Celtic_Tiger's blog

Although a lot of my boxing was done privately, during my early twenties I had a number of “outdoor” or backyard venues fights. This particular match became a highlight reel in my mind that carries through to this day for several reasons. The first being that my opponent was a friend from my high school days who I hadn't seen for a few years. Adam had always been a stocky build, similar to my own. A wide chest with big arms and shoulders. Years, physical fitness and his volunteering with a local Fire Station had added to his build and strength. As did his working out with a heavy-bag and focus pads but that wasn't apparent to me till after our match concluded. His background a mix of Italian and Armenian gave him a Greek or Mediterranean appearance. Boyish face, handsome features with a strong, wide jaw and big brown eyes made him more model than fighter looking to me. Some extra weight around his midsection, not a flat stomach was one way he and I also looked similar, but he was bigger now than I was overall. He picked me up at the train station and took me back to his Father's house, the sizable back yard was set up for the boxing. His elder brother Brett had been there for a visit, and they had done some sparring with each other. Which explained the mark under his right eye and beside his mouth which he admitted was from Adam. All these clues went right over my head though. My ego was standing in front of me with it hands on my eyes apparently. His Father Brett Sr. hadn't seen me in years and was surprised to learn that I was into boxing. He was going to be playing the referee and Adam's corner man. Brett would be handling my corner. They had stools, large black mats set up to form a 12x12 area to act as a makeshift ring. Brett Sr. Showed me where I could change inside and that he would be handling the wraps and lacing of the gloves. Although I had brought my own pair of 16-ounce Black Tuf-Wear gloves that had Velcro and elastic closures. He had a much nicer set of black lace up Everlast ones that he presented as a substitute. I guess you could say he was a bit of a controlling type of person. They were new though and had that amazing hardness still. Agree, I went into the downstairs bathroom and got changed into my white protective cup, bluish-purple satin Tuf-Wear trunks with bright white trim, threw my towel around my neck and returned to the yard barefoot and shirtless. Adam was still inside but his brother and Father greeted me, and I took a seat on a nearby patio chair to get my wraps sorted out. Brett asked me a lot of questions about boxing, what my game plan was against Adam, but he didn't give me any hints. No pointers on where Adam would be open for attack. I honestly could see in his eyes he was hoping that I would kick Adam's ass, but he was still his brother and blood is thicker than water as they say. Brett Sr. took his time with wraps but didn't do more than listen to our conversation. He too was remaining neutral. I was taking on the hometown hero of sorts on his own turf. What could go wrong?

Adam emerged a few minutes after my wraps were finished and my gloves all laced on. His Father asked that we go barefoot as the mats had poor shoe traction, unlike actual ring canvas. Wearing a pair of black and yellow satin Everlast trunks, and his towel over his shoulder. He looked bigger to me somehow. A black ring of connecting patterns on his right bicep was a new addition, the tattoo made him look tougher. Clearly, he had matured. He gave me a once over and was clearly smirking at me. While his father wrapped his hands with black cloth, he kept on smirking. Brett noticed us looking at each other and chuckled. “Hey Dad, these two are really anxious to duke it out. Might move some of the expensive patio stuff away or it might end up broken.” Brett Sr. shook his head. “Duly noted.” Adam grinned and looked over from his father while the pair of lace up black Everlast gloves were being put on. “I figure if I could kick your ass Brett, a shrimp like Mike won't be much of a challenge.” His Father shook his head, Brett just gawked and when Adam looked in my direction, he saw that my expression had become quickly aggressive. It was a pretty badass comment though. He winked and as soon as his gloves were on tight, he banged them together and grinned, showing his teeth wide. Brett Sr. suggested that we warm up a bit with focus pads and do some stretching. Once we felt read, we would step to the centre of the mats as a signal it was time to box. He would than give us the rule break down. He preferred we kept the rounds two minutes in length and would be going four rounds total. It was our fight, but he was clearly the alpha male and being it was his property the bout was taking place on, he set the rules too. I honestly didn't care, I wanted to punch Adam in his smug face. His Father opted to warm Adam up and Brett took me over to the other side of the mats to warm up. Leaning in while I was throwing jab jab cross hook combos, Brett whispered “You have my permission to knock Adam the fuck out, he deserves it.” He looked over at Adam than back at me and winked, I chuckled. It didn't occur to me to go after Adam that hard though. I didn't even think to ask what level we were going to fight at. I just assumed that it was more exhibition level like more than half output. Brett commented that he could see I had good punching power, quick too. He mixed in some ducking drills and than tagged me to the stomach with the flat part of the pad. Exposing a weakness of mine to ignore my body being open after a duck. “Keep your elbows in man, Adam likes to work the middle” I nodded and than his father asks if we were all set. He came over with a small jar of Vaseline and applied a thin coat of it around my eyes and upper cheeks area. “Just to be on the safe side, no cut-man here.” He smiled and motioned for me to join Adam on the mats, he was already at centre with his gloves up at chest height.

