Highlights of my Day... Monday, April 5

1. Snickers is a machine… hahaha. He woke up today and no sooner did he open his eyes but he was gearing up for an early morning run. I had to give it to him though because I’m not a morning person; it takes me my protein-packed pancake to wake me up. He looked so set on getting in a good run, so I didn’t have the heart to tell him that he had his pants on backwards. Thankfully he figured this one out before going out… hahaha.

2. Despite it being a tad bit chilly today, Snickers and I hopped on the scooter and went for a little scooter adventure – Operation Fish Pond Picnic.

3. I had packed my Adidas bag full of goodies – hard boiled eggs, crackers, ‘garlic green peas’ (of course), a sliced apple with cinnamon, a banana, and milk. We nibbled away on our snacks, though I must admit we gave in to those silly fish and gave them half our snacks, and then we laid in the grass to chat.

4. Homesickness was never a friend of mine, or a known acquaintance really, but lately it’s been keeping me company – bad company. Strangely enough, it wasn’t until two years ago that I ever experienced homesickness. I’ve never gone this long – 2 years – without seeing my friends or family, hence why homesickness has entered into my life again.

5. Did an Internet interview with a cool, fun-lovin’ gal I met back in the summer at one of Snickers’ matches. The interview was boxing-oriented and had questions for both Snickers and I. Here are some of the question asked.

AMY
What challenges does a female boxer face in the sport?
The challenges faced by me as a female boxer are different now that I’m a female boxer in Korea. Being a foreign female boxer in this country gets me a lot of attention both positive and negative. When I turned pro I was living in Korea. I became the first foreign female to turn pro while living in Korea so the media has given me a lot of attention because of this. However, because of Korea and its’ very distinct gender specific roles, I get a lot of negative comments. Teammates joke and call me a guy, other females at the club consider me some kind of freak of nature, and now that I am married, there’s my husband’s family questioning why I even do it. I know they mean no harm by their joking or questioning, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt at times. I know I don’t fit the social norm of what is expected of me as a female here in Korea, so I know I face a lot of opposition. Moreover, female boxing in Korea is definitely lacking in financial support and interest, and this is reflected in the fact that I really have no choice but to spar with high school boys and wait months for a fight. I really could care less about what Korea thinks of me as a woman but I know my fellow female boxers who are Korean and who are living in Korea do care about it. Consequently, female boxing in Korea isn’t taken seriously and the number of serious professional female boxers in Korea is dwindling.

What advice would you give any person or gender trying to enter this sport?
My advice for anyone trying to enter this sport would be to do it only if you love it. It’s easy to stay in love with the sport when you win, but it’s getting to that win or picking yourself up after a loss that your passion for the sport is really put to the test. Boxing takes more than just hard training to be good. It, along with so many things in life, takes a lot of self-discipline, self-respect, and passion if you want to take it beyond just doing it as a sport.

SNICKERS
Your story is very unique and inspiring. Give the readers your history and success as a boxer/fighter.
My story as a boxer really began when I got caught for street fighting and was sent to jail. The courts had sent me to the Cheonan jail, the only jail in all of Korea that had a boxing club located inside its’ walls. I started boxing at age 18 while serving my jail sentence and during my sentence I had 10 games in total, 4 amateur and 6 professional. Being assigned a fight was a big deal to me because it meant that I got to leave the jail walls behind and see my family. Getting to touch my mother motivated me to train hard. For my amateur games, I was allowed to leave the jail for 4 days, but I only got to leave for 2 days when I had a professional game. It wasn’t until July 7, 2008 that I won the title of Korean Super Lightweight Champion. In total, I’ve had 11 professional fights – 10 wins (9 by KO) and 1 loss.

Do you think more Asian (Korean), boxers will be recognized in the future?
To be honest, I hope so but I think it will be hard. Our country doesn’t really support boxing. Being a professional athlete isn’t considered a serious job (a real job), so almost all professional boxers (in Korea) have to get another job to financially support them self and their family.

What do you plan to accomplish in the sport?
That’s simple, I want to become a world champion.

Who is your favorite boxer?
Prior to starting boxing during my jail sentence, I didn’t really pay much attention to boxing, but in jail the first boxing fight I ever saw was of Julio Chavez from Mexico. The jail only stocked old videos, so it was old footage of an early fight of his. It was basically one of the few boxing videos I had available to watch so I watched it so many times.

How often do you train?
I box five days a week and I go running about 4 times a week. At boxing, I also do some weight training.

What is a typical workout like when preparing for a match?
A typical workout in preparation for a fight would consist of me waking up really early and going for an hour run. I like to run the river path outside my house and sometimes I go running up one of the local mountains nearby. Morning exercise is then followed by a good morning nap and then followed through with training at the boxing club in the evening. Because of the fact that there are two other Korean champion boxers at my club, I’m able to get in a lot of hard sparring in. I usually spar a couple times a week when I have a match set. Later in the evening, much later, I then go outside and do natural weight training at the park beside my apartment. By natural weight training I mean I use my body weight as supposed to free weights, and such exercises include things like pull-ups on the monkey bars. I had a large transport truck tire that I use to train my back with but the city garbage men took it away.

Is being married to a female boxer challenging?
Is it challenging?... no! It’s a lot of fun. Because we’re both professional boxers, we go training at the boxing club together and go jogging together. We can understand and relate with each other, so preparing for a game (ie. the hard dieting and need to increase our training) is met with lots of support from the other person. The one thing that I must say is challenging is watching her fight. She deals well with the stress and pressure of having to drop weight and increase training while working a full time job (actually I think she loves the pressure) but she takes her fights too personal. I am always telling her to enjoy the actual fight but I can’t enjoy watching her fight and seeing someone punch her. I feel heartbroken.

Do you have any advice for the future Asian (Korean) boxers?
My only advice is to try to enjoy it. It is important to enjoy it and do it because you love it.

6. Snickers jokes with me about me not having another fight but today it really hit me. He’s not joking, he actually doesn’t want me to fight again. All this came out tonight at boxing and I got upset about it so I left in the middle of training.

7. He’s always been overly supportive of me but I just didn’t understand why this, boxing, of all things he wouldn’t support me on. “I box because that’s the only option I have, but you Amy, you went to university and have other talents” Personally, I don’t box because I want to become a world champion like Snickers does, instead, I box because I need some kind of goal. I’m a very goal-oriented person and scheduling fights are what keeps me motivated to train hard and watch what I eat. Boxing isn’t what I do, it’s what I am. I love my boxing but I also love and need the anticipation of a fight.

8. Snickers threw in “but you will have a baby” into the mix, to which I responded with “what did I do wrong to deserve the punishment of having to have a baby?!” I knew it was very harsh of me to say that but at that moment that’s how I felt.

9. Later in the evening Snickers and I sat down and talked. I thought I’d pull his chain by telling him that I quit boxing (which I didn’t) and at the sound of that his jaw dropped. “Please don’t” he said. I totally understand where Snickers is coming from regarding my boxing. It’s not that he doesn’t want me to box, he just prefers me to not have any matches and instead lean on other options and talents I have.

10. I love my Snickers.

QUESTION OF THE DAY…
Who’s advice do you trust?

QUOTE OF THE DAY…
Ask advice only of your equals.
-- Danish Proverb