One Hard Lesson... Saturday, October 29

The Heavy Hitter lost his fight today in a fight that should have, could have and would have been his had he remember and applied the very motto that our boxing club continually screams to its' boxers.

"Every time like the first time"

Every time like the first time, and by that we mean every time you come to training bring the same energy, same effort and same mind frame that you had like when you first started. When you first started boxing you were so excited to train, so eager to learn the skills, and you knew you had a lot to learn. After training for a period of time it is very easy to get comfortable and slack off somewhat with training. Maybe you don't push yourself as much, do less rounds on the heavy bag, skip stretching, do less rounds, or simply go there to clock in the time and get out without putting in much effort.

This past year the Heavy Hitter has been labelled the knock-out champion. He's faught five bouts of which he has won four and out of the four wins all have been knock-outs. He's extremely talented and very skilled but talent and skill comes as a result of practice and effort. It's to be gained, maintained and pushed to new and higher limits. The Heavy Hitter didn't push himself in training for this fight like he had for previous ones and the other day I questioned him about whether or not he's even maintaining his skills.

In the first round he lost by TKO, giving Team Japan the win for this bout.

Junior Mint took him back into the changing room with Snickers and I left because I didn't want to overhear the colourful array of words nor see him being scolded.

I felt terrible for the Heavy Hitter, I did and I still do, but he learned a hard, hard lesson today. He'll still remain the boxer to watch in Korean boxing because he does have a great record and with youth on his side he'll have many more years of boxing and fighting. Moreover, I know he is very talented, we all know it, but he really needs to stay focus and continue to push himself.