The mats were a bit cold on my feet as I moved up to stand in front of Adam in the centre who was rhythmically tapping his gloves together. He would periodically stop to wind his arms around counterclockwise and go back to tapping. I could feel my cock harden in the plastic cradle of my jock strap and the straps along my inner thigh tightened a bit watching him. The gear made him look a lot tougher and his boyish face didn't have its usual soft overtone now. He looked like a hungry tiger waiting on its next meal. Standing a few feet apart we looked each other over and then locked eyes. He had a serious expression, but it melted into a cocky smirk. Brett Sr. stepped to the side of us and acting like a proper referee told us the ground rules. This was sparring not fighting and we were to keep it at that pace, keep on the mats or return if prompted and in case of a knockdown, to move to the patio chairs which was the neutral zone. He then turned to me “Adam prefers that you guys don't wear headgear, that okay with you? I have my reservations, but I'll allow it.” I agreed. Anything to get this bout going. This guy was talking too much was what crossed through my mind. Brett Sr. grinned and motioned for us to return to our corner stools. Mine was the blue corner. Once there Brett inserted my white mouth guard, and he gave my shoulders and arms a quick limbering up. Brett Sr. got Adam into a black mouth guard, and we were all set to start the boxing match.

I tensed up a bit looking across the black mats at Adam and the realization that we were going to be boxing each other fully set it. One would have thought it would of long before this, but until the gear is on and your across from the other man it isn't as intense. There was a strange ticking at first, counting off ten times and then the timer produced an electronic ding ding ding. Brett Sr. 's voice was clear and loud as he motioned to both of us to box. I crossed the span between us which wasn't that far, and we tapped gloves briefly before we raised them up in defence and the first round was underway. Adam started off the action making forward circular motions with his gloves and then a quick jerk of his left shoulder. I took the bait like a hungry fish and raised my guard up expecting a punch from the left hand, he tagged me instead with the right hand pretty solidly to the stomach just above my belly button. The hardened leather glove putting a dimple into the soft belly as it struck. First taste of his punching power and it was a pretty solid blow. I could see over the top of my gloves that as he delivered that shot his right side (my left) was wide open. I retaliated with an angled left hook that started off like a jab in form. It tagged him to the side of the face near the top of the cheek and he was caught flat footed as he hadn't seen it coming. The black leather glove levelling up against his tanned, rounded cheek was visually amazing to see. His wincing eye partially drooping. This threw off his focus on his second punch and we both pulled back into guard. Several seconds passed as we re-sized up each other and looked for openings. Adam moved in fast with jabs forcing me to guard my face, but my rookie defence left my mid to lower body exposed and he caught me with a solid one-two punch to my solar plexus. The area where the chest meets the stomach. Brett's cautioning words echoed in my head. Stiffness overtook my legs and my lower back locked up like a key had been turned. “Oh man, guard that better Mike” Brett's comments were just loud enough to penetrate my shaken concentration. I looked up to see a blur of black and then the stiff impact of a straight right met my mouth and lips flush and my neck stiffened up. My neck locked up, my lips were mashed flat by the black hardened leather and my eyes turned inward. I could see Adam's “game face” beyond the glove as his focus was paying off in spades. The punch crossed my eyes and produced a couple of white flashy specks of light. If my eyes could have knocked together like in some cartoon show, they would have. I could see Adam's face as my blurry eyes cleared and his smirk return. Seeing white flashes was one thing, but these light specks like when you sneeze to hard were a brand-new experience. His punch had made me see actual “stars” and my mind had very little time to process this information. His punching power would be a problem.

