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Thai Blog Part VI
05/07/2009
Tuesday Afternoon, with mediocre technique at best, a dull thud came from my kicks against the Thai Pads during my rounds of pad work. I was pretty much up all night tossing and turning about my fight on Saturday that I was now scheduled to do. As the rounds went on, my technique and power got worse and worse. I decided that 5 days just wasn't enough time to get in gear for a fight and made up my mind that I was going to have to talk with Jitti and pull out of the fight. There were a lot of reasons for doing this, however the bottom line was that I just did not feel ready for any kind of fight, let alone a 5 round Muay Thai fight with full rules (knees and elbows), which is completely out of my element. My friend Aaron, who I was rooming with at the beginning of the trip until and empty room in the house opened up that I could have to myself, assured me that I was overreacting and just beating myself up (I felt like I heard that before). I decided after practice would be the best time to talk with Jitti about it, although I did mention to him that I was feeling sluggish but he just brushed it off and said: "Your fine, no problem".
After my normal rounds on the thai pads I did a little bit of bag work and then switched over to focus mitts for 3 rounds. While hitting the focus mitts I slowly felt my power coming back but still mentally didn't feel (or maybe I just didn't want to feel) like I was ready. After a short break I was back in the ring doing clinch work, with a new partner jumping in on me every few minutes for a straight half an hour. Then I did 3 rounds of light sparring with Tip, one of the Local Stadium fighters who also happens to be the #2 ranked boxer in Thailand. Although we did begin to pick up the pace by the end of the 3 rounds we were more working on motion and putting together combos. I ended with a light cool down exercise set and 200 crunches, but still felt like I had nothing. It wasn't until I talked to Liam Harrison that I started to change my mind a bit. Liam, one of the fighters here from England, may be the best fighter at the gym. Not only has he held the Phuket Championship for the last few years, but is also the current Lumphini Stadium Champion as well. Liam assured me that I am ready to go and I am "a fit enough lad to hang with anyone they are going to match me up with". I was still thinking it might be a bad idea to fight, but what the hell? At the end of the day this is my vacation, I chose to take it in Bangkok.....its not like I came here to get a tan. This, in a way, is the perfect way to end it....win, lose, or draw.
The next day Aaron and I went for a 4 mile run in the park and I came back and checked my weight. Jitti insisted that I wear a rubber suit during the run and even though I normally don't wear sweatsuits until my last day of cutting (if at all) I wasn't going to argue. I really worked up a nice sweat and then came back home and hit the showers before breakfast. I tried to take a nap between the meal and practice, but it was no use...I just sat in my bed and looked at the ceiling and thought about the fight. I started practice off by getting a massage by one of the trainers and then jumped on the pads almost immediately for 6 rounds. My power felt like it was back and I was moving much better than the day before. After that I jumped on the focus mitts with Liam for 3 rounds and worked on a few combos....afterward he grabbed me by the water pale and said: "You got this mate, no doubt about it you re ready". Jitti was all over me every time I tried to rest, no way was he about to let me slack off for a second. I even tried positioning myself at the other side of the gym from him, but the man kept popping up faster than the butler in Mr. Deeds (sneaky, sneaky). "Shadow box" or "footwork drills" or "500 knees".....he just kept coming up with stuff for me to do. After all of that I was back in the ring with one of the Stadium Fighters from the gym, whose name I can not say....let alone spell.
