Now, I’m definitely not a boxer by any stretch of the imagination, I’m a lover, not a fighter, but I have been interested in getting involved in some form of combat sport for the fitness side that goes with it. I don’t really want to fight anyone, just wanted to be in a position where if needed I could defend myself. I work in a leisure centre that hosts a charity boxing event run by Ultra White Collar Boxing. I heard mixed things about it. It’s meant to be for people new to boxing but word on the street is it is quite popular with traveller brawlers signing themselves up to legally fight people without consequences. There were also stories about the crowds being just as bad with factions of friends and families of the boxers having it out in car parks. As its for charity I put these thoughts to one side and one weekend when we were hosting one of the events, out of curiosity, I went home after work, got dressed up and came back in to see what it was all about. I wasn’t sure if it just gave the impression of being a fancy event or if it actually was with the guys all suited and booted and the girls all glammed up in their evening dresses. It’s hard to make a sports hall look good but they gave it a good try. There are two fights that go on at the same time (in separate rings of course) and each fight consists of three, two-minute rounds. The fighters get to choose their own nickname and walk on music which resulted in a lot of Eminem and Barbie Girl. While I didn’t stay till the end, all in all it looked like a sophisticated event and the fights were mostly evenly matched with people who mostly looked like they had only been doing it for a short period of time. It was also for charity so could I overcome my pacifist nature and take part in a sport where I actively had to hit other people with the intention of hurting them? I didn’t know but thought I would give it a go.
I asked a few friends if they wanted to do it with me. Most of them were non-committal but as the start of the next training schedule was around the corner I found myself confronted with being the only one still to sign up. I still had my doubts but I couldn’t be the only one not to do it. Partly out of FOMO but if I’m being honest, mostly at being deemed a coward that the others were going to do it and I wasn’t. I signed up on a Sunday, training started on the Tuesday.
Before the actually fight you are given two training sessions a week for eight weeks to prepare you for the fight. You are encouraged to train in your own time as well. On top of this as part of the agreement for taking part you are required to sell a minimum of 10 tickets to the fight (or one VIP table) and have generated at least £50 in donations on a Just Giving page. Part of this go towards payment cost for the coaches, insurance and staff to run the event. If you don’t turn up for at least 50% of the training session you will also not be eligible to fight.
Training sessions were led by Kyle and Mark. They started off with a brutal warm up of jogging, press ups, burpees, squats, lunges and core exercises. Some weeks I more or less managed to keep up with this, other weeks I over-trained and felt like I had shown myself up by having to stop and rest a lot. We were then taught to throw punches and with each week a new type of punch was added resulting in new series of punch combinations. We were eventually taught how to block and avoid these combinations thrown our way and then finally it came to sparring. I was a little nervous about sparing. I have only ever thrown one punch in anger with the aim of harming someone in my life and that was directed at my brother about 18 years ago. Luckily, we were separated into three different weight categories for this. Jack and Liam were in the Over 85kgs, Toby started in the Under 70kgs but ended up putting on 5kg towards the end so he joined me in the 70-85kg category. It’s fair to say during our first sparring session I was rubbish. I got punched in the face more times than I was able to count, and probably capable of counting considering the number of blows to the head. But this experience, plus a few helpful tips from the coaches and some of the more experienced fighters in my weight category was a lesson I needed to learn the hard way to improve my performance by the end of the session. My final opponent that night started the sparring with a bloody nose, so that had nothing to do with my skills as a fighter. The next sparing session proved to be a bit more convincing for my ability and felt I dished out more neck jarring and head dazing blows than I received.
The problem I had with these training sessions was the timings of them. While it was my leisure centre that hosted them, most of them were during times when I was on shift. My shift pattern meant that I was working for two out of every three Tuesday sessions and two out of every three Thursday sessions. It got a little better when Tuesday moved to Saturday half way through the programme as I only worked one in every three sessions. I was able to escape work for short stints to take part most of the time but missed our final training session a week before fight night because of children throwing up in pools, old people falling over and the general demands of the centre. The training provided was supplemented by my own and the kind offer of one of the PTs in the centre putting me through my paces a couple of times.
