Your welcome MMU

I'm sure there are others in this forum with some better stories than me who might reply when they get the chance.

Fighting for me since then has improved gradually. I still have a lot to work on but I now know how to get out of the way and move in multiple directions instead of just straight back. I have had a few exhibition bouts against the same girl since and now although she still tries to take my head off and catches me with a few good ones I tend to out box her. She hasn't fought for a while perhaps because she wasn't challenged enough when she fought and has lost motivation.

I am no longer with my original trainer and in hindsight i am one of a few people he trained who had very poorly prepared first fights and i feel that the more safety conscious trainers I have now are a big step up.

One of my old team mates had his first fight on the same night as me. He went in hard but as a club we were not strong on defence. He got his nose broken and was bleeding all over the ring. They didn't stop the fight because he was still fighting strong and he had an old school referee. He fought the entire last round even stronger with a broken nose. He lost by about 2 points but then I remember seeing him shaking and turning blue with shock in the change rooms afterwards. He did fight again but i don't think he's in the sport anymore. It's sad how a brave guy like him can put so much into his training and loose out for the lack of a bit of direction.

I don't regret having a few hard fights though. I had a big head and needed a few losses to keep me modest. I think it's an unhappy boxer who has so much success intially that they can't handle it when they eventually do get beaten - often because they have a false sense of security and don't realize they still need to do the best they can.

My favorite fight of all time (that I fought) was against a Japanese girl my weight in Japan. It came at a time after I'd lost a few in Australia and I really needed to win for my own self esteem. I was so nervous leading up to the fight that I hiccuped continuously for two days before the fight. I fought in Tokyo but was living in Osaka so I had to take the bullet train to get there the day before for the weigh in.

Unfortunately the train was slow and stopped for a while because of a typhoon. I was hungry also because I had to make weight for the fight. When we got to Tokyo we had to walk through the typhoon weather - pouring rain and got a bit lost to find the weigh in gym. I was REALLY, REALLY happy to eat after that but still hiccuping. I shared a twin room with my Japanese coach only to find he was the worlds worst snorer! I woke him up several times to tell him to quit it but he kept falling asleep before me and snoring again so I didn't get any sleep. The next morning I was still hiccuping.

My opponent was a bit taller and thinner but somehow still had good power. This fight was without headguards and using old 8 ounce gloves which might have had something to do with it.

She was fast and had a sneaky uppercut which nearly knocked me out. We were both flat out the entire fight and it would easily be the fastest fight I've ever fought. I had to train in a Japanese gym for almost a year before i was allowed to fight there despite have previously fought in Australia. I'm glad I had that preparation because for her I needed it.

There was a small, relatively reserved Japanese audience. Despite the language barrier I could tell they all thought I was a bit of a joke before the fight. All the other fighters had to pass a sparring test to be allowed to fight but they let me straight in because having a foreigner compete was a novelty for them. All the fighters were looking at me like "who is this fatty!?!?". I'd be considered petite in Australia and am definitely the gym midget but compared to that crowd I was stocky.

It's not too exciting to describe. I used the right hand a lot because she hit me every time I threw my left. She caught be with a beautiful uppercut in the last round which caused me to loose control of my legs for a second but I was moving towards her at the time and I just managed to catch myself before I fell over and countered with a right cross. I won just by a tiny amount based on fitness. I hugged her afterwards because i had so much respect for how hard she'd made me work. In my very flawed Japanese i tried to tell her she was good but I don't think she wanted to accept the compliment. I might have also freaked her out a bit by hugging her every time we spoke because that's not really a Japanese thing.

After that fight the Japanese fighters congratulated me and I felt the "she's just qualified for this because she's a gaijin" stigma had dissappeared. My hiccups also dissapeared. The show promoter came and congratulated me and said they wanted me to be in all their shows after that. I got to sleep on the train on the way home. I moved back to Australia a few months later and never fought there again but It's a very good memory for me to have.