Live blogging tonight’s live boxing event, which will be broadcast on ESPN2′s Friday Night Fights, over at the Mixed Marshall Arts blog.
Live blogging tonight’s live boxing event, which will be broadcast on ESPN2′s Friday Night Fights, over at the Mixed Marshall Arts blog.
As you may or may not know, I have another blog called Mixed Marshall Arts covering the world of combat sports & entertainment: MMA, boxing, and pro wrestling. Here’s a list of what’s gone down recently…
My introductory post for Spike TV is up!
Hey, quit harping on fights that won’t happen like the one between Josh Koscheck and BJ Penn (he already told you he was retired! Leave BJ alone!). There’s plenty of interesting stuff that IS going down this weekend, even if many of the fighters involved face more uncertainty once their evenings are over.
Read more: http://www.spike.com/articles/fxjx89/uncertain-proving-grounds-barnett-vs-cormier-and-bellator-69
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Also, as a reminder, I’ll be live-blogging tonight’s Star Boxing card at the Times Union Center, part of which will broadcast live on ESPN as part of Friday Night Fights. You can check that out over at the Mixed Marshall Arts blog. The live blog will kick off at 7:30pm EST.
Hey everyone!
Firstly, some big news: I’ve joined the ranks of Viacom (kinda) and will now be blogging for Spike TV’s new MMA blog. It’ll go live, and the first post will be up, later today.
Also, tonight is Star Boxing’s second foray into promoting boxing at the Times Union Center in Albany. As an added bonus, they’ll be broadcasting live on ESPN2 for Friday Night Fights. I’ll be providing live, round by round coverage of it over on the Mixed Marshall Arts blog.
Is that it for now? I think that’s it for now. My ribs still hurt but they’ve gotten noticeably better over the last twenty-four hours.
Unless you’re a dead person, you’ve seen “The Avengers” and you saw at least the first “post-credits” scene that revealed the villain for a future installment in the film franchise: Thanos.
If you cheered like the people in the theater I went to did, then you should go to the Woodstock Day School Comic Convention this Sunday and shake the hand of the man who created him: Jim Starlin.
Also at this event:
Should be a Hell of a time. It’s this Sunday, May 20th, from 12-5pm, and admission is only $5. Well worth it, and proceeds go to the Woodstock Day School.
The Capital Region’s best monthly comedy showcase on Lark Street is BACK for its 21st edition! Come help us celebrate. It’ll just be like your 21st birthday: drunk, silly, slightly memorable, and at the end of the night nobody will get laid unless they have a boyfriend or girlfriend.
Kevin Marshall has been added as a last minute replacement.
THE LINEUP:
The best bang for your buck, comedy-wise. This is seriously a great collection of comics. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed. If you are, I will personally give you your money back*.
Come on down to Elda’s on Lark – 205 Lark St., Albany!
See you at the show!
I lost, and badly, in the first round by TKO. That put me in a depressive state for a couple days. But god DAMN was it fun. Hats off to my opponent, Josh Beretz, to whom I was all like “come at me, bro” and holy shit did he ever.
The right side of my jaw is still sore and my side still kills me every time I move thanks to a solid front kick. Nothing broken, just bruised. Only thing that hurts more is my pride and the disappointment I felt in the outcome. I’m putting on a good face but it’s fucking killing me that I didn’t and couldn’t do more. Nice guys, all involved, including the other fighters who were nothing but great before and after the fight. But FUCK I wanted to win. I recognize a big part of this are my own character flaws. I hate that I lost and that I didn’t go out on my shield. I feel ashamed that a fight was stopped and I was able to simply walk away from it. And there’s nothing anyone can say, despite their earnestness, that can convince or make me feel otherwise. I know just from viewing and knowing about combat sports that I shouldn’t feel that way, but I do, for better or worse.
But, again, god DAMN did I love it. The whole experience. Right up to and including getting owned by a vastly superior opponent and getting my bell rung. It was walking away, and every step I’ve taken afterwards, that is killing me. That shame, and the depression, is fading. Slowly. Very, very slowly. But I don’t regret a goddamn second and would do it again in a heartbeat.
Anyways. Thanks to Shannon Miller and Shawn Miller for prepping me the last few weeks. Kudos as well to Ed Kinner who made me privy to some more techniques the day of the fight. Also to Ryan Thompson and Kyle Spiak for cornering and Cage Wars for hosting the damn thing.
For a much more competitive (and damn good) fight, check out the main event title match after the jump.
