Note: Due to legal reasons, I am not going to be allowed to fight in the event. But, hey, I had this written already. So here’s the last installment, unfortunately, of Eddie’ Boxing Adventure. It’s too bad. Because I coulda been someone. I coulda been a contender.

“Quote me on this: the odds are stacked heavily against you, even against amateurs who have never fought.”

That’s Chance Farrar, MMA expert talking on behalf of his Arizona Athletic Club. They’re training me, in two scant weeks, to box in a Bad Boy Boxing Tournament at Paradise Casinos on May 17.

Also up here at the top, I want to stress the Farrar, Haile and everyone at AAC want me to train non-stop for the next two weeks - two sessions a day, six days a week. Of course, I’m a working man and a new father, so I wasn’t able to devote that much time - though I plan on more than four session, which was my first mind.

After talking with Farrar and Haile, I immediately became scared. I thought I was in for more than I could handle.

“I foresee a clobbering. The two guys from this gym will knock you on you’re ass in 1 minute,” Farrar said. “Then when you try to get up, they’ll knock you back down.”

So why on Earth am I still going through with this?

Aside from the issues covered in yesterday’s blog, I did come to find out while I may get the tar beat out of me, serious injury is not a possible outcome.

“The way to get hurt in boxing is a sustained amount of blows over the course of time,” Farrar said. “That’s just not going to happen. Even if we beat the (feces) out of you for two weeks, you’d still not suffer any long-term effects from it.”

So the discussion with Farrar and Haile focused mainly on the fact I’m going to get my butt whupped. Bad. And, really, I knew that. And with no serious injury possibilities, still count me in.

But can I at least look good?

“The odds of you coming out okay - and you’re going to be fine because there’s head gear, there’s protective gear - but the odds of you coming out ‘Hey, you looked good in there, you almost had the guy,’ are slim.”
And I’ll be bruised. Battered. Maybe bloodied a little.

“You have to remember, with head gear on or not, with big gloves, you don’t have potential for serious injury, but you could get knocked out,” Farrar said. “Which again, is a quasi-concussion. Serious injury, probably not. But you could get a little hurt. I don’t anticipate that if you come in every day.”
So that’s where I am. Gearing up for a smackdown. But I’m learning a skill - how to beat the bloody hell out of someone - plus I’m building some character. And let’s face it, this is multimedia gold.
Farrar said that it takes six months to learn to box. It takes two months to prepare for fight. It takes six years to become proficient.

See y’all in two weeks.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 2nd, 2008 at 9:11 pm and is filed under Eddie's Boxing Adventure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.