"'Taas mo kamay mo kahit di mo na kaya. Yan ang Fighting Spirit. (Keep your hands up even when you can't do it no more. That's true Fighting Spirit)" - Coach Julius, my first boxing trainerSparring is one of the most important parts of martial arts training. There's literally never been a professional fighter out there in the world that never did any sparring. This is very important because you learn to control your adrenaline, strategize while you're under live fire, and simulate what a real fight is like without exposing yourself to too much risk. You're pitted against a live moving target while wearing protective headgear. You learn to fight the smart way. Expert Boxing is one of the first places online I went to for some boxing wisdom, so you should check it out.
I was inspired to start writing about this because I just got out of a fierce sparring session yesterday. It was only two rounds of sparring, but I threw some heavy blows and I took some heavy blows. The whole sparring session was originally intended to be light i.e. nothing too serious, but things quickly started heating up in the second round.
I ate an uppercut that made spit come out of my mouth, I also took body shots that knocked the wind out of me. I wanted to keep it light because the guy I was sparring with was shorter than me, but those punches he threw made me take him seriously. I got lucky plenty of times in the fight. Since he was shorter I threw a lot of jabs and some lead left hooks. I hit him with plenty of those. I got extra lucky and hit his eye. He was tearing up but he acted like it's no big deal. That's the mark of a fighter.
So from here on out, I'm going to list down my most memorable sparring sessions. I'm in a reminiscent mood so I'm doing this for posterity. I'll place a divider between different sparring sessions so they're easier to tell apart.
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This is the only video of me sparring that I have. It's my first sparring session and it happened during the first year I was in a boxing gym. It's just light sparring so there's not a lot of force in our blows. You can clearly see I'm still a beginner in this video clip. As of today, I've already been in over a dozen sparring matches and I can confidently say I'm a lot better now. I now have the endurance to keep going in sparring sessions that can take as long as four to five rounds max. I'm also not afraid to take harder hits nowadays.
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One sparring session that I can never forget is the one that happened in the Elorde Gym at Taft. I wanted to go three rounds but I only managed to do two rounds because I couldn't take the hits that were being thrown at me. I admit I was scared for a moment. I took a straight right hand to the left side of my forehead which sucked so bad. I got dizzy when that happened, I saw stars during the spar and I knew that couldn't be good.
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As part of the Muay Thai club in my company, our coach lets us lightly spar if we have extra time to do that. This video shows the exact same meeting room where we normally do our light sparring. I sparred with one of my coworkers one day. I don't want to brag, but I can confidently say that I'm in full control of that sparring session. He's super hesitant to throw any punches at me, and he often positioned himself too close to me so I can hit him with some hooks if I wanted to.
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A couple of weeks ago I had another sparring session. It wasn't as heated as the one I had today, and it was the first real sparring match I had in a long time. He didn't hurt me much, because he was just throwing jabs. He was the evasive kind, so he was more focused on slipping and dodging my punches. I was still able to hit him a lot of times nevertheless. I managed to do that by incorporating some feints and footwork into my long combinations to create angles and openings.
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Last but not least I remember sparring with someone who didn't take the sparring session seriously at all because I was still a newbie. What made this sparring session memorable for me was the Drunken Fist he incorporated into his style. That's when I realized I still have a lot to learn, and up until now, I've been striving to be seen as more of a threat. I think it's reasonable to assume that I'm boxing more effectively if I manage to get my sparring partner to up their game.
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There you have it those are the most memorable sparring sessions I've had up until today. Looking forward to making more memories and learning new techniques as I continue to spar. I strive to be good enough at boxing that I can handle myself in a self-defense situation or street fight. I need a lot of technique and experience to take down a bigger guy. I'm hoping I could spar with someone bigger than me soon to be able to study what works and what doesn't work when I get the short end of the stick in a fight.
What awesome sparring moments do you remember in your boxing journey? Sharing badass fight stories make you 20% cooler :) Leave your comments below!
