Decided to go back to competition after 8 years of casual on/off training and sparring...at age 34 this was my last chance to do the NYC Golden Gloves so I said what the hell and went for it. Was holding on to my 3-0 record from 2004. Only trained for 6 weeks but had my first fight and won by UD, second fight by stoppage after I dropped the kid and broke his nose. Made it to the Quarterfinals, one of 8 out of all of NYC but lost a decision to a tough fella and suffered my first standing 8 count (although I wasn't hurt in the least bit, was a nonsense call to me). But I will admit I felt worn out before the third fight...mentally AND physically. Before the fight I was strangely thinking more about not getting hurt than about hurting him, which never used to cross my mind. I got in the ring and felt lackluster, didn't box enough, just kept looking for the one punch knockout while my opponent collected points. I felt good for the first fight, ok for the 2nd fight and sh*tty for the 3rd fight! I was hoping it would be the exact opposite but it wasn't. I am trying not to blame it on age but was wondering if anyone else felt a little worn out mentally/physically in one of these long tournaments? I had to fight every week for 3 weeks straight, with little time off and had to squeeze in tons of training.
The older you get, the physical things get taken from you without realizing it until its gone. I would say the exact opposite about the mental part. Appears as though your poor body is tainting your spirit..
When I think about it, I feel as though my mind was tougher than it's ever been but it seemed to wane down the stretch because of the physical toll...so one thing probably led to the other.
Well I only have a few more months to compete in the local amateur circuit, after that it's Masters. There may be some boxing shows in New York that pop up in the next couple months, if so I might do them. I kind of wanted a couple of more fights under my belt to start training fighters, but you never know. I learned lots from my first loss. I am just letting the disappointment settle so I can absorb the positive from what I experienced.
At 34 do you feel past your prime or is it just a lack of training? If it's the first, when did you notice the slide.
There's your problem: tried to squeeze in training between fights. Gotta rest them weary old bones. And congrats on doing it, that's something you can be proud of for the rest of your life.
I didn't notice a physical decline in my skills or body to be honest, I felt fast and powerful as ever. But I did start to notice that I felt worn out after the second fight, like i just wanted the tournament to be over with. Maybe it was a mental thing not being able to see the finish line yet after all the hard work, the New York Golden Gloves is looooong...and worst of all is the unorganization of each fight night, I often had to wait 3-4 hours in the locker room before getting in the ring. I also suffered a broken nose last month in sparring...and had a head cold plus relapse for just about the entire month of February. Thanks brotha. I definitely rested though, I only had a week off between fights. Day after the fight I rested, day after that some light training, few days after that some semi-intense work then a day off of doing absolutely nothing before the fight.
BTW I also made the paper last week with "Punch of the Night" Old guy still got some pop in them there fists.
Good job! We're the same age, so I understand the difficulties. I think if you were more consistent and worked for longer than 6 weeks, then you wouldn't have felt so drained by the 3rd fight. In fact, if you stick with it, I imagine you can have a better performance your next time out. We're older and a bit more settled, so we can be more consistent, we just have to make sure we remind ourselves not to overdo it. Last night, I had a realization that my recent push to get back in there might be even more temporary than originally planned. My job is the type that requires a lot of work on my own time to stay on top of what's going on in the industry & improve my skills. Coming home from the gym exhausted every night is really starting to put me behind the curve with work. I would love at least one more run at it, so I can at least get a W on my official record. Hope I can hold out at least till I get the weight off and get a chance to get back in there.
sounds like that was a tough first competition back mate, it will take its toll on anyone, I imagine there are guys training year round with focus on just that on event.
You got it bro! Good luck with your own goals. Right. I was definitely the oldest of the remaining 8 fighters left in the tournament. There was one kid that was training for 2 years just for this event...another one was training all year since the last golden gloves. Guess I had a decent run considering I only had 6 weeks to prepare and had limited sparring.
