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.

Monday, January 08, 2018

First Sparring of 2018... Monday, January 8

Fifty days ago, that's the last time I sparred.  In between then and today, we've had Christmas holidays, New Year's, and Charlie (my aeombia) stir up again.  Fifty days of no sparring meant today's sparring was going to be extra rough, especially considering I'm use to sparring every single week.

Last time we sparred, November 22nd, we went eight straight rounds.  Today we did only 6.  Six rounds but with a minor break in between the third and fourth round.  

In the first round I scored a fat lip and during the fifth round I took a brutal body shot that sent me to the ring mat.  I got up, shook it off and then went for another round.  My sore left toe that I'm convinced the nail is going to fall off or it's bruised because of my running, got stepped on twice during sparring so that felt "so good".  I threw two low blows to Coach Bogs and he retaliated with even lower than low blows; he hit my thighs.  All low blows, at least on my part, were totally unintentional but I think perhaps one of his two weren't.  I took it like a champ though but it was like a Charlie horse in my leg, the leg went numb for a bit.  The fifth round was a rough one.  We were both exhausted and had gone all in when suddenly I took Coach Bog's nose to my head.  We were clinched and I was going for some tight body shots on him when I then head butted him by accident.  He sat ringside after our sparring, rubbing his nose and me rubbing my head.  It's going to hurt for the next day or so, for sure.

Note to self, don't run to the boxing club on days I spar.  I felt the sun, the heat and the added weight of sparring gear on my back all contributed to breaking down my energy and using it up before my actual sparring session.  Next time, I'll simply walk, not run, or take an Uber.

Sparring was good but it could have been better.  My legs just wouldn't move fast and my feet were so heavy.  I blame the excessive time between today's sparring and last time plus the fact that I ran here today.  We only went for 6 rounds instead of 8 so that was a bit disappointed but I knew I couldn't totally exhaust myself because I still had to jog back home with all my gear.

The struggle is real but I'm kind of a glutton for punishment in that I like the challenge.
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