On Saturday we travelled to Swindon for a white collar boxing event. My Brother-in-law (Tommy) was on the card for a bout, so we had booked a few tickets, booked hotel rooms and planned the evening a few months ago, and then didn’t really think about it.
Tommy, and his family, on the other hand, have been consumed by the impending fight. Tommy followed a strict 14 week plan with his coach and was looking amazing, was confident and feeling happy about his progress. I’d seen FaceBook posts and updates on his training and he looked well prepared for the fight.
When he met us, a couple of hours before the event started, he admitted he was nervous, as he hadn’t had a competitive fight for over 30 years and his opponent was 18 years younger, but you could tell he was still positive and keen. We all gave him a hug and wished him well and off he went to get ready, whilst we had a couple of beers and some pizza 😀.
The first couple of fights were good warm-ups, and got us in the mood for shouting and cheering, and then it was time for Tommy and, I must admit, I was feeling nervous for him. His wife and kids were all worried and you could tell how much they wanted him to do well, we all did.
Round 1 was the normal ‘getting to know you round’ working each other out, looking for weaknesses or patterns to exploit and Tommy seemed to have the edge. Round 2 opened up a bit and Tommy scored some good shots, but started to slow down a bit. Round 3, his opponent put all his effort in and Tommy was holding on, at times, using all his craft and skill to get some air / have a breather. It kept us on the edge of our seats.
It was a great fight and Tommy won on points, to the delight of his family, friends and fans! We stayed a couple of more hours and watched some more bouts, before heading back to the hotel for a, quieter, nightcap. What a great night out.
If you have never been to one of these events, I’d definitely recommend giving it a go, especially if you have someone fighting, to support. This particular event was well run, at a great venue and had some good quality bouts. It is a fantastic example of watching people ‘smashing’ the barriers of their comfort zones and putting everything into a 6 minute test.
A quote from Mike Tyson that really resonates with me, not only for boxing, but life itself: “Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the face”.
Life has set backs, we all get punched in the face from time to time, but it’s how you deal with these things that counts. Can you get up, re-evaluate, adapt the plan and go again?
Tommy certainly did – well done mate 🥊