As long as I can remember, I’ve been a boxing fan.
When I was a kid, my dad got a set of boxing gloves for me. He wanted to teach me how to defend myself. We would spar as he showed me how to jab and hook. I learned well. I never lost a fight growing up, but I never fought in a ring. A part of me though dreamed of one day becoming a professional fighter and winning the Heavyweight Champion of the World.
As I got older, I still loved boxing and still had that burning desire to try it. Football took some of that away, but after graduating high school, I knew I’d never play again. But there was still boxing…
In 1993 while stationed on Guam, I signed up for an amateur boxing program on island. It was run by a Chamorro guy named Fred. The purpose was to assemble a team of fighters that would compete in the South Pacific Games. This meant fighting with people from places like Tonga, Chuuk, Truk, Ponopei, and Saipan. We met up in a gym near Tamuning, Guam. I was one of the bigger guys so in our first sparring session, Fred put me in against a big Air Force guy named Calvin “Sniper” Brown. Now if you’ve never seen me, I’m only 5’9” and at the time weighed about 190. He was 6’4” and probably North of 225. As you might imagine, I didn’t do very well. He proceeded to perform surgery on my face and broke my nose. I’m not sure I landed more than about 3 punches. It wasn’t how I visualized it going. Not to mention the shame of having my ass whipped by someone in the AIR FORCE of all things! I almost quit that night.
But a few days later, I was back. Now, with a little coaching, I got better.
Fred announced that a local hotel wanted to host a night of boxing and wanted us to compete. It was his chance to tune up his favorite fighter, Tana Meafu. Meafu was the South Pacific Games light heavy Silver medalist. We didn’t know who we would be fighting until all of us met up in the locker room. I figured I’d be able to attempt revenge on “Sniper” Brown. I had trained to get inside of a long reach and attack the body.
Instead, I was matched with Meafu. He was a little smaller than me but lightening quick and a southpaw. We were the main event. The locals cheered for their champ. My small entourage cheered for me. It was obvious to me that I was in there to make their champ look a whole lot better. Put the lightning-quick champ against the big clumsy haole.
And he certainly did. I started out great, managing to corner him and unleash a few punches. He was much faster and quicker though. I had a hard time catching him and he was great getting out of the corners. Finally, in Round 2, I went into a clinch and locked my arms under his and picked him up and slammed him to the canvas. I wanted to piss him off enough to come directly at me. That would have made him a better target.
He was too smart for that though and I was booed lustily, had a point docked, and got a stern warning from the referee. Meafu easily took the unanimous decision, rebroke my nose, and with that, my boxing career was over. I had a little resurgent interest in 2016 when I joined Title Boxing to do classes, but at nearly 60, conditioning is all I’ll ever do.
But I don’t regret taking a shot at it. I owed it to myself to find out if I could succeed. I’m comfortable knowing I did.
What about you? What is something that you wanted early in life, later had the chance to try, and didn’t take it. You are probably still regretting it aren’t you? You know, it’s not too late to try something else. I didn’t think I could do pastel art or pottery, but after trying it, I know I can and I’m actually pretty good at it. Who knew?
Who knows about you?
This next year could be the year you dust off the dream and give it a shot. I’ll never be the next Heavyweight Champion of the World, but at least I can say I took a boxing class at Title Boxing. Little steps towards what was an inspiring dream can help you achieve something special.
What will you attempt in 2024?
