A Night at the Fights

Yesterday, the guys at the gym and I went to Ottawa to watch some amateur boxing.  It was pretty good and gave me an idea of the kind of caliber of fighter I'll be fighting when I get in the ring for the first time.  Quite frankly, I wasn't all that impressed.  I'm not sure if my technique is lacking as much as theirs and I just don't know it, or maybe they only had a couple months of training under their belts before they got in the ring.  Good news for me, bad for my first opponent.  I pity the one who steps in the ring with me in a few months time.  (I hope that doesn't come back to haunt me...)

Anyways, the fights were at the Rideau Carleton Raceway and were presented in conjunction with the Gale Kerwin Boxing Club.  It was quite obvious, as most of the boxers came from there and most of the fans were there supporting the boxers fighting from that club.  There were 10 scheduled bouts, but only 6 actually took place.  One of the other gyms and one of the other fighters backed out, unfortunately.

The first fight was the one I was most interested in at first, mostly because it was my weight class (middleweight) and the fighters had pretty much no experience in the ring.  Like I said, I wasn't impressed be either their technique or their level of conditioning.  I will fare much better than either of them did, I guarantee it.

The second fight showed a lot better technique.  It was a lighter weight class (140lb) and the fighters had both had 12 fights under their belts.  The fighters were Mitch Blais (Cornwall) vs Tim Smith (Peterborough).  Tim did a fantastic job and was very quick, but as sometimes happens with boxing, the judges don't see it the way the fans do.  Mitch Blais ended up winning, but the fight I saw had Tim dominating the entire time.  You can make up your own mind, as I videotaped one of the rounds (all the rounds were like this one). 

The next fight was a light heavyweight bout which saw Bryce Douglas annihilate David Pelletier.  Like the first fight, these two didn't have much ring time and Bryce Douglas came out swinging hard.  It looked more like a street fight than a boxing match, but Pelletier didn't punch back.  He hid behind his gloves and took a beating until the ref stopped the fight (I think in the first round).  The doc had to look at Pelletier twice.  A few quick jabs would have kept Douglas off of him, but none materialized.

The surprise of the evening came in the next bout when Krishen Ranji made his big debut for the Beaver Boxing Club.  I don't know if this guy was high on something or completely out of his element, but what ensued when the bell went was quite bizarre to say the least.  Watching him in the corner prior to the fight, you knew something was going to happen when the bell sounded.  He was tense and ready to run across the ring.  Well, that is exactly what he did.  He sprinted across the ring and tackled his opponent (Ed Cottrill of Kerwin Boxing Club) like it was a UFC match.  He picked him up and slammed him into the ropes and down onto the canvass at which time the refs intervened and disqualified him.  Of course, the understanding fans boo'ed him away which almost resulted in a brawl as he made his way back to the dressing room.  All I can say, is that if I was his coach, he'd be punted from my gym faster than he sprinted across that ring.

The next two fights were rather uneventful.  One heavyweight match which saw Rock Bosquet beat Fayer Matar and another middleweight match where Kevin Van den Detelaar defeated Stephane Bosquet.  The heavyweight match was supposedly some big deal for some reason or another, and there was a huge number of fans there for Rock Bosquet.  I didn't see anything special about either of the fighters.  The middleweight match was interesting because both fighters had some experience.  It showed.  Their technique was significantly better than the first fight and I actually learned a thing or two from this one.

All in all, it was a good night.  Would have been better if all the fights had taken place (after all I paid for them), but I guess fight night is like that.  On any given night, fighers will back out, get sick, get injured or whatever.  It's part of the sport.  In addition to the video I posted above (I apologize for the poor quality, I took it with a digital camera, next time I'll take my video camera...), I also posted a bunch of pictures from the night.  Not too many good ones, but take a look at my image gallery if you want.

On the personal front, the nose is still healing.  I'm back in the gym and I am focused on turning into a monster over the next 4 months.  Conditioning, conditioning, conditioning.  I'm going to shed every ounce of fat I have and replace it with muscle.  Have to be careful I don't move up a weight level though.  I want to fight middleweight, not light heavy.  Until next time...box on.

P.S.  What did you think of the Contender tonight - back to back episode - bonus.   Gomez showed a lot of heart.  To come back from nearly being knocked down.  That's what it is all about - never quit - never die - never give up.

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