I had a mini anxiety attack this morning and then my alarm clock went off.
My boxing promoter had asked me last night if I wanted to sign for a fight in China so I spent a good chunk of the evening researching my proposed opponent online. I wasn't sure if I had even slept much or not and I woke up today with her -- my opponent -- still very much fresh on my mind and she was sitting heavy on my chest, figuratively speaking that is.
Today I'm one closer to fight day if I accept this fight and this thought is both overly exciting but also nerve-racking. It's nerve-racking in that it means I can no longer put off dealing with Junior Mint and KBC; I'll have to confront them regarding my boxing license and the rights to it. We were hoping to hold off until the new year, hoping that the year away from Junior Mint and the ring would help ease the drama, but I really want this China fight.
Those who know me, know I love, love, LOVE the anticipation of a fight -- the endless hours of training, the cutting mad weight, the weighing in of what I eat and drink, and the excessive image training. And for that month or two of preparing for the fight, it absolutely consumes me and becomes all I can think of. It's mind-consuming and physically draining but it's such an awesome goal and focal point for me; there really is nothing else like it. I think what I love about it is the whole pushing myself to extremes, not only physically but also mentally. When I was training for my champion fight last year, I made a pack with myself -- for every hour of training I did, I'd match it with an hour of mental training. My mental training revolved around noted sport psychology consultant Gary Mack's book 'Mind Gym', watching and re-watching countless different videos including videos of my own training, and visualizing in my mind me stepping into the ring for my fight. By the time my fight day had arrived, I already had a game plan and knew exactly what combo I was going to lean on and how I was going to start the first round.
I'm very eager to get back into the ring, more so for the sake of my boxing club and its' members than for my own personal sake. I try hard to train with my members, to show them that I too still actively train hard, and I think they respect me for that. I really try hard to stay positive for my members, stay full of energy and go hard with training. And I always try to out train them too with piling up the weights, adding an extra rep or doing extra rounds. It's not a matter of me wanting to be showy to them but instead because I really want to be an example to them.
Better than yesterday,
our club motto that I really try to be an example of and apply to my own life.
Currently we have no professional boxers training out our club beside Snickers and I but we're not particularly interested in training any pros though. We know all too well the politics and headaches that come with managing and training them. We much rather stick to training amateurs and those who want to do it for diet -- we want to keep it fun. Having said this though, I see a need to have an active role model, a mentor for them to look up to, so I think it'd be a good idea for Snickers and I to step back in the ring. Many of our amateur boxers are curious about sparring and a few already do spar, but I think them seeing us training on a whole different level of the game would surely act to encourage and motivate them, not to mention give them some pride about us as their coaches.
Snickers wants to step back into the ring because the amazing positive energy he gets from our members has reignited his passion for competing. Whereas I, I want to get back into it because I want to set an example. I want to train hard and fight hard for them -- for all our members.
Snickers and I are incredibly blessed to have had such an amazing opportunity to build our dream here in Cheonan, Korea so I think this would be an additional way to give back to all those who support us. Our friends and family had greatly supported us but it's our members who come in on a daily bases and train hard that I feel have really given us so much. Our membership no longer is bombarded with friends who signed on to help us out but people who walked in off the street and decided to make us a part of their life, and that's pretty awesome.
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