Fight Night !

So it had finally arrived, Saturday 16th July, that mystical date, that had been a distant, never going to get here, date, had actually arrived.

Having slept a lot better than I thought I might,  I had just one hours work to do in the morning, then meet a couple of my friends who were flying over for the night, and hopefully find something to fill my day.

Our original plan was too play 9 holes of golf, then head to hotel in the late afternoon, but due to the rain, we just went for lunch and headed to hotel early to make use of the pool and sauna etc, very relaxed afternoon and gave me a good chance to catch up with my mates.

As they had to get ready early for dinner, I headed home and made myself a banana omelette, which I ate then and some broccoli, cauliflower and salmon for later on as I wasn't fighting till about 11ish, but wasn't sure how I would be, it ended up I had no problems and scoffed the lot about 9pm.

Got back to the hotel about  7 and sat in room watching TV for about half an hour, before my boredom kicked in, decided to sneak down and have a peak into room, where we would be fighting.
This ended up the worst piece of sneaking in history, as soon as got near the door, I met one of my friends, so had a chat with them, but before I knew itI had meet about ten people, I knew so, decided it would be just as well to go in and see my guests at the tables.
Thankfully there was another couple of boxers there, so didn't feel too bad going in early.

I was very relaxed at this stage, which I put down to the fact the fights hadn't actually started yet, but everyone asking me if I was nervous, wasn't helping the situation and as the night went on, the  drunker everyone got, the worse this was to get, I eventually started staying away from the tables, although I appreciate, everyone was only trying to help.

We were all called up to changing area for our medical, which was quick and passed by everyone.

After this, the first real buzz of the night started as the two guys, up for the first fight started getting changed and warmed up, Fight Night was definitely here.
I decided just to see how I felt, regarding watching fights, wasn't sure if I would be more nervous in watching the fights, or sitting in my room, watching TV, twiddling my thumbs.
As it turned out, I ended up doing a bit of both, although I mostly left the hall, when people, who were getting more drunk, started giving me advice etc. Although again, I know everyone,was just trying to help, sure all the guys were getting this.

The fights I watched, were brilliant, so evenly matched and everyone doing themselves very proud, the 600 strong crowd were definitely getting a show. The nerves if any, guys had seemed to disappear as soon as they came out to their particular entrance music, which is a massive part of the experience and really makes the the night, even more professional.

Miles and me were on 10th out of 11 fights, which ended up being about 11.30pm.

I was amazed how relaxed I was about the whole thing, which I put down to the top quality training I have received in the last ten weeks, one of the biggest differences, between this and an amateur fight, is that we have all trained and sparred together, so we know exactly who we're going to be facing and have sparred together and been trained to fight that particular opponent, so that helped a lot.


Even when I got changed and had done some pad work, I was still really relaxed and ready fro the whole thing.
When I say this I don't want to sound like I was really confident of winning, far from it, but I knew i was ready.

So Miles was called out first and I could here the atmosphere was getting louder as the night went on. Which for me was brilliant, my attention seeker impulse was back.
I was given the signal to stand in position, ready fro my entrance, I could see all of my friends had already gathered round this area, my entrance music was DJ Fresh, 'Louder' which meant I had a 30 second stand before it kicks in and I head to the ring, which I thought would seem ages, but went very quickly indeed, before I knew it, I was in the ring, my Fight Night, was definitely on.

Although its very difficult to say when your actually boxing, I will try and explain how I thought it went.
First round, I felt a little bit slow in getting started a problem, Miles definitely didn't have and his punches were a lot harder than when we were sparring.
Second round was a bit better, as I had realised fight night was here.
Third Round, I was glad it wasn't a four round fight !
Then it was done, that was it, ten weeks, 29 sessions, 6 minutes, thats it all over and i was still on my feet !

So after we had congratulated each other and thanked Tony in mine and Gerry in Miles corner, it was back into the middle, with referee Steve Collins for the result.

And the winner is Miles

So that was it, all over, I had been beaten and not even a broken toe to use as an excuse !
But fair play to Miles he has worked extremely hard for this and was an awesome sparring partner and guy to train next too over the last few months, so no complaints at being beaten by him.


Next up a few cold beers !

Looking back at the whole experience, I cannot explain how amazing it has been.
I am so very very proud to say I am one of these 22 guys, who 10 weeks ago, mostly, myself included had never having lifted a glove in a boxing ring, to where we are now, the show that was put on, was worthy of the 600 strong crowd who were lucky enough to witness it,  there was not one bad fight on this wonderful night.
Although all our thought did go to Guy, who unfortunately dislocated his shoulder in his bout, with only about 30 seconds left and had to be taking to hospital, but fortunately got out a few hours later.
All the guys attitudes, determination and desire to do there very best, during this very tough period, was as high as I have seen any group of sportsmen in my time as a footballer or a trainer, amazing.

But the biggest thanks and respect must go to Ben Murray and his team of Allan, Tony, Gerry, Sam, Colin, Ricky, Harry and Mick (who although not part of the team, gave us all very useful advice during the ten weeks).

The professionalism, which runs through this entire team is phenomenal, not only at the weigh in or fight night, when everyone is watching, but during ever gym session, when its just us and them, every session is done for a reason, ever exercise, is there for a reason, ever word spoken to you, ever bit of one to one work is there for a reason.

That reason is not to just get us through 3 x 2 minute rounds, it is to get us through 3 x 2 minute rounds, looking and boxing like someone who has been doing this for years not, weeks.
And to a man, each and every boxer did that, I can't imagine Ben or his team, thinking someone could've done more, or let themselves down, yes, some of us got beaten, some of us won, some drew, but no one can take away from us those ten weeks, that transformation, the ability and belief to step through those ropes.

So a huge THANK YOU, to everyone in the coaching staff, there were no favourites, no one got extra training or better advice. We were all equal, we rose together, we are all better for it.

Also a huge thank you, to you, yes YOU, whoever you maybe, whether one of the boxers, a coach, a friend, a friend of a boxer, whoever, thank you for reading my little blog, it has been a joy to write and I have had some great feed back from it, I will post photos from the weigh in and fight night in next few days, so look out for those, in the usual places

So lastly (and this time I do mean it)

Thanks Ben

Where I go from here, what next adventure I put myself up for, has a lot to live up too, I can't even begin to think of anything that could top this experience.


Craig :-)


P.S Does anyone want to buy some boxing boots ?