Championship Road

So as some of you will know, about 2 months ago, i signed up to compete in a White Collar Boxing Event. This was all to raise money for Cancer Research UK.

I'm glad to say that in this event we have raised over £6000 for this charity, and over 12.5 Million as a whole.

When i first heard about this event, i was merely thinking, that this sounded interesting. It was a way for me to increase my confidence, and hopefully lose a bit of weight in the process. So i signed up, and i started to regret it almost immediately. The first meeting we had, everyone who had signed up was there and we all found out what it entailed and what we had to do.

But while i was waiting for it to start, i got to talking to some people and i found out that about half, had done boxing before in the past, and were actually pretty good at it. Then there's me, no skills, not experience, out of shape, and shit out of luck. That being said, i decided i would try and see it through to the end.

We had to get a minimum of 20 tickets sold before the end of the 4th week, and we had to raise a minimum of £50 before we were guaranteed a space. Now those that know me, know that i can't sell to save my life, so i knew that this was going to he a challenge from the beginning. However it seems that i have some very good friends out there, they bought the tickets that i needed, and also donated to help a good cause. And i think to see me get punched in the nose, but that's a story for later.

So the first week of training came by, and i had all these stupid imaginings that i would be able to get stronger and fitter, sort of like a Rocky Training Montage, or something out of DragonBall Z, but alas, it was not meant to be. The first week of training was mainly just exercising getting people into shape and getting to know what everyone was like. This was a good thing because i got to know a good few people, and we learned the basics of what we needed to know.

2nd and 3rd weeks of training were much the same, however, they had us do some technical sparring. I met a very nice lad who was my sparring partner for the day, Wayne. Wayne was nice enough to let me get some punches in and actually feel like i was accomplishing something, and it helped to get my confidence up. However, this turned out to be a double edged sword, because you see confidence without something to back it up, is just ego.

My next sparring session, i was against someone who wasn't as nice, and i soon learned how inexperienced i was as i got knocked on my ass. I was alright, but it showed me that i still had a lot to learn. As the weeks of training went by, i realised that i still had a lot of training to do, the training sessions got harder, and it just seemed that i was falling further and further behind.

They moved on to fitness training, doing interval training, and it was at this point i hit my first real hurdle, my body just couldn't take it, i couldn't breathe, my chest was tight, and i could barely move by body. That was not a good day for me, but it made me more determined than before. I wasn't going to just quite this like i do with most things that gets hard, i was going to take this to the end, and i'm glad i did.

I managed to get into training a bit more, and my next few sparring sessions weren't as bad, i was learning, and improving, but my general fitness wasn't getting any better, it was purely just my experience that had increased, which allowed me to give the image that i was improving. Skip ahead 4 weeks.

This was last night, the Night of the 23rd March. Today was the day that the boxing event was going to take place, and i was determined that i was going to be there for the full 3 rounds, and show that i can achieve something too. That i could do something worth while, rather than being a bystander and just watching others do something. I was there by 3:30, ready to start medicals at 4. However they did not start until about 6, and i later found out that my match was number 12 on the docket, this meant that i wouldn't fight until about 10PM. This meant that i would be waiting around for a total of around 6 hours or more before my fight even begins

Some people say that it's the knowing that's the worst, and i can agree. I was walking around, or just sitting down on a chair, listening to some music. I did this for almost the full 6 hours, and all the time the nerves were increasing, i tried to sit down and empty my mind, listen to the music. And for a while, it worked, i was relaxing a bit and i was starting to look forward to my match. Until i stopped concentrating and then they all came flooding back.

This obviously did not bode well for me, but i was determined that i was going to see this through to the end, and i was going to go for my match no matter what, win or lose, i was going to take part. That and i couldn't back out at that point as i had at least 9 friends there to watch me compete. So i had no choice in the matter really, The Show Must Go On!!

So finally, after what seemed like days, my match arrived. I was told that there was supposed to be a 5 minute break before my match, which is why the trainers hadn't come down to start warming us up first. HOWEVER, that was not meant to be. It seems that there was some confusion and the break never happened, so i was told i had to get ready to find without warming up, and to get ready to enter the ring.

So i walked up to the door, listening to my opponent walk in and get ready, the nick name he had chosen was "the Bear". Then they came around to announcing myself, "the Psycho". However where as everyone before me, had chosen really upbeat pumped up music you'd hear in a film like Rocky. I chose something more my style, something that i thought would get the people singing. "Country Roads" and it worked, everyone seemed happy and was singing along to the song. So i started my entrance, took my time and entered the ring.

The ref brought us to the middle and give us the usual talk, no hitting below the belt, listen to what he has to say, and then we were off. Now for a whole week before my match was due to take place, i had this one friend, who was insistent that i take the initiative, go in and throw a big right before anything else happens, and catch him off guard. I believe that this was my downfall. You see i took his advice, and i throw a right, and it did seem to hit. However this only made my opponent angry, and wailed on me, constantly throwing punches.

The First few punches hit their mark, and it must have done something before blood starting pouring from my nose like Niagra Falls. I was still breathing fine and i was determined to see this through, so i continued. However the Ref saw this and told me to corner so my team could try and stop the bleeding. It slowed for a few seconds, but as soon as the match started again, he continued, i got hit and the blood kept coming.

It was then unfortunately that this point in the match 30 - 40 seconds into the first round, that it was stopped, and i had lost by TKO. This was not the type of match that i wanted, i honestly feel now that i wanted to go the whole 3 rounds, win or lose, i wanted to work for my match and show what i had achieved, but alas it was not meant to be.

And so, it was with this that any dreams of maybe continuing the training started to vanish, and i felt that i hadn't really accomplished anything, nothing had really changed. But you see i was wrong, i changed, at least a little, i'm not the same person i was when i started. When i started i was already wanting to back out. I wanted to go back to my safe little corner, but now, now i know that i can accomplish something i know that i can get hit, i can get knocked down, but i'll always get back again.

This isn't an inspirational story, or a dramatic story of victory over adversity, it's simply a realisation. No matter how weak, or inferior you believe you are.

You! are stronger than you think.