Boxing: How i warmed to aggression - TOSMAG

When a good friend of mine told me he had taken up boxing, i didnt really appreciate this to its full extent. I presumed it was in the same strata as martial arts - you know the story, learning the skill, good exercise, comradary among one's fellow man. When invited along to give it a go, unsurprisingly it did not appeal. It seemed to me a meat-headed and ham fisted skill-set - that to be honest couldnt suit me less: DECLINE.

Months later and on the Monday just past, Harry the meathead boxer friend invited me to his first fight. FIGHT? For some reason it had never occurred to me that their would actually be body contact - this is not a hobby, playing football in the park is a hobby, playing cricket in the sun is a hobby. Throwing yourself into the grips of some eastend-thug babyeater, and giving him the power to erase all the education from your head and disfigure your face is NOT a hobby. Nonetheless in support of a friend, and with a hint of car-crash morbid fascination i joined some other friends to watch Harry's first and potentially last fight.

It was held at the LSE student union bar, so the stench of stale beer was only masked by the fresh sweat of the boxers warming up. Nice. A dingy venue, for a sport with a real penchant for the underworld. We started drinking, laughing about Harry's future as a vegetable, which one would he be? Harry was to be facing a boxer from the army - oh dear, definitely ending up as a cabbage. I started feeling empathetic nerves for him - this fight could lead to a knock-out, what in the name of sweet jesus did he think he was doing?

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The Rocky music (predictably enough) struck up, the crowd - a strange mix of boxing club members, city types and students were howling and screaming obscenities and words of impassioned encouragement. It struck me that there was only one way to describe this environment - AWESOME. I became as crude and loud as the next man, and as Harry began the fight the other man was dirt in my book - i dont know how Harry's adrenaline levels were doing, but mine were skyrocketing. Watching a friend in combat - had all engines firing inside of me, struck by admiration and awe - and sending my voice hoarse i - for a moment contemplated my own triumph in the ring. Then it was over and i was back in the room as a spectator - phew!

Harry put up a good fight, but the army boxer had the best of him. I left with adrenaline still pumping, and a new heavyweight respect for those that step into the ring. Needless to say i cant wait for the next time to see the s**t beaten out of one of my friends - it was great!

Comments

written on 01-May-2008

kylie says:

I can't stand boxing. Don't rate it as a sport. Seems rather pointless to try and give each other brain damage.
written on 01-May-2008

sanctuary says:

boxing was the root cause of my old man's mahoosive misshapen schnozz (he broke it three times while attempting to break his opponent(s)' nose). And my old man's nose is the root of a lot of priceless banter.

boxing rocks.
written on 01-May-2008

Alexandra209 says:

I loved the article, I felt like I was there soaking up the atmosphere with you and very humorous too. I love to watch boxing matches, it satisfies the need to vent agression without the consequences of getting involved in being hurt or doing the hurting. CAN I COME NEXT TIME!..LOL
written on 01-May-2008

chickerino [http://www.chickerino.com] says:

What I wanna know James is when will you be in the ring?
written on 01-May-2008

sam says:

The question is who's ring will James be in?
written on 01-May-2008

jamesmawilliams says:

your mums ring
written on 01-May-2008

Phailanx [http://www.phailanx.co.uk] says:

I'll come to watch you take a beating James - I'm supportive like that....
written on 16-May-2008

itsmarkey [http://www.musicwag.co.uk] says:

That would be classic to see James in the ring...I could just imagine how self indulgent the resulting - self funded - PR, advertising, and blogger outreach campaign about it would be.

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