Boxing and the lightbulb moment part 2

Boxing and the lightbulb moment continued

The 2nd Light

At this point when I had my second major realization in boxing I had been sparring awhile

I'd progressed from sparring at our gym to visiting a local Mexican gym and getting sparring in there with the young boys a couple of times a week.

Sparring there was hard! As they'd say "there's always a fight here any day of the week"

At this point I was constantly hearing keep your chin down , stare at their chest not their face , don't look up down stand up"

I thought my chin was down , I thought I was staying down pretty damn low , hey I was starting to feel pretty confident with myself . I'd get right in that ring trade blows and then spend time looking at what I'd done. Only I didn't realize that's what I was doing , I was looking to see if I had hit , if I'd made a good conection , I was curious as to the look on their face after I hit them , what would their emotions show? Are they bleeding ? Black eye? Did it hurt? Am I strong?

I had completely the wrong mind set.

Well one day I was sparring over there and they brought in a new sparring partner, he caught me right on the chin , right on the sweet spot. I had been flashed out before which was always this white light, I had had black eyes and fat lips , but I hadn't been hit so hard that I was left right on the very thin edge of consciousness the light I saw was a deep dark purple it scared me.

I don't remember the rest of that round but I do know the sparring ended early that day.

I went home shaken up , I didn't talk about it I kept it inside but that day was the first day I ever wanted to quit boxing.

I sat at home an sulked , I wallowed , I avoided the gym for a week which for a gym rat like me was a big deal . Then I had my lightbulb moment. I talked to myself " that sucked right?" " well yeah" " ok so you can walk away from it , you can quit or" "or what?" " or you can do what your coach has been telling you since day one , keep your chin down , stay down low if your chin was protected you wouldnt have been hit like that" So I made a vow instead of quitting I was just going to keep my chin down , it was that easy . So simple.

I've never been hit like that since , I got to keep doing a sport I love and i make sure to protect myself at all times I don't look or check to see what I've done , I place my shots and I concentrate on myself.