Tomorrow, I fight.
Today, I’m hungry.
It was decided from the outset that the fight would be at or near my walking weight. At the time I first fully committed to it, that was 176. So I said “let’s do 170.” In the last few weeks of training, I’ve actually managed to drop down to a steady 172. Last night, after my workout, I was at 170 and a hair. I don’t even have to be right on the button, but for me, I set a goal for myself and I want to meet that goal even if I could still fight a few pounds over.
As a result, I haven’t eaten today. I have had a lot of caffeine. Apologies if this is rambling. That’s why.
I’m not going to wax poetic or anything. That’s not why I did this. I know some guys who have done this sort of thing to write about the experience, apeing a fighters’ experience for the sake of writing a poor imitation of a George Plimpton piece. For this, I didn’t even journal it. You’ll notice that, aside from my explanation of why I’m doing this, I haven’t even blogged about it (to give you an idea – this blog is nothing other than a space for me to get stuff out, hence why I give people quizzical looks when they ask about it or act as if it’s something I write for anybody other than myself). So you’ll be spared that piece that tries to get into the instincts and mindset of fighters, to bring you into the world vis a vis me. I can’t and won’t do that because, quite frankly, it’d be facetious. I’m training with Shannon Miller, and in the days leading up to the fight, he’s been trumpeting the line that anyone who gets in there, win or lose, is a fighter. I politely disagree with that assertion, at least in my case. I don’t think one fight can or will qualify me as a fighter in the eyes of anyone, and if it does, it certainly won’t qualify it in my own eyes. Right now, and even after tomorrow night, I consider myself a tourist. I’m putting on gloves and headgear and smiling in front of the statue of Liberty and visiting the Eiffel Tower.
That said, mentally, I’m more excited for this than I’ve even been in my entire life, with the notable exception of my stand-up comedy performances. I want to get in there and throw. I want to hit and get hit. Win, lose, or draw, I want to battle.
I know deep down that if I lose it won’t be the end of the world, but it will probably feel like it if it does come to that. But I’m not prepared to lose. I’m only prepared to win.
Work’s done. Time to go to weigh-ins. See you tomorrow night at the Saratoga Springs City Center. Tickets are $30 General Admission. Hope you can make it.
UPDATE 5:45pm: Was just notified by Shannon that my opponent won’t make weigh-ins tonight, and instead we’ll be weighing in tomorrow on-site at the City Center.
UPDATE 9:20pm: Just confirmed that we are ON for tomorrow. LET’S DO THIS!
As you may or may not know, I have another blog called Mixed Marshall Arts covering the world of combat sports & entertainment: MMA, boxing, and pro wrestling. Here’s a list of what’s gone down recently…
1. I’m not really surprised that the measure to legally define marriage as a union between a man and a woman passed. Yet it’s still a somber reminder that this nation still has a long way to go.
2. The disheartening reaction some have had in response to this reminded me of Neil Young’s “Alabama”:
Oh Alabama,
can I see you and shake your hand?
Make friends down in Alabama.
I’m from a new land,
I come to you and see all this ruin.
What are you doing Alabama?
You got the rest of the union to help you along,
what’s going wrong?
That’s the attitude we need right now. Not “let’s sever ties with North Carolina.” They’re us, and we have to own as a country what happened there tonight. To pretend that homophobia is a geographically isolated phenomena is foolish, and to act as if there aren’t allies in the state is unfair and self-defeating.
3. By the way, gay marriage kinda goes back to the Middle Ages, interestingly enough.
4. The whole of sports, not just MMA, needs more guys like Jason High.
His point is absolutely on the money. A straight referendum in New York would not have passed, and there’s a very good reason it didn’t come to that: because it wouldn’t be right. If referendums were how this sort of thing were determined, we’d still be, as a society, stuck in the nineteenth century.
As you may or may not know, I have another blog called Mixed Marshall Arts covering the world of combat sports & entertainment: MMA, boxing, and pro wrestling. Here’s a list of what’s gone down recently…
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT – I was just informed that if you come to Saturday’s show with a group of 6 or more, each one of you will get $5 off your ticket.
Also, present your college ID at the door and receive $5 off. (Note: can’t be combined with other discounts/offers).
State worker? That’s $5 off as well. Just show your ID at the door.
REMINDER:
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Also, if you’re going to see “The Avengers,” consider making a matching donation to The Hero Initiative to help offset the injustice being done to Jack Kirby.
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