I think this says it all:
Someone dropped out of a fight on this show last Wednesday so I asked if I could take it over. My instructor and the show promoter agreed and last Thursday I got it confirmed that I would be fighting with just over a week’s notice. A week’s intense training later and I fight in two day’s time. This will be tougher than the fight I had in Leigh last year: it’s over 3 x 2 minute rounds, full C class Thai rules (punches, kicks, knees and full clinching allowed, but no elbows or knees to the head), and the only protection I’ll have will be shin pads (as well as obviously a box and gum shield). No head protection and no chest pad. For comparison, an amateur or white collar boxing match is either 3 x 3 or 4 x 2 minute rounds and with head protection. All I know about my opponent is which gym he’s from, that he’s 85 kg and has one fight with one win. I’m a bit heavier because of the short notice but they do give you a bit of leeway at this level. I’m not going to go into all the preparations I’ve been doing, but I do think there’s a serious chance I could win on Saturday. Some people only train when they know they’ve got a fight coming up, but because I train pretty much all the time it meant I was in a position to be put forward at short notice. I didn’t put my name down for this show at first because I thought I might be busy that weekend, but that’s now been postponed to September.
Finished my last training session last night and now I’ve got 2 days to rest and complete the final preparations before Saturday. This will be a home town fight so there’ll be lots of people I know there to watch, both from my own gym and from other local ones. I’m also taking tomorrow off work so I don’t have to think about that. Because of the nature of my day job I’ve decided my fight nickname will be The Administrator. I daresay you don’t get many Thai boxers with 9 years professional software development experience and I wanted something suitably techy but also dominating. With my last fight over a year ago this one has been a long time coming and I’m looking forward to it.