Backing off I got my guard up to defend against what I think were several jabs and missed blocking a strong right uppercut to my stomach. This was a lot harder than the previous body blows. I felt the air in my throat before it escaped my lips in a grunt and my body leaned forward. From the spectator’s point of view my posture showed just how hard the punch had tagged me. Adam had extended his body forward to land that punch and in doing so had put a bit more of his weight behind it. Effective and well placed it made me feel “seasick”, but I didn't want him to see how much it hurt me. Any reservation about going at him because we were old friends was pretty much knocked clean out of me. My only goal this round was to get him back for that and I crossed the gap before he could throw anything else. Right after the body uppercut hit me, he visibly paused to admire my staggered posture and pained expression. He was sure it was in the bag this round. He was pulling up his guard when I landed my first of two jabs flush to his nose and upper lip area. His face contorted out of surprised and the impact of the shots and bobbed his head like bate on a lake. I then pivoted on my right foot and struck him in his own solar plexus with a thumping straight right putting my weight behind the blow. Adam's eyes popped open in a cartoonish manner and his guard sank. Brett commented loudly “Payback time sucker” Adam's face sagged in discomfort and the punch had wiped his smirk off. Not waiting for him to recover, I went after his stomach several more times and my punches went in and slightly up knocking the minor folds of his excess midsection like water on a choppy sea. I had this image of a battleship on his chest being tossed about by the changing waters. Mayday! Mayday! I must have landed five punches in total before his thick arms grappled me and he clinched me hard enough to stop my ability to throw anything. Brett was cheering “Yeah, kick his ass, Mike!” He began hooking the upper right side of my face at short range until Brett Sr. stepped in and pried us apart with hands to our shoulders. “Ok guys come on, break it up here.” just after we separated Adam landed two good jabs to my face the second one tagging my nose and my eyes watered up fast as a familiar stinging sensation followed. The hits made me take steps backward, but I recovered and moved inside. The triple tick tick tick of the ten second mark sounded almost like a signal. Striking Adam in return to his chest with a few left jabs which were a bit weak, I was going to try and catch him with a right hook, but it was poorly executed, and he dipped under it and this time used his left hand to uppercut to my stomach hard. My mouth pulled tight into a letter “o” and my eyes both popped open. I had the classic “bowling ball” expression. “Damn!” was all Brett could reply. The electronic timer sounded, and the round ended on me still stunned from the shot. My mouth guard showing as I winced, and Brett Sr. helped me back to my stool. “Walk it off Mike, good round both of you.” he commented “Like watching a professional fight.” Sitting down in the folding chair I kept near the front edge because my back was stiff. Adam knew his boxing for sure. These body punches were causing me long term distress and after taking a sip of water I spit it out a bit slowly. Money in the bank as they say in boxing. Work the body and in time it pays off. Brett Sr. checked that I was good for the second round, and I raised my right glove to signify that I was. He was supposed to be attending Adam, but time didn't permit that to be switched up now. Brett was over by Adam working his corner and patting him on the back, but I didn't hear any audible advice. Adam clearly won that round, but it wasn't at least lopsided. I saved some face by returning some of my own body blows but his duck and counter work was clearly showing our lack in skill level. This felt like the prelude to a real glove war to come though as I am both Irish and Scottish and both sides of me are there to do battle.

