I had my first time sparring! Kind of.

[Randy]

I've been going to a local boxing gym for 3 weeks now.  Learning all the punches, getting better at jumping rope (I can do 40 jumps now with only 2-3 screw-ups with the rope), and getting exercise in general.

My favorite part is doing the boxing mitts part with someone else. I can get more work and sweat going in 2 rounds of that than in an hour of hitting the bags by myself.

I see people doing their sparring sessions all the time, and I've been wondering when I'd get to do it. Last saturday, I saw some women taking turns doing it, so I asked the manager if I could do it also.  He said okay.

The gym had headgear for people to use, and cheap $1 mouthguards, so I got one. I should have put on that belt protector thing also, but didn't think of it until I was in the ring, and no one else had mentioned it either.

Now, it's my first sparring time EVER, and who goes in against me? Some guy who has 22 amateur fights and just turned pro. A slight mismatch to say the least!

We agreed on 2 2 minute rounds.

Well, it didn't go all that well. I swung some, but not as much as when hitting the mitts with someone. Not too many swings actually hit. He kept moving. I didn't move too much, at least not my head. His tactic was obviously to pummel me in the stomach about 300 times, with random head shots thrown in here and there.Â

I could tell he wasn't hitting me as hard as he could, but for someone new to sparring it seemed like a lot.

I think throughout the 2 rounds, I got him with 6 or 8 shots that actually hit good.

But I was glad for the second round to be over. As I got out of the ring, my nose started bleeding. I knew he hit me in the face quite a few times, but I didn't think it was hard enough to make a nose bleed.

So I had to get someone to help me get the damn gloves off and then I went to the bathroom and took care of it. It wasn't too bad. The mouthguard got blood on it, so to show my disapproval of the severe mismatch I just left it where I spit it out after getting out of the ring.

After I had a chance to calm down, I asked the manager what he thought. He said that I didn't get out of breath, which seemed to be the one thing I did right. And I kept advancing on the other guy, making him back around the ring constantly. Or maybe he was doing that anyhow, I don't know.

So next time I try sparring, I'll try to get someone who's a little closer match for me.

[Howlin Mad Missy]

a mismatch? what did you want to do FIGHT? or have him hit you 300 times in the head and 6 in the stomach. Look despite the nosebleed the it sounds as you did ok. He stayed in control which is good for you. Just take it easy and don't be so keen to scrap. If you weren't totally gassed you're improving.

Nothing worse than over keen amateurs with little self control knocking seven shades out of one another.

[Douglas]

I'd say you did pretty good Randy. Whenever he was hitting you, you didn't back into the corner and panic, you stayed with him as best you could. And you took it like a man.

[AdamGB]

it was anything but a mismatch, what would you have learned if you'd gone in for a battle with another inexpereinced kid? probably about as much as if you'd picked a fight with some one in a bar

[Randy]

Well, I certainly didn't plan to go in against someone and beat them down in the first round or anything, but the 15 to 1 hit ratio (more or less) seemed a bit lopsided.

He knew that it was my first sparring time, and I didn't ask but instead assumed (I know what they say about assuming) that he'd mostly be blocking my punches and giving me one here and there to keep me on my toes.

Earlier in the night he was demonstrating with another experienced boxer how if you just keep hitting someone in their body constantly, they have a hard time giving you a good hard punch. I found that tactic to be effective, but I was on the receiving end.

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