The Monday Crowd

It was all guy action on Monday.  In the photo above, Andre took on Reygie.  Reygie loved hanging up against the ropes.  Colonel, who came in, said, "Get off the ropes!"  Both Reygie and Andre were getting their licks in, mostly upside each other's heads.  "Eff that!" Arnold said to me as we both watched their fistic efforts, and we both laughed. 

It looks as if Reygie and Andre will have fights later this month at the University Club downtown.  Unlike other locations where fights are held in and around the city, there's not a lot of room for onlookers.  "Ever been in that place?  It's full of rich and well educated people.  A friend of mine has a membership there," Colonel told me.  Arnold wanted to go, but Alan told him, "If Hillari wants to go and be in their corners, then you won't be able to go."  The date of the fight sounded familiar to me, like I had something else planned, but I couldn't remember what it was.  I didn't have my calendar with me to verify, so I told Arnold that he should go. 

I had debated whether or not to go to the gym on Monday. I had been hit with a sudden cold that started late Friday evening, and laid me out all weekend long. I was still coughing and stuffed up Monday morning. Being sick and dealing with some of the people who show up to the food pantry at work never mixes well together, so I stayed home. It was very late in the afternoon when I decided I would go to workout. But I knew before I got there that I was in no condition to spar.  I wish I could have, knowing that Brandy probably wanted to do so. 

In the photo above, Professor takes a picture of Reygie and Andre.  The other Andre was there, too, but he didn't get a chance to spar.  



In these two shots, Arnold and Joanne (I hope I have her name right) did a burn out as I counted off numbers.  

 

Marshall and Joe face off in the ring.   I worry about the hits that Joe keeps taking.  It's a matter of keeping his hands up and his chin down to avoid them.  But I have to admire how he shakes them off and keeps going. 

Ben and Andre did a few rounds.

Marcus also came in that evening, but some newer faces were missing, namely Kylie and Erma.  Later, I learned they hadn't officially signed up, but had come in last week to try it out.  "I've never seen it this crowded in here," Colonel said.  "It always is in January," I told him.  I think there's about 15 people signed up.  When most have to go out into the hallway in order to have room to jump rope, that's when I know the place is crowded. 

Information for this year's Golden Gloves tournament has been released.  I was surprised to learn that it is not being held at Gordon Tech High School this time.  The new location is at Cicero Stadium.  No news on why there's been a change of venue.  Gordon Tech had the advantage of extra parking over St. Andrew's Gym, but the setup for spectators was a little too tight.  I'm hoping that won't be a problem at Cicero Stadium. 

Gym Time On Wednesday

When I got to the field house, I noticed that Igor was in Mary's office.  I wondered why he dared come behind the front counter to do so.  A few moments later, he shows me that he has a receipt for the payment of his fee for the summer session.  "Fine," I said, before Jilberto caught my attention regarding opening the gym door.  I wonder if I had not said anything to Igor on Monday about paying the fee would he have bothered to pay it at all.

Andre One came in briefly, and Alan told him he had to pay his fee for the session.  "Alright, I'll be back on Monday", he said on his way out. 

Andy noticed some people were missing that had been in on Monday, namely John and Gene.  Alan explained to the newbies that a lot of people go MIA after a few times in the gym.  "But we don't want that to happen," he said.  Five of the seven people signed up are new; it wouldn't be a good situation if several of them decided to give up.

No sparring took place Wednesday night.  None of the newbies were ready, Amy doesn't spar, her sister Sarah is out on a break, and the other guys who normally spar were nowhere to be found.  I don't count Igor among the guys who regular spar.  Igor begs to spar occasionally, but when the opportunity is presented, he quickly changes his mind.  I think it has something to do with Igor wanting to have total say-so regarding whom he'll spar.  Igor's not the first to pull that.  Jordan used to whine to Steve to get put in the ring, but if the other person was somebody Jordan didn't believe he could "beat", he'd decline.  Two seconds later, Jordan would try to convince Steve to put him in with someone who was new to the gym, and/or whom Jordan knew had little to no boxing experience. 

Alan looked at me while I was shadow boxing in the mirrors, and said, "Hillari, you're setting a bad example for the new people."  He pointed out that I wasn't turning my back leg when I threw straight rights.  "That's been a problem ever since I was hit by a car last year.  I have to keep remembering to do that," I explained.  If you've been reading these posts for awhile, you remember me showing up to the gym with my left knee in soft braces, hobbling around on a cane.  Turning the right knee at that time put pressure and pain on my left knee, so I stopped doing it.  But when my left knee healed - well, as healed up as it could, considering I never went to the doctor to check it out - I had to re-train myself to get back to proper form.  Sometimes I do it right, and sometimes I don't.