When the training finished the next milestone was the final Weigh In event two days before fight night. Contrary to its title we didn’t get weighed but we did have our opponents announced. In my head there was a list of people I wanted to fight, those I should fight and those I really didn’t want to. I got none of them. Instead I got someone who was a complete mystery to me in terms of ability. Ryan Bedford. I recognised the face by had not sparred or paid any attention to him during training at all. I found this slight unsettling as I had no idea where I stood against him. It was suggested that because I didn’t pay attention to him he couldn’t have stood out as being a boxing monster. I liked this theory but it would be proven soon enough. Jack, Liam and Toby all seemed content with their match-ups and we were all on ring two so there was a chance we could watch each other fight.
All too soon it was the day of the event. I had done well not to think about it too much but the nerves were slowly setting in. All those participating had to be there early for the pre-fight medical and a general briefing and to collect our vests to fight in with our names on them. I called myself Jonny “50 Calibur” Barrett, which I now I have spelt wrong. There was a lot of waiting around with only so many trips to see the ring and nervous toilet breaks you can do to pass the time.
I could have done with a book. The line-up was finally announced. Jack would be the first of our group to tread the canvas in fight 5, I was 6th, Liam 7th and Toby was 8th. I was happy with this. Didn’t want to be first on but roughly middle of the pack so I could enjoy the rest of the evening with friends and family who came to watch. With us being one after the other it did make watching each other’s fights strangely difficult. We had to warm up and wait in the wings until our turn to go out. I did get to see the last two rounds of Jack’s fight. He apparently did very well during the first one and the second round looked fairly even. Sadly, during the third round Jack’s tank appeared empty, the guard was down and the punches lacked venom. He lost on the judge’s decision. As I was the Blue corner in ring two, I was the last one out before the bell rang. I made the error of choosing a song with a long intro before it kicked in properly, Club Foot by Kasabian, so I stood round the corner until it got close to when the song kicked off properly leaving everyone in suspense. I was lucky to have Kyle in my corner and wouldn’t have wanted anyone else. After he rummaged around in my pocket for the gum shield I forgot to put in and a brief by the ref, it was show time.
If I’m honest the first round was a bit on the messy side. With all the excitement I got drawn into a brawl and forgot all forms of technique or to use any of my advantages to my advantage. I was not fighting clever. I took a few shots to the face but I dished out my fair share and by the last 30 seconds of the round I remembered what I should be doing. I was a lot more tired than I thought I’d be by the end of that first round but the pep talk from Kyle reinforced what I knew I should be doing and Ryan appeared more fatigued than I did. Kyle got me stood up early as part of the mind games to show that I still had lots left in the tank but I really wanted to sit down. When the bell went for the second round I still took a hit or two but they lacked the speed and power of the first. I got in a few good shots to the head, a few upper cuts I was happy with, Ryan had to have a standing count but it was several body shots to his right side that made the ref stop the fight. I won with a second-round stoppage. A technical knockout. It wasn’t a perfect second round, my guard dropped a couple of times and I got a bit complacent when I started to feel like I had the fight, but for a first proper boxing match it was good. Contrary to the photos of me in the ring I was over the moon with that. Couldn’t believe that actually happened and I won. A wave to friends and family and I left the ring and Liam was up next.
I was able to watch a bit of his fight but I had to have my post fight medical to make sure everything was ok upstairs before I could be left to my own devices without the need of a nurse escorting me to the bathroom. Liam won with a 3rd round stoppage. After the all clear I through various bits I didn’t need into my bag and ran around the front to watch Toby in action with the others. He looked shook up quite early on and spent most the time defending. When he did throw a punch, it looked very flaily and panicy. It was strange because I knew toby was better than that, I had seen him do better than that but after my first-round experience I could understand how that could happen. Toby eventually conceded in the second round. It might not have been the result he wanted but fair play to him and everyone else for getting in the ring in the first place. It is not easy. All showered, suited and booted we joined everyone else to watch the rest of the matches followed by a drink in a pub and then the tail end of the after party in the casino across the road.
So, did I enjoy it? Strangely yes, very much so. Would I recommend it? Yes, it’s something different and its for an amazing cause even if there is a chance you might get beaten up. Would I do it again? Maybe one day. I would like to carry on boxing, for the fitness and maybe the occasional light sparring but not sure I would enter the ring again for a real match. I’m on the cusp of 30 so it might be a little late to start my amateur boxing career. But if I had to make a return to the canvas I would do it for a UWCB match. From start to finish Marta, Kyle and Mark were amazing. They kept us informed, the training was the kick up the arse we needed and other than a little waiting around during fight night it was a really good evening and felt like a proper boxing event. My only concern about doing it again is losing my 100% record!
