Comments From the Ring: Thursday Sparring Was (Almost) A Knockout!

NEXT BOUT: September 27 @ George Bell Arena [Opponent TBA]

Almost A Knockout
More Mississauga Madness
Getting in some 'Eye Of the Tiger'
Looking for another boxing gym

Almost A Knockout

I was finally able to get some sparring on Thursday.
I sparred a "new" guy, whose name has escaped me. I'm sorry.
Myself and Richard both thought he was new to Stockyards, but not new to boxing.

Well, he is a nice guy, he came in for sparring when nobody else would, so Richard threw him into the ring.

I did two rounds, and everything seemed fine. Although, I began to feel that he was more of a beginner than we all thought.
I was not hitting him very hard at first, but at the start of round three, he started to hit harder. Although, he didn't land many, I could tell he was getting more aggressive. Naturally, I started to hit harder. All the time, he had a pretty good defense.
At about half-way through the third round, I said "screw it", and decided to let go.
I threw a right-cross, and at that same moment, he decided to drop his defense, and I landed a beauty right, square on his jaw!
If it wasn't for the fact I was wearing sparring gloves, it would likely have been "lights out" for him.
He could not continue the round, and my sparring session came to an abrupt end.

I found out later, the guy boxed 15 years ago...
...well...fuck.

You have to speak up. This is a contact sport. Don't pretend to "know it all". You are going to get hurt.

I actually started to feel a bit bad about it.
Six months ago I would not have cared.
I am getting soft. Soon, I will be having my dink and balls surgically removed, and replaced with a vagina.

The problem is, I have been spending too much time in Mississauga.
I fucking hate that fucking city. If I did not work there, I would not step foot into that piss-pot.

More Mississauga Madness

While on the topic of Mississauga:

I find it really odd, that I have not had to complain about late buses in Mississauga lately, and I have not run into any smart-ass drivers, either

That's actually kind of scary. You know that won't last, and after almost a month of nothing, and...well...I won't say anything.

You may be wondering why I am still using Mississauga Transhit when I keep talking about divorcing them for Brampton Transit?
Well, it is a long story, but has to do with Communist Brampton forcing people to use the Presto Fare system, which is a useless piece of crap, and should be called the PITA fare system.

Anyway, away from the buses now, and on to the Pizza Pizza.

On Friday night, I ordered from Pizza Pizza as I always do on Friday.
They actually delivered on time, but I paid cash instead of using debit card.
I gave the delivery guy $25 on a $19 order. What is that? 25%? He did not give me change. He took off, and before I had a chance to say something, he was already half way out the door.
He took a $6 tip on a $19 order, and left me no cash for the rest of the shift.
Thank you for that.
I can't just fuck off in the middle of my shift to get cash. I have to stay within radio range in case of an emergency.

I used to always give a flat $2 to all delivery guys from Pizza Pizza. Although it is a bit less than 15%, they charge $3.50 for delivery, so, obviously the driver is not going to get as much.
Anyway, after this happened, now they are not going to get anything, ever.
Take it out of the $3.50 delivery fee.

That is the same Pizza Pizza that delivered my order 24 hours late...twice.

Fucking Mississauga.
That crap wouldn't happen in Toronto.

You know, this is when a giant meteor needs to fall out of the sky and land right onto the city of Mississauga, and obliterate it.

Really...would anyone miss it?
Name one good thing to come out of Mississauga...........

Yeah, I thought not.

Okay, maybe the meteor should land on the Mississauga City Centre.
I should not blame all of Mississauga for my problems there, as most of them are either pizza related or bus related.

A lot has to do with the idiots at Mississauga City Hall.

Toronto is no prize either, but I can fix Toronto.
In October, I am really going to do my best to fix Toronto.
For one thing, that councillor of mine, Gord Perks, needs a good swift kick out of office. The man is an idiot.

I can't do anything about Mississauga, but by putting pressure on the residents, I am hoping they will make a change.

I am a visitor to their city. They should be kissing my ass, not being a pain in it.
As it stands now, I don't do any business with anyone in Mississauga.
Only Auctionmaxx until last month, when they moved to Toronto.
Smart of them.

Speaking of, I have not won any auctions in a long time, because, as usual, idiots are bidding 'way too high for stuff.

Getting My 'Eye-Of-The-Tiger' In

In an interesting footnote to today's column: How ironic is it that I was riding the 71A bus to Stockyards Boxing on Thursday, and there was a Yellow Pages ad on the side of the bus:
""Toronto has nine boxing gyms...To get your eye-of-the-tiger in."" ?

That is funny at all levels.

The only thing, Toronto has five boxing gyms, not nine.

Of course, they are going by the number of gyms advertising in the Pages, which means nothing.
Any 'gym' that has a punching bag, now calls themselves a boxing gym.
Look at Bloor Fitness.
They have not had a boxing program since Richard left over three years ago. Yet, they are still listed in the Yellow Pages under "Boxing".

The only boxing they do, involves cardboard and tape.

Moving On, But Not Out

I have been looking a other places to train.
Not that I plan on leaving Stockyards anytime soon. Stockyards was the first gym to take me seriously, and is giving me the opportunity to compete.

I am looking for a place to train in Hamilton.
Starting next month, I will be spending quite a few weekends there, and will need a place to practice pugilism.

There are only four boxing gyms in Hamilton, unlike the **nine** we have in Toronto.

The Hamilton Boxing Club (Upper Centennial Pkwy and Rymal Road), is really expensive. Although it would be ideal, as it is an OBA member, and I would not have to go through the Boxing Ontario crap of having to explain why I am a Member of two different gyms.
Hamilton Boxing Gym works out to $130 a month.
Get this one: For some really strange reason, you need to join 5-Star Fitness in order to maintain membership with the Hamilton Boxing Club.
It is $70 for the boxing and from what I was able to find out, $60 for the fitness.
I have never heard of this before.
Also, 5-Star Fitness appears to be some kind of a 'Snobatorium'.
In their "rules", it specifies that 'all members must have a towel on their possession while on the gym floor. If you do not have a towel, we will rent you one'.

Who the hell rents towels?

Oh, yeah. That place is not at all snobby.
Also, they expect me to go through a fitness assessment, and a boxing assessment.
Yeah, um, I have already been boxing for five years. I have something right here you can assess.

That awful place is out, and McGrory`s is out, because they have odd hours, and have no Master`s boxers.

That leaves Steeltown or Old School. Both of which are Boxing Ontario gyms.

Boxing Ontario, as you know, is the Saddam Hussein of the sports world.

They do not like the idea of someone belonging to two boxing gyms at the same time. They will want to know why.
Well, let me explain this the best I can, but it is very complicated:
*I want to*.

To be continued...