In the photo above, Alan talks with DJ (on the left), Andy (in the middle), and Jason (not Jacob, as I wrote the other day) about boxing techniques and sparring.  Andy boxed while he was attending high school at Gordon Tech years ago.  DJ has some kickboxing experience, and I believe Jason said he had taken Tae Kwon Do in the past. 

I gave away some of my old hand wraps, which I finally got around to washing out.  Sara took one pair, and James took another.  I should have told them to make sure not to throw those in with the rest of the wash when they need cleaning because the wraps bleed.  I'll remember to say something on Monday.

Saturday Night Finals

I was surprised when I arrived at Gordon Tech High School for the final night of the Golden Gloves -- the programs were free.  Hoy, a Spanish newspaper that was one of the sponsors of the tournament, had printed them up in full color.  In the past, the programs were in black and white.

There were some cute pink T-shirts for infants for sale that read: "Future Golden Gloves Champion".  I had told Pastor Roger that I would buy a Golden Gloves shirt for his baby son, Isaac.  The pink shirts were nice, but Isaac is a whopper.  The boy was about nine pounds when he was born, and at four months, he's a lot bigger now.  I lucked up on a kid's medium gray T-shirt which I hope will fit Isaac.  After I made my purchase, I saw Gary.  Gary had Barry on the phone.  I was happy to learn that Barry did get the copy of the DVD I'd made of the Loyola Park boxing tournament.  I had left it in a drawer down at the gym for Barry to pick up.  Barry couldn't make it out to the fights and neither could JJ; JJ had to work that evening.

Percy was working the glove table as usual.  He told me all of his boxers didn't make it past the prelims and the semi-finals due to illness.  A few guys had the flu, another guy got pink eye.  I'm just getting over a cold myself, one that I caught from Pastor Roger.  It's getting on to mid-spring, and the last of the colds and flues are going around.

Thirteen fights were scheduled for the evening, but one didn't take place because one boxer was a no-show.  The other boxer won by walk-over, but judging by the look on his face, I'm sure he would have rather had the fight.  I've never seen any boxer in that tournament happy to win a bout that way. 

There were several matches between female boxers.  I got to shake the hand of Megan Rembold of Rockit Boxing, who won in the 114 lb. open category against Brittany Brown of By Faith Boxing.  While they were in the ring, I thought to myself, "I wish I was their weight."  I was also wishing I fought more like Kendra Cooper of Harvey Boxing who won over Scarlett Swerdlow, who wasn't attached to a boxing club (139 lbs. Senior Novice category).  Cooper measured her punches and picked her spots. 

The ring girls were on hand, and here's another reason why they don't add anything to the sport.  In-between the first and second round of one of the matches, one of them pranced into the ring holding the round card upside down.  She didn't catch on what the audience was trying to tell her until she had gotten half-way around the ring.  Finally, she looked up at the card and turned it around.  There were a group of guys that kept standing up and cheering every time she switched by their side of the ring. I noticed there were no girlfriends and/or wives in their group.  I thought, "If I was the girlfriend or wife sitting next to one of those guys, I'd jumped up and slapped the guy back down in his seat."  Yeah, I'd be that type of wife, and I was that type of girlfriend the last time I had a boyfriend. 

The best fight of the evening was between Alex Martin of Harvey Boxing and Termaine Pride of the Jesse Torres Boxing Club in the 152 lbs. Open category.  I had heard many stories about Martin's prowess in the ring, but I didn't remember seeing him fight before.  Martin was the example of  taking a few punches to get some in, and he really got them in.  Crisp, clean jabs and hooks.  Martin never looked like he was in a rush nor did he panic when Pride backed him up and threw flurries of punches.  Martin handled his business, and deservedly won the Best Boxer of the Tournament award. 

I lost all track of time.  When I finally looked at my watch it was after 11:00 PM.  The matches ended about a half hour to 45 minutes later.  On my way out of the high school, I felt someone tapping me on my shoulder.  It was Tim Kane, who writes some very good boxing articles for the Chicago version of Examiner.com.  "I said to myself, 'I know that girl!  I've seen her on the Internet!'" he told me.  It was very nice to meet him. 

