So this will be one of the last (and probably longest) blog posts in this series of blog posts outlining my overall experience participating in the Fight 4 The Cause Charity Boxing Classic this past Saturday, November 30th.
The only other time I think I’ll be posting an update is when the organizers release the full video of the fight (which probably won’t be for a while – as they have footage of 14 fights to edit and post online).
The following is a re-cap of my full fight day. I’ve sectioned it, so if you get bored, feel free to skip through to the parts where I’m getting punched in the face…
The Night Before…
I barely slept a wink. ‘Nuff said.
Weigh-in (The morning of the Fight)
Our weigh-in time on the morning of the fight took place at 9AM. We had a team meeting that morning before the weigh-in to get psyched on the fight and then we all went down to the Victoria Conference Centre together. Once we got into the Carson Hall in the Victoria Conference Centre, the ring was already set-up. It was a good chance to get a feel for the room and even step into the ring to feel what it was going to be like.
The actual weigh-in process was quite the bonding experience. It was obviously split up by gender – and before I knew it, I was in a room with a bunch of guys, all of us in our underwear waiting to step on a scale and see the fight doctor! After that process, I was super hungry, but it wouldn’t have been wise to just eff off and go eat a burger. I had to be very careful with what I ate so as to not shock my system – and also to build up my level of carbs before the fight.
6:00PM (approximately an hour before the fight)
I was first to arrive back at the Victoria Conference Centre – being the first fighter up, I figured it would be best to get to the venue and start mentally preparing for what I was going to do in the ring. As soon as I got to the venue, I got into my boxing gear (an official Fight 4 The Cause red uniform, my boxing shoes and my hand wraps). I walked the ring a few times before the doors opened and listened to some tunes to get me into the mood to fight.
I had three playlists:
1. Upbeat Dance Tunes (ex. C2C – “Down The Road”, Daft Punk – “Lose Yourself To Dance”)
2. Chillout Tunes (ex. Modest Mouse – “Float On”, Awolnation – “Sail”)
3. Angry Music (ex. Filter – “Hey Man, Nice Shot”, Rage Against The Machine – “Killing In The Name Of”)
At about 45-minutes prior to my fight, the trainers had me start to stretch and we ran through a few warm-up drills (hitting pads, mostly). I spent a good amount of time visualizing the fight and what I would do in the opening seconds after the bell rings.
The time was approaching to get to the entrance as the event was about to start. We waited in the second-floor foyer of the Victoria Conference Centre while the national anthem was being performed and our pre-fight videos were playing. My opponent, Jerry Hughes, entered the ring first. And I followed shortly after.
And incase you’re wondering what my entrance music was, I took the opening credits of The Walking Dead Theme Song and added a beat to it:
The Fight
As we stepped into the ring, our coaches put on our head gear and mouth guards, said one final word to us and we were invited by the ref to join him in the centre of the ring for instructions. I’ll be honest with you, with all the adrenaline running through my blood, I couldn’t tell you a word of what anyone said to me between the time I stepped through the ropes to the time the final bell rang and the fight was over!
In Round 1, I did exactly what I had visualized before the fight. I went out swinging, throwing multiple jabs at Jerry’s gloves until I could get close enough to try to connect a jab to his head and follow up with an overhand left. My intent was to continue the combo with a right hook to the body followed by a second right hook to the head but (like any good boxer would do) Jerry started throwing back! From there, all I could remember was he and I swinging back and forth for a bit in the middle of the ring before we even started to move around.
I don’t quite remember where exactly it happened, but I know somewhere around the end of the first round, he connected with the punch that likely broke my nose. I don’t remember much about that initial punch and, with the adrenaline, I didn’t feel any pain. But I do remember, anytime a punch to my schnoz connected, I felt (not saw) a flash of light…if that even makes any sense, I have no clue!
The round ended and I went back into my corner. My coaches (Michael Poole and Wayne Li) gave me a few quick pointers but I could tell they were trying not to overload me with too much because at that point things were going in one ear and out the other.
Round 2 got going and Jerry and I met in the centre of the ring again. At that point, either I was super tired, or Jerry flipped on beast mode and started getting super aggressive. I was landing a good amount of shots, but I noticed him starting to connect his punches a lot more. His movement was also pretty quick in that there were moments where my fists just couldn’t find his face, no matter how fast I was throwing (and throwing a punch at full speed and missing is EXTREMELY tiring).
The first few shots he connected on me in the second round started the blood fountain in my nose. We kept fighting regardless and the officials didn’t seem to care, nor did they ever stop the fight. At one point, close to the end of the round, I noticed trickles of blood all over the mat. And I remember thinking to myself, “well…we’re the first fight of the night…that can’t be anyone else’ blood but mine!” I kept pushing as much as I could and I remember having this inner dialogue with myself. I could feel the lactic acid building up. I felt my heart racing and felt my lungs could barely keep up with the amount of oxygen I was needing. [Yeah, I know...I'm getting pretty dramatic here, aren't I?] Every instinct of survival in my body was telling me to stop and take a break, but I do remember (during this inner dialogue) me telling my body to “shut the f*ck up and keep moving.”
Corny, I know…but it’s in those moments you’re really tested and it’s in those moments where you learn so much about yourself. I was absolutely convinced that either Jerry was a freakin’ machine and not tired at all…or he was just as tired as I was and was telling his body the exact same thing.
