WCBL – The aftermath!

Did you spill my pint??

I’ve finally got around to it…  Whats taken so long?

I was knocked senseless and its taken 6 weeks to get over it.

No, not really!  Although i did take a bit of a hammering!

So i turned up, 6pm it, nice an early as nobody knew what time they would be on.  And, we drew the last slot on the card.  The headline bout?  Who knows!  Anyway, it was a long wait.  I considered getting pizza delivered.  I spent a bit of time amongst the audience, trying to pick out and speak to the guys and girls that came along to support me.  I missed a couple of people for which i wholeheartedly apologise, but thank you all for coming along for the support.

You’d think time would fly by, knowing that you’d be stepping into the ring in front of a baying crowd.  Let me tell you, it didn’t. Time dragged and dragged.  The last 15 minutes did however fly by!  I’d manage to collar Alex to be my cornerman, we did some pad work. My opponent, Rob, was called to the ring.  Then i was called.  I was a little thrown out, THATS NOT MY MUSIC SO IT CANT BE ME YET!  It wasn’t my music, but it was my call to the ring anyway.  I got a lot of boo’s… Seemed that Rob had a much larger or louder crowd, or at least, more drunk & rowdy!  I walked… calmly, casually.  Trying not to let the nerves show.  Believe me, no matter how focussed you are, or think you are, the nerves are there.

Another very weird thing, is once that bell dings, suddenly, you are completely on your own.  You don’t even hear the crowd.  Just me. And him. And a nice respectful bit of boxing.

Nah, was it f*ck!  Within seconds he rushed at me like a lunatic at a bar brawl pinning me to the ropes!  Realising that this was how it was going to go down, i returned the compliment with a headlock and punches to the face!  We got separated and both warned…  The next bit of engagement was much the same… As i broke from a headlock, i stupidly had my guard down and took a belter of a left hook.  That screwed me right over, quite frankly, i couldn’t really see straight from that point.  I continued, but working from instinct and feel.  We exchanged.  Rob put a WWE throw across the ring on me.  A couple of body shots and i was done.  The ref gave me an 8 count and i had to make a decision… am i able to continue?  I weighed things up…

• Can i see straight?
• Is there a liklihood of actually getting injured?
• Would the end of the round give me time to recover enough?
• Have i got anything to gain by attempting to continue?

So that was that.  Then there was some crazy ring invasion!  I still have no real idea what that was about, i couldn’t see much anyway, i was just aware of bodies coming into my physical space that shouldn’t be there.  Security dealt with that.  And it was edited out of the official video.

Oh, and naturally Rob and I had a chat and a laugh about it afterwards.  Seriously, WTF is wrong with us?  That aint right?!

So, my thoughts…

I need to be fitter!  On a personal note, i think i put up a decent showing considering my physical issues, but ‘a decent showing’ wasn’t enough.  But you know what?  I stepped into that ring, and i stepped out of it with my head held high (although spinning).  I also feel that i have ‘unfinished business’ in the ring.  I was outgunned. On this occassion.

Enough of my rambling… here’s the vid footage

Thank you to WCBLondon, to the guys and girls in our training sessions who all put their hearts and souls into it and being a great bunch!  And to my family and friends for putting up with me and supporting me along the way 🙂   Why not give it a bash yourselves?

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WCBL – Week 12, Showtime!

W/C 8/12

Crazy week!

I’ll be honest.  The phone has been crazy.  I’ve been in and out of London for interviews all week.

Interview question – could you tell me one major decision that you have made that has been a big impact on your life?

Sure i can!  I decided i’d give boxing a go, shortly after having started walking again.  It was a bit of a drive to help get back into shape.  It’s given me a bit of sparkle back.

Hmm… so how do you think it would sit with our clients if you were to come in to work bruised and bashed up?

Clients being healthcare execs, medical experts and so on.  It was a fair question.

Its a one-off event, i said. Charity, blah bah blah, kittens.

How did you get on, did you win??

I’ll be able to answer that on Monday!

Training this week has been a bit, shall we say random.  As has the diet.  I finally succumbed to MaccyD’s.  Lots.  Right now i’m feeling a little fat.

On the plus side, I submitted my ring walk music, which is arguably the hardest part of this whole thing.

I have put a decent amount of time in on the bag though.  Concentrating on a bit of footwork, getting in and out and combo’s.  Also ensuring that my guard doesn’t drop.  I’m getting far less fatigued.

Today is Friday.  And tomorrow is the big event!  I’ve packed up my bag ready, so i have less to worry about on the day.  I put about 40 minutes onto the bag.

Then, just messing about and without gloves/wraps on, i gave the bag a good whack, misjudged and mishit it, bending my wrist.  Although the pain was sharp, there didn’t seem to be any lasting damage.  We iced it for a few minutes anyway.

So i guess this is probably going to be my penultimate WCBL blog entry, the final one being the result and possibly video to follow.

It’s been a blast.  I can see myself continuing the training, i’ve enjoyed it immensely, even when getting bopped in the face.

Would i fight again?  Well, that depends.  We’ll see.

Would i recommend it?  Absolutely!  Not only have i improved my fitness levels, i’ve met some great people along the way.  I’m sure we’ll be knocking shit out of each other at some point in the future, then laughing about it.

Seriously, what?  That’s not normal behaviour, is it??

And incidentally, i will let them know on Monday, as I am now employed in the healthcare industry.

WCBL – Week 11

W/C 1/12

At home.  Feels a little odd as i quite like running around Buckingham Palace, and using the underground car park.  Weather has been a bit dire.

Monday – Neck and jaw still pretty bad.  The jaw’s ok really, but the neck is causing some issues.  I need to sort out a phone – work have agreed to let me use their phone for a few day’s whilst i sort something out.

Oh, had a call about Thursdays’ conference call interview, went well, it would seem.

Tuesday – A bit more movement in the neck.

Wednesday – Neck.  Improving, but don’t want to further damage things, so taking it easy. Had a rejection from a previous interview but interesting feedback.

Thursday – Really need to get moving again.  Heavy bag.  Did 15 minutes on the bag and video’d it.  This was really useful!  I could see exactly when and where my guard was dropping.  Why didn’t i do this sooner?  Took a bit of a break, then set up an interval timer to mimic 3x2minute rounds, and see what i had learnt from watching myself.

If there’s one piece of advice i would give to somebody, it would be to video yourself on the bag!

Friday – Did a few minutes of skipping, then more bag. The lead hand (left, jab) tires quickly, so spent 3 rounds mostly working the jab and keeping my right up.

Friday night, i headed over to Camden to watch the white collar ‘Londons Calling’ event, which was an awesome evening!  Good to see some of the guys n girls that i’ve been training with laying it down.

Saturday – Opted not to go to training.  Quite frankly, i want to avoid any chance of injury prior to the event.

BAGWORK BAGWORK BAGWORK SKIPPING!!!  That’s how its going to be from here on in.

To whet your appetite…here’s some footage i took on friday…

Doug (red) v Big Andy (blue) – 2 people i’ve gelled well with. Doug, as he and I are like the elders of the group… and big Andy, as we’ve sparred together a fair bit

 

Then Stuart Laming (blue) v  ? – Stuart’s a top lad, we hooked up on Facebook right at the start of training and have spurred each other along throughout, despite being in different training sessions.