Fight Night Review

And so it came...

Saturday the 14th November.

After a week of mixed training, not trying to push myself too hard on the bags and tire myself out, instead just working on 4 2 minute rounds of movement throwing punches all the time to condition. Running through combinations and punches in my head, practicing them in front of a mirror, spotting my weaknesses and trying to improve. A week of training and sparring on the monday, tuesday, wednesday and thursday with friday off to recover and rest.

Saturday the 14th November.

I woke up, calm, relaxed, I knew I could fight, I knew I was ready. My 1 worry was my weight. The fight was at 64kg, all week I had been around 64.5kg, absolutely nothing but my inexperience wasn't sure how easily this would be lost so I ate little just in case. A 4 egg omlette, some grapes and enough water to see me through. I would weigh-in 2 hours before the fight and I brought a pack of Jaffa Cakes to munch after, I was sure I'd need the energy.

At 7pm I arrived at the venue, Pallazzetto dello Sport "M. Benedetti" and dropped my bag in the changing rooms. The ring stood in the centre of the hall with seats on 3 of the 4 sides and another for the announcer and judges. Looking up was another spectator area where people could look down on the action.

The weigh-in. Given my card and form and into a side room with 3 people. Strip down to boxers and a t-shirt and step on the scales. The moment of truth...62.7kg. I'd made it with plenty to spare, I could eat again. Next time I'll try and be closer, I think I erred too much on the side of caution. A quick medical examination of blood pressure and reactions and I was sent off to prepare myself to fight.

Still time to go, I sat in the upstairs spectator area and listened to my i-pod and surveyed the scene and ran through how I wanted to fight. Move, move move, use my height to good advantage and keep him away, hit him when he stepped in and move off again. Confidence was high.

At 8pm I started to change into the Black shorts with White Trim and Black Vest of A.P.U (Associazione Pugilistica Udinese). On went my shoes and a jumper and I went out into the gym and started to warm myself up. Light jogging, dynamic stretching, static stretching making sure my boy could move easily. Some shadow boxing, moving around the room throwing punches, simulating the fight. All the time my friends were piling in to the spectator area above. English, Irish, French, Slovakian, Swedish, Spanish, Canadian and Brazilians. I'm grateful for every one of them for coming and hearing them shouting and cheering me on really spurred me on when the exhaustion was setting in.

8.45 - The presentations. We stand waiting to enter the ring with a packet of coffee, a gift for our opponents. The hosts are finishing their speeches and we're off. I look up to see my supporters cheering and smile. I'm so calm and relaxed and enjoying the experience. And the the names are announced, the first time I see my opponent. Shorter than me (definate advantage), stockier (potentially stronger but certainly slower). This was definately someone I could beat. We eyed each other up and shook hands. We'd be meeting again in a few minutes.

We left the ring and back to the changing rooms. Anna sits me down in a chair and puts Vaseline all over my face and arms to stop any cuts from appearing. A strange feeling when you aren't used to it and I'm up again. A last warm up before I step in the ring.

The first fights over, now it's my turn. I head down and wait ringside. The headguard and gloves go on. Last instructions from the coach in italian and broken english. All was understood...fight my own fight and win. I step into the ring. My name is called and I step forward to the centre, arm up I turn and present myself to the crowd and judges, big cheer from the Internationals and Udinese. This is great, I thought I would be a lot more nervous but there weren't any. I'd been looking forward to this opportunity for a while. Last instructions from the referee, we touch gloves and back away.

The bell goes and we're off. I move and jab, looking for an opening. He's doing the same but it's me that connects first. He hardly throws anything and I think I take the round (This will be sketchy as I havent seen it on video yet!) The bell goes and I walk back to the corner, this is good. I'm breathing heavily but I'm not tired. 3 more rounds like this and I'll walk it. The corner are happy, they want me to control the centre more, it's tough for me because I've always fought on the outside but I'll try.

Round 2, the bell goes again. He's immediately on the attack and for the first time I'm caught by a shot. It's nothing, I've been hit harder by Joe and all I'm doing is moving and countering, he walks onto a lot. I'm trying to control the centre but I can't as he keeps coming forward but he's not really hitting me much and again I think I take the round.

Now I'm tired. In England there would be 1 more 2 minute round to last and I'm confident I could hack that. But here there's 2 and I'm just trying to suck in the air and recover to cope. I've watched these rounds back on video and I narrowly lose both. I strongly emphasise narrowly. My punches are weaker and although I'm connecting with a lot I'm just trying to keep him away and survive. He's stronger, it's not his first fight he's a lot more experienced than me and it shows. He keeps coming forward and throwing strong punches. My tiredness means my defence slips and he's connecting with more. I'm throwing back still, lots, but I look weak, he looks strong. The 3rd round ends and I'm exhausted. 1 more to go and it's as described above.

At the end, I lean on the ropes, I'm knackered. Damn that was hard and I knew it would be close but I thought I'd done enough to take the fight. I clearly won the first 2 and narrowly lost the 3rd and 4th. On scoring punches I would probably take it. My corner thought so too. The one worry was his strength in the 3rd and 4th. The tiredness of my punches compared to the cleanness of his could count against me.

It did...DRAW.

I was happy. I wasn't beaten in my first carded fight but I was annoyed, I thought I'd done enough to win. Having said that out of the 5 Udinese fighters that night I was the only 1 who didnt lose.

I know how I need to train now. Fitness and Strength, my technique is good though I could work on getting more power into my right hand especially. Body shots would also help too.

Till next time which could be a while. I fucked up my wrist playing rugby and it's in a cast for at least a week. This has obviously dented my training ambitions but I'll have the christmas break free of work when I can get out and do the hard work in the gym.

Mandi ragazzi!

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Fight Night round 1

As many of you know...I'm a keen boxer. And now it has arrived, my first fight. Saturday 14th November in the Mario Vecchiato Memorial Trophy held at the Palasport M. Benedetti. My opponent will be a Francesco Battello from Monfalcone.

I took this fight on a weeks notice so haven't had anytime to build up to it and worry. I'm nervous slightly of course but I'm also confident. Sparrings been going well but theres always a knock or two to keep me on my toes and stop me getting over complacent. Weight is almost perfect. The fights at 64kg and I was a 1/4 of a kg over on thursday night so all is good. I'm feeling relaxed, I'm moving well and I know that if I box clever the way I normally do I'll win.

When it's over I'll write a report on how it went. On to Victory!

Mandi!

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