Sweet November

In his song, Stronger, Kanye West says “50 told me, ‘Go ‘head switch the style up and if they hate then let ‘em hate and watch the money pile up.’” Only, when I switched the style up this weekend in my boxing match, that just didn’t happen.

In my past few fights, I played the counter-puncher (my most natural way of fighting); I would pick my shots and make them count. As that hadn’t been working for me lately, I decided to switch it up a little bit, and in my provincial title bout this weekend, I let it all hang out. I threw indiscriminate combinations, punches in bunches – to the body, to the head, and back again. I threw more punches than I’ve ever thrown in a boxing match before. My opponent did the opposite. He did what I used to do. He waited for me to finish punching, and then threw one to two hard shots.

At the end of the first round I was surprised but satisfied with my 6-4 lead. By round two, I couldn’t believe that I was only up by one point (14-13), but in the third round, when my second showed me the score 24-16 in favour of the other guy, I nearly walked out of the ring. There must be some mistake, I thought. Maybe they got the red and blue corners mixed up. Maybe it’s a misprint.

It wasn’t. In the fourth and final round I was sure to go out in style, so I punched until I couldn’t punch anymore. I punched myself out, and by the final bell, I doubt that I could have mustered even one more blow. That round, I felt as if my opponent didn’t throw a single punch. But he won.

I’ve seen bad decisions before. Heck, I’ve even been on the good end of some bad decisions before, but this one was a farce. On any other day, I might not have cared either, but this was provincials. Provincials lead to Nationals. And this year, Nationals lead to the Olympics.

I went to the judges after the fight for answers. Most said the same thing – I wasted too many punches on the guy’s arms. Great. Last fight, I was told to be busier, to throw even if the punches wouldn’t land, to be the aggressor.

Frustrations aside, my focus is clear now. Under the guidelines of the provincial governing body, I’ve put in a challenge against my opponent for the provincial team spot. We fight November 3rd in Regina; it becomes a best of three.

“And I want everybody to tell all they aunts and all they uncles: get to they TV, get to they radio set, ‘cuz I have never wanted to whoop a man so bad!”

- Khodi