We touched gloves and he started off with a push kick that felt like my stomach was about to come out of my throat, fallowed by a high kick that barely missed. Then I, thinking this was a light session, threw a light jab and a cross...then another light jab that he parried and cracked me across the jaw with a cross of his own, then another high kick fallowed by a knee...then he clinched me, kneed me a few times and swept me on my ass. All the other fighters and trainers at this point had stopped what they were doing to watch. I made my way back to my feet and stepped forward to engage.....CRACK....a left hook met me right on the chin, then I was swept again and on my ass I went to a big "Oie!!!" from everyone who was watching. That's when I realized what was going on, this wasn't a light session to get me ready at all, this was a gut check. Sure I have had tough spar sessions before, but never has someone really came at me to take my head off. This wasn't just anyone either, although I had a little bit of weight on this guy (maybe 5 kilos or so) he had the edge in experience with over 60 Stadium fights. Well if that's what they want, that's what they are going to get....I hopped up ate one more kick to the body only to answer with some heavy leather. He tried to kick again, I caught it and put him down hard to a big noise of approval from the trainers watching. Then he hopped up and came at me so I tried to kick him in the inside of his lead leg but went a bit too high and nailed him with a solid groin shot. "Now Ive done it," I thought....."Now he's really pissed". After taking a minute break or so he came at me hard with three straight head kicks, all of them I was able to cover from and actually answered with some solid punches into the clinch and then swept him for once just to pay him back a little. These exchanges went on for another 10 minutes or so, punches, kicks, clinches, knees...everything but elbows. At one point he sent me for a ride with a solid sweep from the clinch and then threw a knee into my ribs then one in the back of my head when I was on the ground for good measure. I was THIS CLOSE to shooting a double leg at this point and slamming this dude on his skull but instead I just fired back with hay makers, and actually connected with most. Every time one of us would sweep or a solid combo Jitti, who was right outside of the ring, would say "Keep it up, one more minute". Jitti must have said that same phrase 4 or 5 times, each time made me more exhausted. Finally, the guy I was sparring threw a high kick and I landed and inside leg kick that put him down on his ass hard and Jitti stopped us....."Ok, you good......you ready". Id be lying if I said I wasn't happy to hop out of that ring right when I heard that but just as I thought it was time for a shower Jitti stopped me and said: "Only 500 sit ups and you done for today"......Only? At least I was able to feel like I earned respect from the people I was training with and being trained by with that spar session. The two of us actually did sit ups together in sets before exiting the ring to a mild applause from those who witnessed the sparing session.
This morning I woke up and went for a light jog in the park with the rubber suit on before coming home for breakfast....which consisted of a chicken leg and thigh (or what my friend Marty Kusick knows as 'Chicken on the Bone,' but I'm not going to tell why) and some rice. I managed a long nap before making it back for the afternoon session. I did a few rounds of shadow boxing after getting stretched out and then did two rounds on the pads. Jitti told me that since yesterday was a rough day today was going to focus on just technique and getting the weight down. After a few shadow boxing rounds and going over technique with one of the trainers I was sent back off to the park for more running. Jitti was very specific with his instructions "Walk one, run one, walk one.....Don't get drained before fight". He was talking about laps around the big pound (or small lake) in the park. So my first lap was just a slow walk, which was nice. It gave me a chance to visualize a little bit before the competition. In some of my recent fights, and whenever I had a big wrestling match in high school, I would often try to think about how I wanted the match to go, almost picture me hitting moves in my head. This always worked better for me when I knew the face of the person I was competing against, but I had a 3 mile walk to mentally prepare myself. It got to the point, by the end of the first lap, where I was thinking so hard about fight it was almost as if I was meditating. However, as one of Joppatowne's greatest philosophers, Rick Despar, once said: "Meditation's good and all, I don't recall it ever saving anyone from a gang rape type situation though......meditate on that!!!". I took his advice and cleared my head and began running at a faster pace. Eventually I made my way back to the gym and checked my weight....69 kg (152 lbs). I felt great and mentally ready to go.
Hopefully I can keep the ball rolling and make a good impact on Lumphini this weekend. I have no problem with falling short this weekend, and I have excepted the fact that by the end of it I will be marked up, bruised, bloody, and swollen. All of which I have no problem with. I don't mind going to bed tomorrow night with a headache, sore muscles, and not being able to move without feeling pain.....we have all been there before. The only thing I am concerned with is going down like a coward, which I don't see myself doing. I want this guy to leave the ring Saturday night and say to himself "That dude came to fight". I am ready to do this and I am willing to put it all on the line. There is no better way to end a vacation like this one than a battle on the biggest stage in Thai Boxing. One more shout out to Marty and Dave, I want to wish them the best of luck this weekend....I know they will do us all proud, make it out to support them. As for me, I will do my best to do my part. Til next time......
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