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.

Wednesday, April 06, 2016

Black Tie Boxing... Wednesday, April 6

I love boxing... isn't it obvious?! And I love attending the live fights.  This afternoon I was asked if I wanted to accompany a particular pro boxer to tonight's amateur fights downtown and I answered "yes, of course!"  His company had bought a table and he had a seat at it for me -- sweet.

As it turns out it was a black tie event being hosted by Spider Jones.  Thank God I went with smart casual compared to the t-shirt and pants I originally was going to go with.  Some ladies wore evening gowns while many of the men wore suits.  I was introduced to those at my table as a professional boxer so I was quick to be instantly thrown into the conversation. 

The best bout of the night were the last two -- it was a tie for me.  The second last fight was between the current amateur female champion and the former champ.  They were tall, ripped and very impressive in the ring.  I vouch a female fight always draws the attention of the crowd but tonight's female fighters fighting captured everyone's highest attention.  The last fight, an open class bout where the two male fighters didn't wear any head gear, capped the event off nicely because it was a close, action-packed bout.

Like all boxing bouts, a crowd filled with big names from the boxing community is always present.  George Chuvalo, Egerton Marcus, and Lennox Lewis, to name a few.  Tonight's event was a fundraising event so they had a silent auction as well as a live auctioning off of a pair of George Chuvalo's gloves.  The pair went for $1,000 and all the proceeds went to charity.

(Perhaps I shouldn't mention here that I'm cool with George and he gave me a signed glove and signed picture in exchange for a hug.)

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