The Early Fights

As I was being dropped off at the hotel around 6.30 all I could see were dinner suits and posh frocks everywhere. It felt weird that I was entering this environment in a pair of tatty jeans, a black tee shirt and a bag slung over my shoulder. I walked towards the door and was met by a hefty security guard who wanted to usher me away. "I'm a fighter" I said. Just saying the words felt weird. He smiled and immediately took my bag off me, pushed me in front of all the suits in the queue and accompanied me to the lift. The blue team had been given room 707. Everyone was in the room when I arrived and there was a real sense of nerves being hidden through humour, music and chat. The first fighter to go out was going to be Dave and he was already dressed, wrapped and warming up. Following him was Meike. I had already decided that I'd watch the first 2 fights before coming upstairs to prepare for my bout.

After catching up with everyone, giving Dave and Meike a big hug and meeting our corner guys I went downstairs to the main hall to find my table and guests. The place was packed. The ring in the centre looked so much different to the one I'd seen earlier in the day during the medical. Our table was ringside and was right next to the blue corner of the ring, a perfect location.

There was some general chit chat and I was wished luck and asked how I feel a thousand times. The truth is my nerves were out of control. I was drinking as much water as possible to keep hydrated in the hot room and the I just couldn't stop thinking about the fight. I saw Ben, my opponent come into the room and head towards his table. He looked relaxed, smiling and quite hard!

The first fighters came in to loud music and polite applause. At this point everyone in the room was sober and the atmosphere was quite muted. Dave got into the ring looking completely focused, as did the guy he was fighting, also called Dave. For 3 rounds they stood in front of each other and punched and punched. It was terrifying. Both noses bled from the first round and it seemed to go on forever. At the end of the fight our Dave had probably done more of the good work and won the fight, but what an incredible show.

Next was Meike. She is quite possibly the most stylish boxer in our team and her fight with Stephanie was always going to be good. She came into the arena with her husband and friend behind her pumping the crowd into a frenzy alongside some really loud hip hop music. This seemed to relax Meike as she danced her way around the ring. She looked great. Stephanie bravely stood in front of her for all three rounds. She caught Meike a couple of times with good, hard jabs but she was well and truly beaten over the course of the fight. I felt so good for Meike. She was always first in training. She always wanted to learn new techniques and most of all she's such a fine lady.

By this stage my heart was racing a thousand miles an hour. I couldn't stand being in that room any further and so I said my goodbyes and headed upstairs to room 707.