Fast forward to Round 3, and this is where I believe Jerry took over the fight. There was a moment in the middle where I thought to myself, “yeah he’s pretty much got this.” Not that I gave in at all. I mean, I had to get him in a clinch one or two times to get myself out of trouble but I never stopped trying to push forward. But in the third round, Jerry hit me with quite a few intense bombs! And as much as I tried, I couldn’t seem to connect my shots on him as much as he did on me.
As soon as that bell rang, a surge of emotion just hit me – Jerry and I hugged it out and the intensity of the fight completely lifted off both of us. It was hard to believe the fight was over. All I remember saying to my coaches immediately after was “thanks so much for everything…”. I went over to the blue corner to high five Jerry’s coaches and then the ref met Jerry and I in the middle of the ring. Dylan announced the winner had been determined by split decision (2/3 judges ruling in favour of the winner) and that the winner was Jerry.
We both stepped out of the ring and got checked out by a ringside doctor. The doc checked my face and my nose and asked, “have you ever had a broken nose before?” I said no. He said, “well you’ve got one now!” Minutes later, he came to see me again and determined that the break was such that it wouldn’t need readjusting. All I have to do is ensure it doesn’t sustain any trauma for the next several weeks. I looked in the mirror and I seemed to be a bloody mess but as soon as I showered and looked again, it didn’t look that bad. I noticed some swelling on the bridge of my nose and I was developing a bit of a black eye in my right eye, but other than that, I still looked like a human being!
In the end, whether a contender won or lost their fight, we all came out winners and I admire each and every one of my fellow boxers for putting their lives on hold and their precious faces on the line to support such an amazing charitable event. In the end, we managed to reach our goal of $20,000 that will support four local charities!
So a congrats and kudos are in order to: Jerry “Heavy Hands” Hughes • Brenda “War Machine” Worsfold • Celma “The Spider” Freitas • Alison “Bring the Pain” Bane • Kjersten “The Foxy Boxer” Lone • “Bad” Brad Broder • Chris “The Wild Man” Shurety • Julie “The Jackhammer” French • Olivia “The Dean of Mean” Keane • Kenny “Speedy Shoes” Husband • Andrew “Mayhem” MacKinnon • Meagan “The Trouble Maker” Ball • Serena “Bruise” Lee • Meghan “Fists of Fury” Forhan • Jacquelyn “The Smiling Assassin” Parker • Tommy “Doctor” Ngo • Steve “Stove Pipe” Parr • Sheena “The Machina” Miller • Jill “The Jaguar” Van Gyn • Damon “The Punisher” Fryer • Justin “Knuckles” Banman • Morgan “Tough Mother” Malakoe • Liane “Pound ‘Em” Cownden • Chris “911″ Gilbert • Steve “The Heat” Lester • Taylor “Mad Mitts” McGuire • Scott “The Predator” Pommerville…and certainly also to Julia “Showstopper” Stolk!
I owe a huge amount of gratitude to my opponent, Jerry Hughes, for not only giving me the fight of my life – but also for being my biggest motivation to work that much harder. He set a weight goal for himself far beyond my perceived ability of what I could ever do. This, in turn, challenged me to set that exact same goal for myself and I managed to achieve it by fight night. Jerry is a class act and certainly a worthy opponent. He has a hell of a story and a hell of a reason for participating in the Fight 4 The Cause and if you see him around the James Bay Inn, please congratulate him and give him a pat on the back because he truly deserves one.
(From the left: Jerry, his pregnant wife Tanya, my pregnant wife Elissa, me)
I’ll be honest in that I DID stop for drive-thru on the way home from the fight…and ate quite a bit on the Sunday after the fight…
That said, I have made a promise to myself and my family that I will be eating a lot healthier from now on…with the odd cheat day here and there! And now all I need to do is learn how to let go of the glory from that night…
Thanks again to everyone for supporting my journey in the Fight 4 The Cause. Thanks to the organizers, Kevin and Darcy. And HUGE thanks to the trainers: Hal Kreisel, Michael Poole, Wayne Li, Chris Jones, Cassius Sebunyana and Kevin Ogborn.
I guess it’s back to reality for me…but working here at The Zone…that’s a pretty damn good reality! –Boitano
Previous Updates:
• Boitano’s Fight 4 The Cause :: Update #14 (November 26th, 2013)
• Boitano’s Fight 4 The Cause :: Update #13 (November 22nd, 2013)
• Boitano’s Fight 4 The Cause :: Update #12 (November 19th, 2013)
• Boitano’s Fight 4 The Cause :: Update #11 (November 12th, 2013)
• Boitano’s Fight 4 The Cause :: The Training Montage (November 7th, 2013)
• Boitano’s Fight 4 The Cause :: Update #9 (November 5th, 2013)
• Boitano’s Fight 4 The Cause :: Update #8 (November 1st, 2013)
• Boitano’s Fight 4 The Cause :: Update #7 (October 29th, 2013)
• Boitano’s Fight 4 The Cause :: Update #6 (October 25th, 2013)
• Boitano’s Fight 4 The Cause :: Meet My Opponent (October 22nd, 2013)
• Boitano’s Fight 4 The Cause :: Update #4 (October 18th, 2013)
• Boitano’s Fight 4 The Cause :: Update #3 / My Excuse (October 15th, 2013)
• Boitano’s Fight 4 The Cause :: Update #2 (October 11th, 2013)
• Boitano’s Fight 4 The Cause :: Update #1 (October 8th, 2013)
• Hands can’t hit what your eyes can’t see… (October 6th, 2013)