A Fighter by His Trade

There's something Romantic about boxers. 

Not boxing, per se.  But the actual boxers.

The heads slamming back, spit flying out, knees buckling under, wet bodies landing on the mat like small trees felled--that's all. . .too much. . .hurt for my tastes.

But the picture of two men stepping into the ring to do all that slammin' and spittin' and bucklin' and fallin'--it's grand.  It's a Big Idea embodied.  The definition of Romanticism. 

Everyone else recognizes this Romanticism, too, if we judge by the ubiquitous  nature of boxing language and metaphor.  There's that Teddy Roosevelt quote about victory belonging to "the man in the ring."

The phrases, "Throw my hat into the ring," and "take the gloves off," and "below the belt." 

And the Simon & Garfunkle song.  (It's going to be in my head all day now.  Maybe yours, too.)

[Care to add any references?  There is a tab on top of this page titled "Lists," and we can use that page to compile a list of boxing references.  Just leave your ideas in the comment box.  I'll bet we can get to 25.]

Then, one day, I picked up a boxer at the Colorado Springs airport.  Roberts Jacobsons, and that first "s" is not a typo, his family is from Latvia and that's how they do boy names.

No need to panic, Bryan and I are still very happily married.

Roberts is a family friend from Chicago, and he is competing in the US National Amateur tournament this week.  The winner of his weight class will have the opportunity to qualify for the Olympic team.  He stayed with us all of last week to acclimate to the altitude.  Great guy.  Very polite guest.  Very nice young man. 

Very patient with my long list of Questions Any Normal Person Would Want to Ask a Boxer.


"Does it hurt when you get hit?"

No.  Well. Maybe if the guy lands a good body shot.  But not in the head.  It might tingle a little, but it doesn't hurt.


"Does it help if you can get angry right before the fight?"

No.  Anger works against you.  It helps to get psyched up with a lot of energy, but not with anger.


"Are you scared right before a fight?  Especially if the other guy is really big?"

No.  The only time I was scared was right before my very first fight.  And I'm in a weight class with a max 200 lbs, and I'm 200 lbs even, so there's no one bigger than me anyway. 


About the weight:  Roberts had to be careful all week.  You don't come all this way just to be disqualified for being a pound over.  Before his arrival, I thought for weeks about the meals I would plan and the day before, I bought plenty of healthful groceries.

Then the guy got here and was dieting like a girl. . .


He was also battling chronic "sinusitis"--kind of like a sinus infection, in terms of symptoms anyway.  moving to super-dry air isn't going to help that a whole lot.

He was using homeopathic nose sprays (no medicine at all, the doping list is long and convoluted and he didn't want to take the chance); inhaling steam from boiling water, putting hot Korean red pepper sauce on his food (the only spicy stuff we had).  By the end of the week, he reported that his nasal passages were feeling a lot better.

"What do you think helped the most?"

Honestly, not being punched in the nose all week. 

Other questions:

"Do you watch old video of famous fights?  Like the 'Thrilla in Manilla'?" 

Yeah, sometimes.  This lead him to comment on Ali, how he should have stopped his career after that particular fight.  Both those guys were in the hospital for 2 months after that fight.  15 rounds in the Philippine humidity.  Their gloves--at first just 10 oz--now full of Vaseline and sweat had to have been over 2 lbs each.  They were killing each other. 

"Wait.  Vaseline?"

Yeah, the cut man keeps them patched together with grease and Vaseline.

"Do you have a cut man?"

We don't need them in Amateurs.  We use head gear, so you don't really get cut, and if there's any blood, the ref stops the fight. 

"So you don't really carry the reminder of every glove that laid you down and cut you 'till you cried out in your anger and your shame that you were leaving, you were leaving, but the fighter still remained?"

I'm kidding.  I didn't ask him that.

But now you definitely have that song in your head.



(Part II to follow)