It’s just apart of the sport. Everybody’s going to see them sooner or later. The only question is how often will you see them?

”They say when you get hit and hurt bad you see black lights—the black lights of unconsciousness. But I don’t know nothing about that. I’ve had twenty-eight fights and twenty-eight wins. I ain’t never been stopped”
Muhammad Ali, 1967

Last night—in the third week of my journey—I took my first beating.

I’ve been battered before in sparring, but never like that. Today I’ll talk about that experience, why it happened, and what you can learn from it.

The Beatdown

Last night I sparred three different guys for a total of 5 rounds, I think, my memory’s a little hazy.

It started off well. I came out at the sound of the first bell and did what I do best—I stayed on that stick(your jab). I got hit with a right hand or two, but I controlled the first guy with relative ease.

Tony stopped it midway through to give the other guy some instruction. During that short break the only other white guy in the building complimented me on my footwork—I thought that was nice of him because I do spend a lot of time on it.

Anyways, Tony finishes, and let’s the kid step out of the ring to wipe some of the blood off his face and in steps Valentine.

I get the feeling I’ll be mentioning that name quite a bit to you guys.

Valentine is 30 years old, and is originally from Nigeria. He’s about 5’9 and weighs around 170 lbs. He has rudimentary boxing skills, but can bang like you wouldn’t believe—I was about to find that out.

Once again things started off well. Why? Because I was jabbing, moving, and keeping my distance like I should.

But then I get this great idea in my head that I’ll try something else. I’m a perfectionist, so I don’t only want to be good at one thing. In order to get better at the other things (like fighting on the inside) you’ve got to practice them right?

I picked the way wrong time to practice, and the way wrong dude to practice it on.

I stopped being offensive, and I stopped moving because I wanted to be close. What I was trying to do was defend and counter on the inside.

Yea, that didn’t go so well.

He put his head in my chest and went to work. I was able to turn him a time or two. But really I only jab well, and maybe I can say I’m pretty skilled with the right hand. Other than that though I’m certainly getting away from what I’m good at.

My hooks suck. My uppercuts suck. My movement on the inside sucks. My body work sucks. And most importantly my defense sucks.

I got so frustrated one time that I just put him in a Thai clinch with two collar ties and threw his ass into the corner…wrong sport. Tony got a kick out of it though.

He hurt me with one hook earlier. But then about 2 minutes into it he wrecked me with a right hand—left hook.

Mind you this is the same guy I owned a week before.

My legs buckled, I saw the blacklights, and Tony promptly called a halt to the round.

I was like, “I’m good coach, I’m good.” Except I wasn’t good. I didn’t know where the hell I was. I didn’t go down, but you take the headgear off and exchange the 16 ounces for 10 oz gloves and I would of tasted canvas for sure.

After I regained my senses we finished the last 30 seconds of the round…I don’t think either of us did much of anything, we were both gassed.

That’s what I get for trying to be on the inside with someone who’s only job is to be on the inside and punch.

Then to my surprise, Coach wants me to go another round. I must of looked at him like he was crazy. He wanted me to dig deep, but there won’t nothing left.

So that kid just beat on me for a round. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t punch, I coulnt keep my hands up…nothin’. And that’s the same kid that I mentioned in a previous post was scared to get hit by me.

He smelled blood in the water and took advantage. Good for him.

Whatever aura of invincibility I once had in the gym was now gone. Guys were getting bolder.

Just a good day at the gym

The car ride home was an interesting one. I rode with both Krishna and Tony.

They asked how I thought I did. ”How I did?” ”I got my ass kicked, that’s how I did.”

They laughed it off saying that that’s just ”a good day at the gym”.

They said there’s no way to learn from dominating everybody. But there’s always plenty to learn when you take your beatings. Krishna told me that it gives you pause, and that before you move forward you feel like you need to dissect everything you did incorrectly. Which he said, “Is exactly what you’ve been doing from the time you got out of the ring to this very moment, and that’s a good thing.”

I was really disappointed in myself. But Tony and Krishna made me feel better about it telling me that everyone goes through it. They even told me stories of all their ”good days at the gym.”

In the end, the beatings that each fighter has coming to them are necessary for improvement. All you got to do is remember to reflect on your mistakes and redeem yourself the next time you’re in there.