Boxing Myself Volume 4

Champ Edith!

For those of you who've never won at anything, I highly recommend you go out and try to do just that. I have to say, it feels really good. And I'm not talking about the kind of winning that happens when you buy a lotto ticket (although I bet that also feels nice) or throw a buck or two into a raffle or even when you enter your office Oscar pool. I'm talking about the kind of winning that takes hard work, skill, determination and a whole lotta heart. That's the kinda win that makes you feel pretty invinceable. I don't have much to write about this fight, which is a good thing, I think. This means that I wasn't sitting around overanalyzing everything during the week leading up to the bout. Instead of worrying myself into a froth over whether or not I would make it out alive, I decided to concentrate on winning. Word of the match-up came just one day after my return from a two week trip all over Italy where I had not only been eating copious amounts of pasta but also surviving and recovering from some sort of Italian super virus that left me with a nasty chest cough and absolutely no wind. My first day back at the gym was a sham and I was a bit nervous about my physical ability to go four rounds. But somehow I managed to put all of that out of my mind and concentrate on the task at hand. This is what I knew: my opponent was a Gleason's girl with no fights. A muscle-bound gym addict who had started sparring four months ago. She'd recently switched trainers because her original guy wouldn't put her into the ring. So I knew she was determined, I knew she was in shape and I knew she was strong. I also knew I had my work cut out for me. Here now are photos of the fight taken by my friend Allyn who was trying to simultaneously watch what was going on while recording it for posterity. They are most likely out of sequence. I have no way of knowing what happened when--obviously, I wasn't watching myself--but I'll do my best to get you from start to finish.

Edith taking one final moment to collect her thoughts and focus.

Lee and Vanessa watch as Edith gets ready to go.

The girls get right down to business.

Waiting for that damned bell to ring.

The girls get inside, center ring, and exchange a few.

Circling, looking for openings.

In the round one break, Lee tells Edith that Elke is a "very straight forward boxer." All Edith has to do is move, use her angles and keep that jab out, setting up the overhand right.

Edith walks Elke down and pins her where no boxer wants to be: against the ropes getting worked with body shots.