For anyone who has actually been in the ring share a personal true story!!

[widdy]

Originally Posted by LoveMuffin

Boxed as an amatuer,

one of the training sessions would be one guy in each corner of the ring, when it was your turn you came out and faced the other three one after the other. 1.5mins each guy so 4.5 minute round and they were always fresher then you.

When you could get through three 4.5min rounds you knew you were ready for your next bout.

Good times!

still do this once a week,only body shots though,keeps this 42 y old on his toes

[AnthonyW]

I returned to the gym the day after winning my quarter final in the ABA's the night before. I only turned up to do a light session and get rid of some stiffness. Only one of my coaches was in (not our head coach). Our head coach had organised another gym to come down sparring with some of our lads (not me). The other gym brought one boxer down, however, none of our lads turned up. It just happened that I was the same weight as this lad. I agreed to have a light sparring session with him so that it wasn't a wasted journey for themselves.

Basically I was fucked from the night before because it was a tough bout, and I was lethargic as fuck. I can happily admit he got the better of me in a lengthy spar, I didn't really care to be honest...I was in the national semi-finals of the ABA's. Anyway, I got out the ring after the spar and his coach came up to me and said something along the lines of, "Don't feel discouraged that our lad is better than you, you will learn, take it as experience and you will improve. Sparring better boxers will help you learn."

I took it on the chin (with a smile on my face).

I asked our head coach the next day to get this same boxer down for sparring next week, he said ok.

The boxer turns up for sparring the next week. They look confident that the same thing is going to happen, their lad is going to have too much for me. Anyway, I beat the shit out of him for a lengthy sparring session (well, it's sparring, so it wasn't 100%). Although he got the better of me the week earlier, I still had success in the first spar. But this time around, he literally couldn't touch me, you could see the frustration on his face, and the shock on his coaches face. I completely outclassed the poor lad.

I stepped out the ring this time around, his coach comes over to me and says something along the lines of, "You've improved haven't you?" I just smiled and walked off.

[AnthonyW]

In the ABA's, I was up against someone in the Area final.

This lad I was up against was part of a team who had traveled to America and had huge success, the majority of their club was being touted for ABA success, and every other club heard about it.

My dad came to watch this bout with my uncle, his first time in a good few years. He had heard that I was up against a good kid and was proper nervous. I'll get this out the way straight away, my dad and uncles eye sight is shit.

Anyway, I'm on first (yes, I was that light). My dad and uncle are sitting very close to the front and see some kid warming up. My dad turns around to my uncle and says, "Look over there. I hope our Anthony isn't facing this kid. Look at the speed of him" My uncle agrees. They become increasingly nervous.

The bell for the first round kicks off, and I absolutely batter this lad for 2 rounds. At this point my dad and uncle finally realise that I was the kid they were watching warm up. In the 3rd round, I batter him again, definitely should have been stopped as I landed about 20 unanswered punches on the kid whilst he was up against the ropes.

My dads and uncles eyesight made the victory even sweeter.

[JudgeDredd]

Never competed, done some sparring. Spent six months getting myself in great shape & ready to rumble

At the end of two rounds I'd got a busted nose & felt like an elephant had done the rumba on my ribs!! Had him worried at one stage though.......He thought he'd killed me!

Hard hard game.

[Slacker]

Originally Posted by Slacker

Today was one of those days where things sort of fall into place.

I came to the gym (only open for 1-1 lessons on Sunday) and my coach was late. A couple guys I didn't know were hanging around, so I went in to work out.

Coach shows up and I hear him talking to this old timer and some other big guy about me a bit while I'm working. I can't make out what they are saying, but it's something about that I'm training to be the Super Heavy Masters guy on the gym team.

Turns out the old timer and the big guy are there with the only other fighter working out, a little guy named Mike.

In between rounds I learn that Mike and the big guy are both pro's, who I have never met, and the old timer is Richard. The big guy (Owen maybe?) starts asking me questions about age, height, weight, throw this combo, etc.. and finally comes over with mitts and asks me to work with him in the ring. We did about 4 rounds and I was whipped. Didn't do as well as I normally do, and I realized that all these guys are watching, talking amongst themselves and with my coach and yelling out instructions to me.

The end of the mitts and I'm gassed. I climb out and we all start bullshitting about boxing, and the old timer, Richard, tells me that he used to work with Ezzard Charles (extra cool because we are in Cincinnati) and he has worked with Buster Douglas, and Busters dad, Bill. Next thing I know, the three of us are sitting ringside getting a boxing history seminar from this old timer who was with Ezzard during the Rocky Marciano fight, who met Joe Louis, helped train Douglas for the Tyson fight...

I'm headed out and I have two pro's and this old timer who has been in the sport for nearly 50 yrs giving me a critique on my good and bad habits.

Anyway, pretty awesome surprise in what I thought would be a typical afternoon at the gym. Just thought I'd share it with some people who might appreciate it.

Posted this in the training forum a while ago, didn't get much response, but was one of the coolest things that happened to me since I've been boxing.

Side note... the old timer in the story is Ezzards cousin, and former manager, Richard Christmas.

