Quote Originally Posted by marvrealdeal
hmmmm, just wondering, why did you quit? If you lost on SD against the GG winner you must have liked the sport quite a bit and pretty dedicated. I just cant see myself going off on a sport like that all of a sudden.
I didn't just quit. After the SD in the GGs I fought again in an amateur show. It was at a lounge of the local NFL team's coach's restaurant. I was 17 and fought a 21 year old open fighter. I won that fight but couldn't remember the second half of the fight. I literally couldn't remember winning. I saw another fighter who was there months later and he told me the fight was like Rocky and the crowd was going nuts. So, it's not like I didn't get any satisfaction from fighting. But at my park (I trained in the city park district) the only sparring partners were 24 and 28 years of age. The 24 year old fought in the GG championship and lost and took a break from training after March 23, the 28 year old only trained but didn't compete anymore (after 40 or so amateur bouts) and he quit coming around for the summer. (They both had jobs and families to worry about also.) The summer after the GGs I had just graduated from HS and, since I was primarily a brawler (I wasn't trained very much in the important art of defense), I had to have surgery on my nose to remove blockage from swollen cartilage. Then I left Chicago for the East coast to attend college. I tried to find a local club out there but the local PAL had stopped its boxing program. The only gym I knew of was Frazier's on Broad Street in Philly. 19 years old and I'm not trekking into there all the time when I have college studies to worry about. I graduated with a 3.4/4.0 and went to law school. (I said up top I'm now a lawyer.) It's not easy going to law school at all, let alone with extracurriculars.
I appreciate the question. The answer is just that I was away from my old gym, moving onto other things, but believe me I kicked the crap out of a lot of loud mouth punks in college and after. I had a reputation as someone not to mess with. So, I still had little glories here and there. But it's always been in the back of my mind how I could have won GGs after only 3 months of training and 2 prior fights.
Now, at 33, I feel if I don't do it now I never will. I am just afraid it is already too late. I'm afraid people will think I'm nuts with something to prove -- for example going into work or even court with black eyes.
I guess I'm just looking for some encouragement from like-minded individuals.