With tomorrow marking the start of my two week crunch countdown to my fight, today I enjoyed my last day of real relaxation. It’s not that I haven’t been training hard or haven’t been focused on my fight, I have, but tomorrow it’ll get all that much more intense.
Today Snickers and I took Pyen Chi out to Taedu San Park to check out a new display that commemorates and pays tribute to the Cheonan warship that North Korea sunk last year with a torpedo. It’s quite a respectable display, showcasing a replica of the boat and a large statue that has all the names of those killed engraved into it. All those young men who lost their lives, of course very sad but I think it’s sadder because they were so young.
I always like exploring the various military machines on display at the park and today it was hilarious to see Pyen Chi explore them too. She literally tried to climb over the barrier robe and climb into one of the flighter jets… oh gosh. I personally love the tanks.
So I spent a good chunk of my afternoon at Taedu San park and then Snickers and I did a couple of errands – dropped by the bank, picked up chicken at the grocers and his coat at the dry cleaners – then we headed off to boxing.
I tell ya, after quite the relaxing and enjoyable day I had, stepping into the boxing club today was quite disappointing. KBC called the club today with bad news and with my fight almost 2 measly weeks away, KBC (The Korean Boxing Commission) playing with my patience isn’t a good thing. Recently they changed presidents but apparently the switch wasn’t one without complications and now both the former and present president are butting heads. Consequently, because things are up in the air with management at KBC, Snickers’ much anticipated, much needed fight at the end of February has been postponed and risks being canceled. I felt so frustrated for him and so angry with KBC. Junior Mint was frantically on the phone, phoning other boxing coaches and managers, scrambling around to find out if my fight has been affected.
Whether it’s their ill matching of opponents, canceling of fights, or silly things like not updating their website and even so much as posting correct fight locations, I’m so sick and tired of being sick and tired of KBC. KBC is suppose to be working for and with us boxers, not against us.
Get it together KBC, seriously!!!
Ahhh… let’s change the subject.
Needless to say, upon getting word that his fight has been postponed and is on the verge of being canceled, Snickers didn’t train tonight. He left in frustration and headed off to Suwon to hang with Wonder Boy, leaving me to train without him. I totally felt his frustration so I let him go, telling him to drive carefully and that I’ll see him tomorrow. I knew he needed to get away, vent his frustration and then come back refreshed and refocused. Wonder Boy will help him get his head cleared.
Junior Mint is going on the notion that my fight is still on so tonight he continued with putting me through grueling training which meant I had to gear up for sparring. My coach Junior Mint was asked today by a visiting guest as to why I spar with guys and I took it upon myself to answer his question. “Because I have no choice, because I’m a girl and that’s my disadvantage in Korea” was my answer and it’s true.
There’s no other female professional boxer in Cheonan and as for the other females at my boxing club, they all do boxing as a means of exercise. None of them are interesting in actually stepping in the ring. My former sparring partner is thinking of retiring from boxing and she’s a two hour ride away. Bella Punch isn’t allowed to spar with me anymore because I fractured her nose and her husband refuses to have her spar with me. Little Miss Sunshine used to spar with me but was a temporary partner and has since stopped boxing, got married and had a baby. So that leaves me with… no other female. That leaves me with Captain Jab, a young guy who is in the same weight class as me, has much more amateur experience than I do, and who, because he’s been working as my coach’s assistant coach, is here every single day the club is open so there’s no guessing as to whether or not he’s at boxing. He’s a very reliable and very skilled sparring partner, perhaps the best sparring partner I’ve ever had. Having said this though, the poor guy is getting dragged through grueling training with me because of me having a scheduled fight so I know he goes home every night sore and exhausted just like me.
As the story has it, one day I headed to the opposite side of the globe – the Flipside. I arrived in Korea February 16th, 2005 and thought I’d do a year, then leave. I was wrong. I stayed, launched my first company, Flipside Fitness, and then opened Korea's largest boxing club, Hulk's Boxing (now called Hulk's Club).
After 11.5yrs in Korea, I then picked up one day and returned to Toronto, Canada. But then I left again.
Now I live in the Philippines where I am the CEO and head coach of Empowered Clubhouse, the Philippines' first and only boxing clubhouse exclusively just for women. I also am the founder of the Lil' Sistas Project, CEO and designer of Slay Gear and Baa Baa Black Sheep .Ph.
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