**** Kirks Championships 2013 ****

By the way, Robney - you are hereby the duly appointed RBR deputy for the Burns vs. Beltran card this afternoon (from 3pm EST/8pm UK on AWE/Wealth in the US and SKY Sports 1 in the UK)

I more likely than not will miss it. My fight should be over by noon but I plan to stay for my gym mates' so getting home by 3 is dicey. If you don't see hide or hair of me by 2:35pm EST go on and fire up a thread. :good

I'll definitely be around later tonight to see heavyweight glass shattered. :yep Catch y'all then if not before.

 

Alright, on the bus, definitely going to make it for the Burns vs. Beltran main event.

The undercard in Denmark however is nearly over. Robney, Demo, Drew, anyone watching - please feel free to hook us up with some Nielsen vs. Majewski & Braekhus vs. Castillo RBR action. :good

 

BURNS KO3
MARQUEZ KO5
FUENTES KO6
RUiZ KO2

 

Yeah off and on since I was a kid. This is the first time I've stuck with it this long. Nine months since wetting my feet with cardio boxing classes run by a co-worker twice a week, and more seriously with a coach just since midsummer.

Today was my first ever organized competition of any sort (anything more than light sparring). It was just an exhibition, the lead-off bout for a smoker to raise money for my gym which desperately needs it. Most of the gate is going to pay their electric bill. :-(

It felt good to get in there. I honestly could have done much better and stuck more to a gameplan (I wanted to counter-punch but was drawn into leading from the first minute) but I was firing with the kid for all three rounds and didn't give any ground. He was roughly my age, 30, and weight, 180, a bit taller and way more experienced - but still pretty raw himself and not that fast, although my wind evaporated quickly and it felt like I was twice as slow. Basically he kept timing me with the 1-2 as I stepped in with the jab throughout rounds 1 & 2. I uncorked a few lead rights but he ducked them with ease which may have been the most embarrasing thing of all. I did mix in a few hard straight rights on the waistband after he drilled my body a few times and he tied up whenever I did.

The boss of my gym yelled out "I ain't no Mills Lane but this shot is CLOSE!" after the second (being non-sanctioned and not counting as official amateur bouts there were no judges and technically no winners or losers) but I honestly think he was just flattering/motivating me. The other kid took rounds 1 & 2 clearly.

Early in round 3 my nose busted like a water balloon, which came as no surprise. It got broken in sparring a couple of weeks ago. Ever since it has reopened from just light tape. Hell, one time I blocked a lab and my own thumb pushing back on it made it start gushing like a geyser. I am going to have to get it cauterized but didn't have time before the smoker to make the appointment with my doctor. Even though I had on the 'Mexican' style headgear with the protective facebar, it was only a matter of time before my honker became a fountain, and I knew that. So when it happened - the whole insode of the gear was splattered, every square incu of white turned red and more pouring down my chin all over my top like a faucet - I sucked it up and fought through, found a second wind somehow and started just walking through his 1-2, petting it just bounce off the facebar or my eyes or chin, and just walked him down with huge chopping rights. He kept diving in to grab me and I had to adjust the angle to make sure they weren't rabbit punched, landing my knuckled flush with the forehead part of the kid's headgear. Once I caught gin with the chopping right, a left hook on the ear and then a one-potato right atop the crown and that was really my only good combo all day. He spent most of the last minute diving in with head bowed to clinch and then flurrying straight into my face as we separated. I flicked a few counter jabs while mirroring his step outside but only grazed.

If there had been scoring, at least pro style, I lost 2-1 IMO.

The kid leaned over and told me afterwards when my gym boss raised both our hands for applause that by right hand was something and he really felt it. (Which is strange because I always considered my best weapon my left hook - all but useless today, barely thrown and never landed...) Very few positives otherwise, despite a few people from my gym talking up aspects of my performance - everything was too spotty. Wind evaporated too quickly..my footwork woukd get in a nice rhythm for twenty seconds or so before falling to **** and squaring up...and I ate shitloads of 1-2s with very few if any slipped.

I've got loads to work on but it was a thrill just finally getting in there. A buddy of mine recorded it on his phone. I'll watch, consult with my coaches and put in the work to improve. :thumbsup

 

9/7 - Seth Mitchell vs. Chris Arreola - Arreola TKO
9/7 - Hugo Ruiz vs. Julio Cesar Miranda - Ruiz TKO

 

I feel absolutely sick to my stomach. Beltran was completely ripped off. Just absolutely disgusting and a real disgrace. Beltran won at least seven rounds PLUS scored a KD. A massive robbery in Scotland. Boxing needs a reboot stuff like this just can't happen.

 

You have a different pick in Rums league,interesting tactic.

 

Agreed. Take away the knockdown and there still wasn't a case to be made for Ricky keeping his belt.

Raymundo has put in years of hard work, climbed up a rocky uphill road with lots of twists and turns, and made it all the way onto the mountaintop only to have it leveled with TNT from under his feet.

 

It was a good scrap, if I do say so. :yep My wife said to me "I've seen worse pro bouts on TV" - and she needless to say doesn't watch 1% of the ridiculous amount some of us do.

They put me on first as the least experienced guy, probably figuring it would be a brawl or bloodbath, and it was indeed a bit of both - perfect to whet the crowd's appetite so they would feel right off the bat they were getting their donation's worth. I also brought in several relatives, colleagues and friends who also bought raffle tickets and t-shirts and stuff. The gym profited over 2 grand and my people contributed about 10% of that. (with me being, again, the least experienced mug of about two dozen participating boxers) So I'm proud of how today went and my part in that, even with having taken a licking and coming off a bit differently than intended, having to fall back on showing grit & chin instead of pretty movement and ring IQ like weeks of preparation had supposedly been aiming toward.

I'll definitely keep you posted, though it's going to be loads of work before getting me back in there for my official Am debut. So excited to get to work fixing a lot of my bad habits - almost bummed that we have a family vacation on a beach resort planned next week because it will delay getting back into the gym ASAP. :nut :bbb

 

Well, for the first 30 seconds or so of Arreola-Mitchell, I was feeling pretty good about choosing to pick the upset. Mitchell landed a couple of nice shots and Arreola seemed slow and shopworn.

The Chris landed a punch...:!:

Yeah. Brilliant idea, Drew. :sad One of your best in recent memory.

Anyway, congrats on retaining the People's Championship, Kirk. :good