LOSING MY CHERRY

THIS ONE'S FOR KEN ..!

Of course I remember a lot about my boxing! I did it for over 25 years! But when I think about my fighting, I remember the minutae the most, the feeling of someone huge body against mine, hacking away at an opponent with hooks, setting himself up for follow up punches ... and yes, even getting cracked myself a few times.

I turned pro out of Carolina, having enrolled at a small school in the town me and My Delta Girl lived. I was working at a local Manufacturing plant, and life was good. One day I was driving (yes Nathalie, I once was allowed behind the wheel of a motor vehicle!) and I saw a punching bag hanging from a tree in a yard. I stopped and inquired at the house adjecent to the yard, and found out it was a local fighter who lived there. Eventually I would catch up with the cat, and find out the low down.

Now in the backwoods of BOXING, it is very 'Bull Durham-like'! Even at the higher levels of the sport, there is a certain familiarity to it. But in the low minors, it is super Mom & Pop-ish! Like the minor leagues in baseball, the out of the way places like the Mid-east and fly-over country, is where major city fighters go to 'get better', finding a local cat and beat the stuffing out of 'em as they get ready to get back to the 'majors'.

FLY IN THE OINMENT

My first fight was some cat from New York, and his record was 11-1 with one draw. Don't know how many knock outs he had, but he had laid off for a couple of years, and was working himself back into being 'ready'. Like the low minors, there is a reason the fighters in the out of the way places are regarded lightly. Many of the guys are the toughest cats in the saloon or former wannabe high school football stars, with a hankering for boxing. But here I sit, a former National level amateur boxer, who began in Detroit. Whoever had fought me for my first fight, was going to get a load. I used to train with world champions! I KNEW how to fight!

The Army coach at Ft. Bragg was working corners, and he recognized me and got my hands wrapped and ready. We talked mostly about how nice a little place was where the fights were held, talked about his promotion to E-8 ... oh, and my opponent!

Honestly, this was how I was like before most, if not all of my fights. Fight night was too late to be wondering about this and that (I bet y'all wonder WHY they aren't related!) as far as the fight goes. My Delta Girl was already primed on 'the rules', which are NO CRYING IN BOXING. Because I am small for my weight class, the cat I am going to fight is ALWAYS huge. I had seen a guy fight Mike Tyson on his way up, and his girlfriend was crying before the introductions! So that is when I put that rule in play, because that is like giving up before throwing a punch!

So I am smiling, and when we went to get checked by the doctor, I am trying to talk to my opponent, asking him about the cats I knew that fought out of the NYC. He was busy trying to do the 'tough guy' no talk thing, but I didn't care. I kept on talking, to cats who were in line with me, to the people working with the doctor, anybody who even glanced at me! Part of my method is to make myself as human as possible, and that is how I would get into someone's 'head'!

I never worried about my 'intimidation' factor, because I suscribed to the Evander Holyfield school of intimidation ... look and be capable to fight as hard as it took to win. All I have to do to make a cat nervous is to get on the scale and take off my robe! What it looks like I can do to you, well, that is what I AM going to do to you!

My first fight was a semi-main event, scheduled for 6 rounds. That was something I wasn't aware of until fight night. What this meant was the other guy was supposed to be something, cause it couldn't have been me! Thought for a second ... was I worried? Nah! So I sat in the dressing room and waited my turn!

WHAT'S NEXT: THE FIGHT, OF COURSE!