Damn my plane will be delayed for an hour and a half. I’m just sitting in Pearson Airport trying to get some shut eye but I’m just too amped up and nervous for the 28th to nap. My body is drained of fluids to try and make the 147lb mark. I weighed myself this morning I was 149lb on an empty stomach. Crap 2 more lbs to lose.
Two thousand kilometers away….2 thousand kilometers to thinking of the task at hand. A sold out crowd of just over five thousand spectators watching me box with my opponent at the Palms Resort and Casino Arena. I chose this match because I thought it was the best option for me in this stage of my athletic career...sometimes I lay in bed and say …hmm maybe it is too big of a match…I doubt myself at times…and I really do…but when I run through all the scenarios that might happen…I come to the same conclusion in the end…and that’s me winning. The odds are against me as I travel to my challenger’s backyard. I love beating the odds. You know what…if there weren’t upsets in this world the world would be a boring place…let’s face it. What’s suppose to happen doesn’t always happen…winning or losing you gotta have one of the other it’s a simple fact of life… I don’t like losing …I don’t lose often…all his Florida supporters will be smiling if I lose…but I don’t see it happening…
As I look out the window of the Boeing jet gazing at the cotton clouds, I think about my past and what the future holds. I want to retire from the sport as champion of some sort to prove to myself and the world that my efforts all these years amounted to something…something glorious...something no one can ever take away from me…
My manager came back from finalizing the deal and contracts for December 28th in the Palms Hotel and Casino Resort in South Beach, Florida the other day. He met my opponent, Clifton...described as a lanky and tough. However, his story was inspirational. He grew up in a poor family of 6 children with a strict father who tried to live his dreams through his son Clifton because he saw something special he possessed that his other siblings did not. His father’s dream and first passion was to win the gold medal in Olympic boxing for the United States. So everyday after school he would do homework and when his dad came home, he would take Clifton to the gym and train him there. This would be a daily routine and his dad would never let him miss a single day of it. He wasn’t allowed to go out and play basketball with the other kids and never really had a childhood. His relationship with his father was bitter cold, so he sought refuge from his mother who would go watch him train and would be ringside cheering him on at every one of his amateur competitions. His mother had a sweet spot in her heart for her son. As he fought up the ranks to become a member of the U.S. Olympic team to compete for the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, his mother began a fight of her life against breast cancer. And his mother forwent her chemotherapy to fly to Seattle to watch him compete and hopefully see him qualify for team USA. He emerged victorious out of all his competitions and qualified to be in the final fight where the winner of this fight would represent America for the Olympic Team in Beijing. He was ecstatic as his biggest fight drew near, but tragically…his mother was hospitalized in serious condition…and when he went to see her…her final words were to bring the gold medal home for America. Filled with emotions, Clifton trained harder than ever at the gym. In the process he suffered a wrist injury. Despite this injury, he still fought the last competition dedicating the fight to his mother, losing a hair-thin close decision which shattered his Olympic dream….
As I walked out of the gym seeing what used to be colorful posters which now are fainted pictures scorched by a decade of sunlight. I walked through the door frame…the same one that I walked through for the first time as a troubled, angry and confused youth. As I started hitting the punching bags, my anger dissipated. It was my escape from all the anger and stress built up. Under carefully guidance of Chris, I’ve learned the sport from those I trust most, respect the wisdom of those that have been there before me and embrace the promise of the future in the kids learning.
Over the past week I did feel weaker than my opponent…while his physical and mental were at its peak, I was shadowed by my remorse…but after today settling it with her took some burden off my shoulders...feels like I can walk a little lighter now. I said what was on my mind…hope she can forgive me…
As boys in bare corners of the world separated by thousands of miles we both came to the ring for the same reasons it offered us a way out. Inside the ropes we encountered a simple pursuit through desire, resilience and skill…that pursuit has awarded us in ways that we could only imagine. Along the path simplicity has steadily replaced by complications. Across the border, relentless fury has catapulted my opponent from being a poor hustler to a celebrated hero in Florida where the people see their honor represented in his courage…in our very different journeys we both discovered one thing…complications can be costly. So as we train we seek familiarity and embrace the past. We find ways to make it simple…once again. On the December 28th the reality of fame may surround us in Florida and once again the ring will beckon…and once again it’ll offer us a way out…the road to the 2012 Olympics has begun…the quest for the gold starts here…Florida here I come…
No comments:
Post a Comment