It was a long walk down to the Addison Red Line 'L station.   The Addison bus stops running after about 9:30 PM.  I don't think the California bus runs that late going north, either.  The Brown Line was a little closer, but it didn't make much sense for me to get on, ride one stop south to Belmont, then switch over to go back in the right direction.  That was the main grievance I had about the tournament being switched from St. Andrews to Gordon Tech.  Those of us on public transportation who want to see the fights to the end have to hoof it awhile to get to the next bus or train that's running afterwards.

And Then There Were None

I napped a little too long this afternoon, and had to practically run out of my apartment to get to the Golden Gloves Saturday evening.  I walked in just as a little girl began to sing the National Anthem.  Once the song ended, I found Oscar and Kenny.  Alan hadn't arrived yet, so Kenny got Oscar's headgear and gloves.  Just as I suspected, Oscar's fight was scheduled early in the evening; his bout was the second one.  Alan arrived a short time later.

Oscar's opponent, Charlie Richardson out of Mango gym, was taller than he was.  "You're going to help in the corner, right?" Alan asked, but I replied, "It'll probably be better to have Kenny there to translate."  Oscar's English isn't so good, and the Spanish I learned in high school didn't stick well in my brain. I was hoping that Oscar wouldn't keep going for Richardson's head and concentrate more on body shots.  Unfortunately, Oscar had the fight stopped on him in the second round.

I saw Bill, the coach at Hamlin, who asked if I was okay.  He'd heard about me getting hit by a car back in January.  That accident cost me a rematch with Andrea at that time.  But Bill told me the rematch is still available.  We've got all spring and summer to prepare for it, as it won't take place until later in the year. I told him that I planned to start sparring again later this month, and that I was willing to take the rematch.

Kenny's fight was number nine of the evening.  It appeared that the people on his opponent's side were a little nervous when they learned their guy would be fighting Kenny.  "That's a good sign," I laughed.  But, alas, the laugh would be on us.  Kenny's opponent kept holding him, and Alan pointed that out to John, the referee.  Kenny was sort of forced into fighting the way his opponent wanted him to fight.  After awhile, the referee kept repeating to both fighters, "Don't hold, don't hold."  Kenny's opponent was awarded the win.

Before Professor's bout, Alan and I got some food from the cafeteria, and he treated me.  I only had a cheeseburger and a Diet Pepsi.  "You're a cheap date," Alan told me, and I laughed.  There was a cute little boy at the next table, who was sitting with his father.  He and I played "peek-a-boo" for a few moments while Alan and I ate.  Alan and I didn't linger too long because many of the matches seemed to be ending quickly, and we wanted to have time to get Professor ready for his match.

"If I didn't see you, I wasn't going to fight," Professor told Alan when we caught up with him.  Professor's turn came against Daniel Johnson from Rockit Gym.  Johnson looked more muscular, but when both men got into the ring, Alan and I didn't think that Johnson had a huge advantage over Professor.  They looked to be about even.  But then, Johnson appeared to be the busier person once the bell rang.  The next thing Alan and I knew, the fight had been stopped -- and not in Professor's favor.

Alan offered to give me a ride to the 'L.  On the way out, we wished Reggie good luck as we wouldn't be around to see his fight, which was going to take place much later in the evening.  Reggie has been training at Loyola, but was fighting for LA Fitness.  I just checked the results of Reggie's bout, and he didn't have any more luck than Professor, Kenny, and Oscar.

I sighed as I waited for the train.  "Everybody's out," I thought.  It's not the first time that's happened.  When Steve was the coach, there were seasons when all the fighters who were competing were done before the prelims were over.  It's not a good feeling, but you always have to remember that it takes a lot of courage to step into a ring.  Not many can do that, and the ones who competed on Saturday did their best.

Boxing In a Small Place

In the middle of the Golden Gloves festivities last night, Tina Wonogas asked the crowd, "How do you like the new place here at Gordon Tech?"  The response was underwhelming.  "Okay, wrong question!  Are you having fun tonight?" she continued.  I kept thinking as I looked around the venue that it was so small.  By the times the finals come around, the place will be packed like sardines in a can.  There were less bleachers and less room on the floor for reserved seating. 

The usual faces were present: Shifty, Percy, Ted, Tracy, Johnny, Jack, Bill, Luis, Sam, Chupa, Gary, etc.  I didn't know that Alan was acquainted with referee "Gentleman" Gerald Scott, who is often seen on HBO, Showtime, and ESPN officiating matches.  Alan, myself and Professor were sitting ringside near the referee while waiting for Professor's match to come up. 

