I lost the fight... But I'm glad I was finally given an opportunity to experience what it's like to be a fighter. I was often told by the other fighters at the gym it's a whole different world stepping into the ring. I guess I never really understood what they meant until last Sunday night.

I don't mean to be all melodramatic but as soon as the ref pronounced fight on the first round, it felt like all that mattered in the world was myself and my opponent. Come to think of it, it didn't even feel like the ref was there in the ring. I forgot about the audience, the ring girl (whose foot I stepped on later in the night), or anyone else in the fight venue. Or may be it was because I wasn't wearing my lenses and so all I could see was my opponent.

Post-fight, I now have better directions for my training. I now know what I need to work on and how I can prepare better for the next fight (eg. not lose too much weight for the weigh-in).

Regardless of the outcome of this bout, I genuinely appreciate all the support I got from my friends and fellow fighters at the gym. And also my trainer... eventhough he doesn't say much. Everyone did a great deal to help me prepare physically and more importantly, mentally leading up to the fight.

I know training will now feel different after I've had the fight. Sparring will be much more fun...

Prosecution III

Next event...

Fight venue: Melbourne, Australia
For tickets, call Jet on 0402608560

Sidyodtong

I finally got a chance to go check out the Muay Thai gym Kenny trains at. It was in a way what I had expected. Very down-to-earth, low-tech, Thai countryside style boxing camp with Thai country music playing on a cheap boombox in the background. At times, it actually felt like I was back in Thailand somewhere out of Bangkok.

So I knew this was the place for me to start training at. Not that I don't like training with Ernie.. Ernie's great but I have always wanted to train at a Thai camp with a Thai ex-fighter. I would have taken a picture of what the place looks like but I didn't wanna look like a tourist in there. So may be some other time. And I'll post up some pix.

Sidyodtong camp basically has half a dozen punching bags of different shapes and/or sizes. I guess it was so you could depict fighting both fat and thin fighters. Haha. There's also an open floor with mirrors for shadow boxing, and of course a boxing ring for some sparring/technical work. Scattered across the gym are all sorts of Muay Thai equipments and other fighting/fitness related gear, and of course pictures of HM the King of Thailand. Other than that, I must say the equipment and machines for weight trainings are inadequate, but that's what is usually expected of Muay Thai gyms. So I think I shall stick with fitness first for weights/biometrics stuff.

Obviously, I got excited with all this. In fact, I think I was a bit too overly excited and should have taken it a little easier on the punching bags. Now I'm waiting for my right shin and ankle to stop swelling and turning purple. Hehe. I was gonna put up a picture but decided against it. I still want people to come read my blog.

Anyways, a place like this is definitely rare in Melbourne let alone Australia and I'm happy to have found it. I shall have a lot of fun training there and I'll try to get some pictures up. Now, I really need to sleep. ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz