Don't Do the Cheap Gear Route... Friday, October 23

It was a first for me today -- a bloody nose and a bloody lip.

I had gone 12 rounds in sparring, a usual now for my Friday early morning sparring session with my sparring partner, but today the hits were extra hard and the injuries reflected that.  

In the fourth round I had got her with a clean upper cut and she came back with a mean hook to "thank" me for it.  She did her usual switch-up with going from Orthodox to south paw which in turn resulted in my usual frustration with it but I kept my cool better this time around.  The thing that makes sparring with this particular sparring partner, Queen Spar, so great is that each time we spar we learn things off of each other thus causing us to upgrade and develop into better fighters.  She knows I love the corner and the ropes and it's obvious she's been working on that during her own personal training because I can't corner her as much as before.  Likewise, she loves to work me on this one particular punch, the overhead two, so I've been practising it a lot with Coach Brown during my training as well as working on other things I've picked up from her.  And, as our level of skill increases apparently so is the intensity and apparently the injuries too, well at least for today's sparring session.

I've never in all of my boxing have ever had a bloody nose.  It wasn't dripping or anything but when I blew my nose there was a small amount of blood up in it.  Moreover, I had chomped down on my lip during sparring, nearly biting the tip off, seriously.  I could taste the blood in my mouth during the 8th round and when I finished the 10th round I checked it out in the mirror beside the ring.  Yup, I definitely did a number on it.

For the rest of the day I felt punch drunk.  Should have bought that new head gear.  It wouldn't have promised me to not feel like my head had been squeezed in a vice but it definitely would have protected my Polish noggin much better than the one I wore.