I realized just after I got there that I had forgotten to bring my camera, otherwise, I would have posted pictures on here.  I won't forget it next time.  I just have to dodge the security guys who don't want people taking pictures.  It shouldn't be a problem if I'm taking pictures of individuals as opposed to taking shots (or video) of the actual matches, however.  The organizers are tough about that, though.  I overheard Tracy, one of the event's organizers, telling off a reporter who apparently showed up last night wanting a story, but who didn't clear things ahead of time. 

Earlier in the evening, a coach's meeting took place in the school's cafeteria.  Alan hadn't arrived yet.  I told Professor, "Maybe I better go and see what they're talking about."  I am a coach after all, so why shouldn't I not go?  It was the first time I had attended a coach's meeting at the Gloves.  There had to be about seventy guys in that meeting.  Myself and an Asian woman were the only two females in the room.  John, an official, went over some rules and procedures that the coaches needed to know.  I was surprised to learn that officials and referees have to had overseen 300 to 500 fights before being allowed to officiate over Golden Gloves matches.  Luis Rios made it clear that passbooks were going to be checked of everyone who was planning to work the corners of the fighters.  Apparently there had been incidents of people in the corners who weren't officially authorized to be there in the past. 

Unfortunately, some guys who plan to fight and want to fight on certain nights don't get to do so.  That was the case with Kenny, who expected to have a match Thursday night.  "This is going to eff up my training schedule," he told me later as he drove me home.  Reggie and Professor made the schedule.  Danny and Oscar are tentatively scheduled for tonight; Kenny will return for his match on Saturday.

The guys made fun of me because I was eating what they thought was a whole lot before the fights began.  It's become a running joke at the Gloves for the past few years now.  I hadn't eaten since 11:00 AM, and I was starving by the time I got to Gordon Tech around 6:30 PM.  I had a thick cheeseburger, BBQ chips, a slice of banana cake (I was entitled because my blood sugar was a little low), and a Diet Pepsi. 

"You don't have a wife beater shirt?" Alan asked Professor.  He ended up having to cut the sleeves off of the T-shirt that Professor was wearing.  Kenny held pads for Professor to warm him up beforehand.  Professor spoke to professional boxer David Diaz before his fight and got some encouraging words.  Professor slipped on the canvas twice during the first round against a guy named Marcin Kunicki who was fighting out of HyperFight Gym.  He rallied back to catch the guy with a series of jabs.  But by the third round, both men were in trouble as they were tired out.  While Professor sat in the corner between the second and last round, Alan admonished him.  "One effing body shot!  You can't give him one effing body shot?"  A body shot most likely would have stopped Kunicki.  The bell rang again and the men fought their fatigue to get through the round.  In the end, Professor got the win.  Manny, who was there, commented, "The other guy kept looking like he was surprised that Professor was still throwing punches at him!"

Reggie's fight was several bouts later, and a posse of his friends were there to cheer him on.  Reggie was up against Lucas Hyre, who was fighting for Team Colon.  Reggie tagged Hyre with a left jab, and Hyre fell into the ropes before stumbling to the canvas.  The referee ruled that to be a slip.  Reggie's next actions left no doubt, however.  He backed his opponent up into a corner and pummeled him with body shots and hooks to the head.  Hyre slumped down in the corner, and that was it.  Reggie was declared the winner, and I believe he did the job less than one minute into the first round.  His friends and I jumped to our feet and chanted Reggie's name.

Renewing At Gordon Tech

I went up to Gordon Tech High School to renew my boxing coach's license.  After decades of the Chicago Golden Gloves Tournament being held at St. Andrews Gym, it will now take place at the high school.  Allegedly, it is a bigger venue.  I only saw the library where the registration was held, so I have no idea how big their gym is. 

Danny, Kenny's friend, was there filling out his registration when I arrived.  Other familiar faces included Ted, Jack, and Rita.  Ted told the men sitting at the first registration table, "She's signing up as a boxer."  "No, not this time.  Renewing for the coach's license," I answered.  The process was painless and quick.  New this year -- coaches now get license books, just like the fighters.  "Just show them that book and you can get into the tournaments free.  If anyone says anything different, you tell them that the president of USA Boxing Illinois told you that you could," one of the older men at the table told me.  "Thanks.  Your name, sir?" I responded.  He extended his hand, and I shook it.  "I'm Louis Rios," he said.  He owns a well known and respected gym. 

I'm not sure which other boxers from Loyola Park may have signed up.  I'm assuming that if Alan didn't renew his coach's license today, he'll do it tomorrow.