKA Nationals tournament on June 26/27. Apparently my first fight went so well, that I was asked to bump up to the Open division at Nationals to vie for an invitation to compete in the World Championships in Spain later this year. I'm bucked up and ready to go.