My First Fight

Last Friday, September 9th, I had my first amateur bout.  It represented my graduation from a Boxing Boot Camp run by the Third Street Gym.  It was advertised as six weeks of training for six minutes in the ring.  After my weekly workouts with Seamus McDonagh, I wanted a more intensive and serious course.  For six weeks starting in August, I joined two dozen relative newcomers to boxing from 6am to 7:30am, Monday through Friday.  The workout was tougher than anything I can remember since wrestling in high school. 

Each day we started with 10-15 minutes of jumping rope.  I am not a natural rope skipper and struggled to get past calf cramps.  After 6 weeks, I got into a rhythm.  The workouts varied after that.  Some days we’d go running in different areas of the city.  I almost viewed these as rest days as I’m in pretty good running shape.  We had a nice run up Twin Peaks.   The sprinting on the beach wasn’t easy.  Running was broken up by calisthenics.  On other days, we stayed in the gym for extreme calisthenics.  We’d do sets of 4-6 exercises with 10-40 repetitions for 30-45 minutes.  This included squats, jumping jacks, push-ups and crunches.  Many of these traditional exercises included punches.  By the time we finished the calisthenics, I was typically drenched in sweat.  Then we’d get the wraps and gloves on for 30-45 minutes of bag work and sparing.

As I’ve said in prior posts, punching is exhausting.  The initial challenge is to keep your arms up, punching and retracting your arms quickly to protect your head.  Keeping your arms above your heart is inherently taxing.  The more complex challenge is to learn technique.  Speed and accuracy are more important than strength.   You need to ground your movements and put your body efficiently behind each punch.  There are times my hands feel fast and hard, but I don’t find that it comes naturally. 

We practiced various punch combinations.  Seamus had always taught me to start and end with the left jab.  The double jab is particularly effective, because even if your opponent blocks the first, the second can drive your opponent’s glove into his own face.  I’ve gained some confidence with my jab.  I’ve tried to focus on a basic combination of a double left jab, right cross, left hook, ending with another jab.  After each punch, it’s critical to get your guard back up, duck or move.  Key is to keep changing patterns to surprise your opponent. 

I sparred more in Boot Camp than I had before.  Near the end of many sessions we’d spar for 15-30 minutes.  We started with defensive drills, learning to catch/deflect punches with gloves and slip away from punches.  We quickly moved into back-and-forth drills.  I tried to spar with the half dozen people in the class near my weight.  I started to get a bit more relaxed in the ring.  I traded a few good shots while sparring, but nothing that hard.  I started out sparring with so much tension that I held my breadth. 

As part of the calisthenics discipline, the gym owners Paul Wade and Simon Redmond ran the classes and would have us shout out counts, forcing us to breath with every movement.  The lesson is to breadth with every punch.   

I’d practiced often with my mouth guard in place to get used to breathing with it.  I’d asked my dentist if he could make one and he’d been pretty excited about the idea.  He’d done sports guards, but not boxing guards.  He designed one with holes in between the teeth for breathing.  He used new material that was supposed to be strong and flexible.  It actually felt great.  Every visit, he’d have me bring it back to clean it.  The subject of boxing is definitely one people I meet want to talk about.  In fact, I get more comments on my boxing-related blogs than my venture-related blogs. 

I would not have made a good career boxer.  Learning from Seamus, it was a difficult life for him.  Paul and Simon are impressive fighters.  They did a great job demonstrating what fighting looks like when the movements come together. 

Graduation was a formally organized fight last Friday.  For our last workout, we jumped into the Bay off a pier new Pac Bell Park.  The fights were scheduled to start at 7pm.   Of the two dozen people who started the course, 18 remained at the end to be matched up.  We were not told of our opponents until after 6pm.  I didn’t appreciate the suspense, but I was so struck by fear that it would not have made much difference knowing a day or week before. 

At 6pm, I was shocked to hear that I was scheduled to fight twice, for the 2nd and 5th bouts out of 10.  One of the fighters had dropped out at the last minute. My first match was with a 28 year-old named Juan.  I’d sparred with him briefly before.  I’d observed him to be quiet and serious.  I believed I was in better physical condition for running and calisthenics.  He was about my weight and height.  I weigh 165 pounds and am 5’ 11” tall.  The difference, which I didn’t appreciate until the fight, was that Juan was left handed.  My second match was slated with Robert.  Because he weighed 190 pounds, I hadn’t expected to be matched with him and had not sparred with him. 

I was mentally prepared for one fight.  The prospect of two fights was not good.  Seamus me in the gym around 6:30pm and forced me to focus on the first fight.  If he didn’t want to fight the second, that was my choice. 

I had not invited anybody to the match.  Two friends and my partners had insisted, which I very much appreciated.  I told my wife not to come so she wouldn’t feel guilty about staying home. 