I wound up talking with im a couple times and he's a real nice guy. Last I heard from him was after a guy posted on ESB that he was writing an bio on Ezzard. I put them in touch but didn't hear anything about it afterward.

Richard could talk and talk about "the old days" for hours and I could sit and listen. Crazy stories.

[JudgeDredd]

Originally Posted by Slacker

Posted this in the training forum a while ago, didn't get much response, but was one of the coolest things that happened to me since I've been boxing.

Side note... the old timer in the story is Ezzards cousin, and former manager, Richard Christmas.

I wound up talking with im a couple times and he's a real nice guy. Last I heard from him was after a guy posted on ESB that he was writing an bio on Ezzard. I put them in touch but didn't hear anything about it afterward.

Richard could talk and talk about "the old days" for hours and I could sit and listen. Crazy stories.

Awesome.

[rocky1]

I used to train at what was primarily a mma gym the boxing coach there was good had a lot of amateur experience but it was mainly young kids, an 2 or 3 guys who were about my age and size and a polish heavyweight who was about 6'6 240lbs but not very good. I'm only like 5'8-5'9 and at the time about 150lbs.
So as you could imagine the sparring was quite limited, we only had the one boxing ring and an mma cage for sparring which had a cushioned floor so when we boxed in there we had to take our shoes off (This meant it did get a bit slippy if the floor was wet.)
One day I was sparring with the polish guy in the mma cage (it always looked like a low level haye and Valuev when we sparred ) he stepped in to throw a jab to the body I stepped off to the side and caught him with a cuffing left hook there wasn't much in it but he slipped ended up on the floor the coach tony looked round and thought i'd dropped him.

I didn't really like the guy so when he protested that he slipped to everyone I just took the mick out of him and kept saying stuff like '"it's ok everyone gets caught sometime' etc etc

I changed gyms about 2 months later to a proper amateur gym but just about everytime I went in the gym after that day someone would mention it to the polish lad.
I never did tell anyone else in the gym he slipped.

[jbels08]

I think my best sparring session, was when the coach put me in with someone of similar experience, I made him fight at my pace and I suprisngly did well by dodging most of his head punches by bobbing and weaving, then I got tagged with some tiny body shots, nothing as damaging since I had my elbows tucked in. The fight itself was extremely dirty as I was getting held down by neck and I almost got frustrated where I wanted to throw him down, so I retaliated his holding my neck down, by hitting some shots low on purpose.

Then near the end of the sparring round, I landed 7 hard jabs that made his neck snap back, if I threw a straight right I would've probably buzzed him, but this was my first sparring match back since I dislocated my shoulder and I was hesitant about throwing it.

[benner]

I have a few but they aren't anything special.

I once sparred with a guy that was 43 pounds heavier then me and had a 4 inch height advantage. Everything he landed hurt me. I thought he was a big guy so i threw a straight right to his body with everything i had. I hurt my wrist really bad and he didn't even flinch.
He was also older then me. It was scary to be honest.

My second amateur match ended poorly for me. I was so damn nervous that i could barely move. I landed a good jab and avoided his punches but he landed a perfect right hand on my forehead. The referee gave me a standing 8. Then i started moving and scoring. I even bounced off the ropes to land a left hook. But then he landed another right hand and i panicked. I covered up and bent low so the ref gave me another standing 8 and then he just waved it off.
After the match i was told the score and i think it was 4/5-2 for me.


Boxing is scary but it´s also fun. Most guys here have no idea what it takes to be a fighter.

[Kingkazim]

In my first fight my opponent sucker punched me as I walked back into my corner (he did not get a point deducted)

And in the last round he got so frustrated he pushed me out of the ring which was very embarrassing.

All the clean punching came from me and I simply outboxed him, but the fight was scored as a draw. From that moment I realized that boxing can be absolutely crushing to your spirits when the decision does not go your way. That was just an amateur bout

I cant help but feel bad for guys like Marquez in the Pac fight, or Lara in the Williams fight, they dedicate themselves to be 100% in the ring and they perform excellently only to be robbed by officials

[widdy]

Originally Posted by AnthonyW

I returned to the gym the day after winning my quarter final in the ABA's the night before. I only turned up to do a light session and get rid of some stiffness. Only one of my coaches was in (not our head coach). Our head coach had organised another gym to come down sparring with some of our lads (not me). The other gym brought one boxer down, however, none of our lads turned up. It just happened that I was the same weight as this lad. I agreed to have a light sparring session with him so that it wasn't a wasted journey for themselves.

Basically I was fucked from the night before because it was a tough bout, and I was lethargic as fuck. I can happily admit he got the better of me in a lengthy spar, I didn't really care to be honest...I was in the national semi-finals of the ABA's. Anyway, I got out the ring after the spar and his coach came up to me and said something along the lines of, "Don't feel discouraged that our lad is better than you, you will learn, take it as experience and you will improve. Sparring better boxers will help you learn."

I took it on the chin (with a smile on my face).

I asked our head coach the next day to get this same boxer down for sparring next week, he said ok.

