My return to a boxing gym
It was late 2021 in Shenzhen, China…
I fist bumped my American opponent and had my arm raised immediately after.
My coach, Artem, was a former member of the Ukraine national team. He muttered something, which demonstrated his disappointment. I didn’t turn up the pace and try to get a stoppage in the final round.
He was right, I was way ahead and played it safe.
It was a great year of transformation for me.
I had lost 13kg since arriving in China. 8kg of it was in the 8 weeks before the fight.
My COVID lockdown body was gone, and I had the dire back for boxing.
After this, other commitments made me make the mistake of focusing on other things. I should have found a way to squeeze boxing in as well.
Fast forward to Saturday morning…
The move to Shanghai and the need to get settled here would be my opportunity to add some intense exercise.
What else but boxing?
I recently moved to a new place, which is near a boxing gym.
I went at 8 a.m. in the morning with my old gear.
It wasn’t my first rodeo making a comeback…
I knew what I was getting into:
. It was going to be tough.
. I was going to feel sick.
. I was going to gas.
As expected, I was a mess.
Even more than I would have guessed.
I was struggling to do basic circuit exercises that I would devour sets of when training for my last fight.
My sparing was dyer. We were only doing 30 second rounds, and I would land a couple of shots in the first ten seconds. Following this, I’d be out on my feet for the remaining twenty.
It was a mess.
I’m going to my second session after posting this article.
It’s going to be similar.
To get back into boxing shape, I would need to die and come back to life as a fit person.
The Point
There are hardships that are in the way of where we want to be.
These hardships cannot be avoided. You can’t:
. Prepare for them.
. Bypass them.
. Ignore them.
You can only start and come out better on the other side.
Or not.