I’ve never been more afraid of doing anything than stepping into that ring.  My stomach had been queasy all day.  I felt almost empty inside.  I had hints from training and sparring, but didn’t know what to expect in a real right.  How would the punches feel?  Could I hit a moving target?  Would I get knocked out?  Would I do my best? 

The first fight started at about 7:15pm.  I saw the first round, with two of the girls trading punches, but didn’t want to watch the second.  There were 3 rounds, each 2 minutes long with a 1 minute break. 

I was ushered into the ring around 7:30pm.  There was a crowd of some 40-50 people.  I vaguely remember hearing the announcer say Benjamin as I crawled through the ropes.  I had on headgear, a mouth guard and a groin protector.  They had 18 ounce gloves ready. 

Finally getting in the ring was almost a relief.  Seamus has frequently lectured me about the need to be totally present for the fight.  I’d often find myself distracted in the gym and take my eyes off the bag during a workout.  I found it naturally easy to jump totally into the moment of the fight.  I barely heard to crowd or even the advice Seamus was shouting.  It was all about hitting Juan’s head and blocking his punches. 

Seamus had given me a plan.  Start by standing my ground and quickly land my double jab.  I quickly realized I was used to right-handed fighters.  He was in the wrong place.  I was able to land a few jabs, but Seamus said I had to focus more on following up with my right.  In the first round, I was able to land a few of both.  Juan landed about the same number, but his left felt stronger than my right.  Fortunately, his punches didn’t hurt as much as I’d feared, but I had trouble seeing and blocking his punches.  By the end of the first round, he seemed a bit tired.  My energy was high, but I was frustrated trying to land more punches. 

Juan started out aggressively in the second round.  He hit me with a hook that knocked me down.  I was able to get up quickly, but was a bit off balance.  I landed a few more left jabs, but he hit me with two or three solid punches and I felt the referee grab me.  At this point, they stopped the fight.  I literally don’t remember what happened from that point until about 10-15 minutes after the fight.  I’m told I talked to my friends and others, saying I felt fine and that I was ready to keep going, but the first fight was over and there would be no second fight. 

Seamus suspected I’d had a concussion and suggested we take a trip to the ER.  That’s the point I can now remember.  The ER experience was almost pleasant.  First, I was out of the ring.  Second, every staff member was pleasantly fascinated about what I’d done to get there.  I was still in my boxing shorts and shoes.  It took each a while to believe I had actually just been in a boxing match.  The doctor said he’d boxed in college and when he heard that I couldn’t remember what happened after the fight, he quickly diagnosed a mild concussion and a bruised rib.  He suggested, given my age, that I should have a CAT scan, which fortunately showed no internal bleeding.  I was home around 10:30pm. 

As I keep replaying the fight in my mind, it feels very short, particularly after all the work and anticipation.  I also watched it on a video taken by one of friends.  I feel good about what I saw.  It didn't look like they needed to stop the fight, but in hindsight it was the right decision. 

I sense it has changed me in ways I don’t appreciate yet.  One friend said I was refreshingly less sarcastic after the fight.

I’m less afraid of fighting now.   I would have liked to win the fight.  I’d need more experience in the ring to get fully past the fear and build confidence in my fighting skills.  However, I don’t think it’s worth the risk of more concussions at my age.  I was surprised how easy it was to get dazed.  Still, I’m looking forward to getting back to the gym to take what I experienced in the ring and use it to improve my techniques with bag work and sparring. 

Comments

[Keith Benjamin]

Amit: Sounds like you're well ahead of me if you're on the way to a National bout. My confidence has been building with a back-to-basics program. I find the more I feel comfortable with my footwork, form, and fighting drills. Congratulations to you for getting the in the ring.

[Amit]

Now live in India, I am a boxer & playing with DSF club & preparing for National, can u plz give me some tips for boxing & help how to grow my Confidence,

Rgds,

Amit.K

[Seamus McDonagh]

Thank you Keith for an amazing experience from outside the ropes. As I have told you and others, you fought like a valliant warrior. I have learned so much teaching you the noble art. You are a champion boxer, and a great person, and it has been my honor to get to know you, and have experienced your courage in the face of seeming terror.
Seamus McDonagh #3 World Cruiserweight

[Chris Peterson]

Hey Keith,

That's a heck of a way to become refreshingly less sarcastic. Congratulations on the article in the Chron - and living.

Chris

[Danny Nerezov]

Wow Keith! How what a gripping story and so inspirational Thank you for sharing your experience.

I got involved with Zen based martial arts when I was younger and 10 years on I still get scared with doing a grading.

So...I think I might know how you felt and I congratulate you on crossing the line. Well done! May we all find peace in all of our fights.