The boxer turns up for sparring the next week. They look confident that the same thing is going to happen, their lad is going to have too much for me. Anyway, I beat the shit out of him for a lengthy sparring session (well, it's sparring, so it wasn't 100%). Although he got the better of me the week earlier, I still had success in the first spar. But this time around, he literally couldn't touch me, you could see the frustration on his face, and the shock on his coaches face. I completely outclassed the poor lad.

I stepped out the ring this time around, his coach comes over to me and says something along the lines of, "You've improved haven't you?" I just smiled and walked off.

Dont think i ever got the better of anyone in sparring,just never arsed,most of them i knew and if i hit them i apologised, i loved it though, still do.
I had to b in the right frame of mind to box, and with sparring i never could, mind you after a hour or so of cardio i used to b fucked anyhow

[fists of fury]

My first bout wasn't even scored by judges (I don't think.) It was at a box and dine event hosted by my local amateur club.

I went to training on Tuesday, as per usual. But the whole gym had been decked out with bright lights, tables, chairs and stuff. Me and my buddy were wondering what the hell was going on.

We asked around and was told that the gym was hosting this box and dine event, so I figured we weren't going to train that night. I was right about that part.

Next thing, one of the trainers walks up to me and says "You're fighting tonight." Gulp.
Truthfully, I was scared half to death. I wasn't prepared at all to hear this news.

I had started training at the gym out of curiosity, because being a passionate fan of the sport, I wanted to find out what it was really like between the ropes.
So I had joined this gym and had been sparring and training for two months or so. I had had no fights up until this point, only several heated sparring sessions, and here I was now having a real fight with a kid from another gym.

It's one thing to be told you're having a fight in a few days, and quite another to be informed that you're going in there in a few minutes. I had zero time to mentally prepare myself, go through a warmup or anything. It was a shit feeling, to be honest.

The fight was pretty tough, this kid I fought didn't hold back one bit. Most of the fight was a blur to me. I was burning with nervous energy.
I feel I did enough to win, but a few of my friends at ringside said I got caught with a lot of big shots. I went home that night with a massive headache, but also proud that I had had my first fight.

[Imperial1]

Not much to tell ,first time I sparred was against the coaches son..The coach told his kid to jump on me ..I remember just back peddling and throwing jabs ..One of them caught him right in the nose .. And stopped him dead in his tracks .I only went for 2 rds because I was exhausted .The head gear felt like a hot helmet and the mouth piece was to big for my mouth ..I remember after I got out of the ring and took my gloves off my hands were shaking from nerves ..

[Saku]

Originally Posted by AnthonyW

In the ABA's, I was up against someone in the Area final.

This lad I was up against was part of a team who had traveled to America and had huge success, the majority of their club was being touted for ABA success, and every other club heard about it.

My dad came to watch this bout with my uncle, his first time in a good few years. He had heard that I was up against a good kid and was proper nervous. I'll get this out the way straight away, my dad and uncles eye sight is shit.

Anyway, I'm on first (yes, I was that light). My dad and uncle are sitting very close to the front and see some kid warming up. My dad turns around to my uncle and says, "Look over there. I hope our Anthony isn't facing this kid. Look at the speed of him" My uncle agrees. They become increasingly nervous.

The bell for the first round kicks off, and I absolutely batter this lad for 2 rounds. At this point my dad and uncle finally realise that I was the kid they were watching warm up. In the 3rd round, I batter him again, definitely should have been stopped as I landed about 20 unanswered punches on the kid whilst he was up against the ropes.

My dads and uncles eyesight made the victory even sweeter.

This was funny!

[john garfield]

Originally Posted by fists of fury

My first bout wasn't even scored by judges (I don't think.) It was at a box and dine event hosted by my local amateur club.

I went to training on Tuesday, as per usual. But the whole gym had been decked out with bright lights, tables, chairs and stuff. Me and my buddy were wondering what the hell was going on.

We asked around and was told that the gym was hosting this box and dine event, so I figured we weren't going to train that night. I was right about that part.

Next thing, one of the trainers walks up to me and says "You're fighting tonight." Gulp.
Truthfully, I was scared half to death. I wasn't prepared at all to hear this news.

I had started training at the gym out of curiosity, because being a passionate fan of the sport, I wanted to find out what it was really like between the ropes.
So I had joined this gym and had been sparring and training for two months or so. I had had no fights up until this point, only several heated sparring sessions, and here I was now having a real fight with a kid from another gym.

It's one thing to be told you're having a fight in a few days, and quite another to be informed that you're going in there in a few minutes. I had zero time to mentally prepare myself, go through a warmup or anything. It was a shit feeling, to be honest.

The fight was pretty tough, this kid I fought didn't hold back one bit. Most of the fight was a blur to me. I was burning with nervous energy.
I feel I did enough to win, but a few of my friends at ringside said I got caught with a lot of big shots. I went home that night with a massive headache, but also proud that I had had my first fight.

Great story -- 'n telling of it, fof. Bet it mirrors the experience of many on this thread. You'll treasure it all your life (it'll keep you young), 'n your kids 'n grandkids will always pester you to hear about it, proud as could be.