The electronic triple knock sound which meant ten seconds till the next round went off and I stood up. Adam was already standing and tapping his gloves together. That same eagerness to fight covering the expression on his face. Brett Sr. grinned as he re-inserted my newly washed mouth guard and the chime just after he reached the middle of the mats the timer bell went off. “Ok guys, Box!” He made a hand gesture as he spoke this to indicate we should meet and touch gloves. We both got to the centre of the mats pretty quickly and this time we tapped just the one glove before raising hands and starting up the second round. Adam's training was showing now as he was in tight defensive stance with his hands held close together and up at nose level in the peek-a-boo style. Mine were up but not as close together and my elbows weren't in the right position to parry with. I jabbed first though, went right after his face like the gloves weren't even in the way thinking he might relax them as he avoided my shots. He just defended them with his guard and hardened leather met hardened leather with its distinct sound, as I was going to throw my right cross off the third jab that was blocked, Adam sidestepped still in tight formation and pounded the back of my ribs with a great left hook. He pivoted off this punch and struck me now to the side of my jaw with another left hook which sank hard into my cheek area. No time to even process the pain in my ribs area from he is opening hook, his jaw hook replaced my head with the first strands of cob webbing. This made me cover up properly and I took two steps backward before moving counterclockwise. Adam threw another punch that fell short by mere inches to my nose. “Quick feet on Mike, stick and move bro.” Brett called in a commanding tone. Whose side was this clown on anyway. Having moved out of range it forced Adam to come to me to retry his punches but as soon as he was in range, I threw out punches to the face and body. Left jab high, straight right low, left jab high and right hook low. Forcing him to pick an area not to be hit. He opted to block the body work and took the face jabs to his chin. Spittle flew off his lip and his neck locked up. I felt like I was hitting a doubled ended bag at some gym, seeing bullseyes on various places. In the zone. His eyes were a bit glassy now. Not giving him an inch, I put my hip into a right hook that caught him just to the lower part of his temple and side of forehead. This shot rocked him, and he made a kind of angular stepping motion before falling forward to land on a shaky knee with both gloved hands down propping him up like a track runner waiting for the gun to go off. Brett Sr. signalled me to go off the mats over by Brett which I did. I was looking at Adam, the knockdown was a shock to Adam, and it showed. Brett patted me hard on the back. “That was a great shot! He's hearing the birds now” Brett Sr. gave Brett a disapproving look that I noticed, and Brett looked away sheepishly.

Adam shook his head free of the cobwebs a minute or so later and stood up. Brett Sr. held his gloves and held up some fingers. Then he gave him a proper standing eight count. Nodding he motioned for me to return and the round to resume. The knockdown shook Adam up a lot. He was a lot more defensive now and I was the aggressor going after his exposed ribs and stomach every chance I got but those magic bullseyes were gone. Several of my body blows made him double forward and grunt or groan. Looks like I had just opened up my own bank account fucker. Toward the end of the round however I was getting a bit sloppy through my sudden burst of over confidence and two of my direct shots to his eye and nose area were both deflected, and he counter punched me hard to the chin with a straight right that made me stagger and sway. The backyard was like someone had put it in a blender and hit the spin button. A heavy-handed shot struck my solar plexus as it did in the first round and my back, hips and legs all felt like someone had turned them into a cement block. Adam kept the pressure on landing a couple of good face punches and in the mix a few to my right eye that started the road to blackening. The hardened gloves blocking out my face like some strange eclipse and hitting my eye like a wrecking ball.

Then like he had taped a stick of dynamite to my chin and lit the fuse, BLAMMO! He dipped down and pivoted to land a classic right uppercut flush to my jaw. Having seen how a good uppercut causes the opponents face to sag and frown up greatly. I figured that was how I looked. Both eyes were shut tight, and my jaw was bending to take the shape of his rounded glove. Everything went from a burst of blurry vision and a huge mass of those light specks flew off everywhere. His arm still up completing the punch, then his face, then his chest all a bit out of focus but these lights dancing all around and then something cool and strange hit my entire body in several spots. The mat. I flopped forward and had stuck it flush. Arms at my sides, ass up as my knees locked. My ears filled with a vacuum like rushing sound and all other sounds seemed to be coming from a great distance. I wasn't fully unconscious, but I was very close to that state of confusion and my scrambled brain wasn't able to clear things up to be any help in beating the ten counts. Adam had just knocked me the fuck out with one masterful uppercut bomb. Brett Sr. got me laid down, and Brett assisted in getting the smelling salts out of the first aid kit. I came too still blurry but my vision clearing to all three of them standing over me and I was lying on the sweat spotted mat head tilted back slightly. My mouth guard had been pulled out and thick clear spit flowed out now from my agape mouth. Brett Sr. had a deeply pallor complexion. Adam was asking if I was ok, and he was apologizing for punching me that hard. Brett was slightly smirking. I could see it, but I didn't say anything about it. I was too busy watching the last of the stars dance before my eyes. Once my head fully cleared, I assured Brett Sr. I was okay. He had gotten an ice pack for my shiner. I got to my feet and gave Adam a strong handshake. Gave him his respect. Sitting down in one of the patio chairs while Brett handed me a beer once my gloves were off. I never saw that uppercut coming.

The End ~