Why did you start boxing?

Me and my boys were at my house one day, and these guys cracked on about I was 'big for nothing' so I said okay lets see who got the hardest punch. So my bro held a pillow against his arm (bent upwards like how the stance but tight against his body). I threw my punch and screamed (bent my wrist). My boys were crying from laughter so I said "I need to do something about this". Went to the gym and was late so we sat and watched a guy getting it in on the pads and was mesmorised, I didn't say a word and watched and listen to those punches thunder in the gym. Never looked back.

 

Well, I was bullied to be honest and I dreamt day and night to have a go at my opponents.

Today, of course, my motivations have changed, but essentially that is that.

Even today, boxing provides a certain oasis of normalcy in an otherwise undisciplined life full of procrastination.

 

Because KungFu doesnt work. And no, watching shitty hollywood movies doesnt change things.

 

It's hard work, so it's fun.

 

Just watching Lallapallooza! again

:bbb

 

In all seriousness, now....

Always fancied boxing, but when I was younger the only thing available was a Karate dojo. Did that for 4/5 years until I got old enough to notice girls, and then stopped (was one off Black-belt). In the intervening years, I watched a lot of british boxing (Eubank-Benn was ALWAYS on telly, it seemed!!), and got into the obvious media (Rocky, Hajime No Ippo, etc).

As I've gotten older, I realised I was getting out of shape and - when someone in work mentioned there was to be a charity "white-collarboxing" event, I decided to sign up for the training (though not the actual event - as I know these events are extremely suspect in how they operate: poor matches with regards to weight-pairings, unstructured bouts with few enforced rules, massive disparities in fighter experience, etc).

Since starting, I've begun to lose weight, be more toned, and also feel more confident. All-in-all, I think it's great exercise and great fun. I know I'm too old for anything more than training/sparring/the odd charity thing, but I'm really finding the sweet science as an engaging past-time - and look to continue after the event is over.