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I'm currently preparing for my second amateur fight. And just the mental strain that goes into preparing, you have to really make sure your mind is right before you step into a ring. And I think that's one of the most important things about boxing. They always say it's not a tough man sport, but it's a thinking man sports. And that's very true, because your mind has to be right
phil spade
@Phil · 2:55
You know, this is one of the main reasons that I became a boxing judge. I used to spade at a small gym and I used to see the level of dedication and preparation that needed to happen just in order to participate in the sport. And then I was talking with Joe Cortez one time and he was was trying to convince me to get into the sport as a judge. And it was just seeing one bad decision too many that really put me over the edge
phil spade
@Phil · 0:31
Also wanted to mention good luck to you in that second bout of yours. Would be curious to know how that first bout went and if you learned anything from that that you're going to apply to the second bout. Do you know your opponent? Do you have any sort of input tell on what he likes to do, what he doesn't like to do with amateur, it's a little bit different than pro. You are looking for touches, so best of luck to you
Isaiah Hall
@Hallisai · 4:30
He actually had a bit more experience than me coming into the golden gloves. He was four and no at the time, but he was shorter than me, a stocky guy, and he was just trying to be really aggressive from the jump and just throw a bunch of body shots. But in the first round, early on, I did a good job moving and using counter right hands to keep them off of me. But I ended up getting gassed out and really tired by the end of the round
Mtwadamela Ijogo
@Mtwadamela · 4:27
It was really unnatural for me to fight like that because I was just used to naturally fighting, throwing kicks and all that type of stuff. So a lot of that stuff had to get trained out of me and it never did. It never fully did. Whenever I would get into a tight jam or getting to a little trouble in the box ring, my instinct was to kick or to because I would see openings where I could say, oh man, I could end this right now
phil spade
@Phil · 2:09
But what really kind of drove it back home for me is when you talked about your opponent being a shorter, stocky guy, that I was always coming forward and I just started cringing and I was like, oh, no, I hated those guys. I hated them. I know exactly who you're talking about. They all look alike, too, and they all have this come forward style that's really hard to keep them off of you. And they were just my least favorite fighter to box
Mtwadamela Ijogo
@Mtwadamela · 2:07
But, yeah, definitely study timing. And I would also say that since I am one of those short stock guys that keeps coming in the boxing area, not so much in the martial arts, it's totally different. But I would say this because the main thing that I was taught as a short fighter, and I fought at 175, and I'm short, I'm five seven. I fought at 175. So I always fought tall, big dudes
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