In May of 2011, I turned 37 years old. I was 275 pounds of mostly muscle, but a lot of fat too. I was not happy with my body or my level of fitness. My entire life I have been an athlete, from basketball to swimming to water polo to triathlons. After graduating college, I wanted to try a triathlon, and finished a sprint, then an Olympic distance, then a Half-Ironman, and finally I conquered the ultimate race - the Ironman Triathlon. In fact, I actually finished THREE different Ironman's. Same for running, from a 5k, to a 10k, to a half marathon, to completing my first marathon (and then going on to run 16 more).
Here is a photo of me after finishing Ironman Florida Triathlon in 2001
I am a competitor, I enjoy setting goals for myself and achieving them. So back to May. I have always been fascinated with the sweet science of boxing. The training always seemed grueling and I love cardio driven sports.
So I went online, and somehow found a small gym in Reseda of all places, that offered private 1-on-1 boxing lessons. My first trainer was Chris, a Nigerian Olympic Bronze Medalist, that had a good 30-40 pro fights at middleweight. He taught me the basics, and we worked together as many days as I could.
This was around the time that I stopped directing and producing for Naughty America, and so I had a lot more time to concentrate on learning the sport. By August I was completely hooked, I stopped lifting weights all together, began to run and cycle more, and I was boxing 4-6 times a week!
Then in August I made the decision to leave Los Angeles and live in England for the rest of 2011. I needed to find a boxing gym and fast. The closest thing to where I lived was a boxfit cardio place, where the guy teaching, then told me about a friend of his in the neighboring town of St. Ives.
Steve is the head coach and operator of the St. Ives Boxing Club, located next door to the church in a town with a population of around 1500. He is 42, and never turned pro (because of injury) but is still in fantastic shape, and eats, breathes, and sleeps boxing. He has 4 children, and his 2 daughters are both excellent, excellent boxers (the older one is a potential Olympian!)
I spent the rest of 2011, honing my skills, getting tutored by Steve on all aspects of boxing, and as an added bonus, there is a big heavyweight at the club named Tersoo, so I now had a regular sparring partner (which we did about 12 times in 2011).
I felt like I was getting better and better at boxing, and because I was now living far from a city, eating 3 square meals a day, avoiding fast food, and stopping drinking soda, my weight went down and down.
Not performing in 25 scenes a month or directing 30 scenes a month helped a lot as well. My cardio increased to the point where I was running 25 miles a week and cycling 3-4 hours a week.
Steve promised me that he would get me my first official fight in February at his 1st show of 2012. And true to his word, when I returned to England in January after a month back in Los Angeles, he had a fight booked for me.
The night of February 11, 2012 was my Master's Amateur debut as a boxer. The event was held at the Corn Exchange in downtown St. Ives.
Over 200 people were in attendance and there were 14 scheduled bouts. Of course, Steve told me that Master's fights are always last. I didn't and still don't believe him, but whatever.
The fights start at the 13 year olds and move progressively upward. Both of Steve's daughters were fighting on the card and both girls are really good boxers, and they both won.
The star of Steve's club is a 15 year old named Martin, who is 21-9 as an amateur. He is not a big kid, but damn he is super fast and has unbelievable moves. He won a great fight.
Incidentally, he is a traveller (in Snatch they are called Pikey's), which means he has 6 sisters, and a ton of cousins...and they were all in attendance tonight.
Check out the shorts on this dude...awesome! God Save the Queen!
As it got closer and closer to my time to box, my stomach began to hurt and I had to pee about 5 times. Nerves? WOW! Kirstyn and three of her girlfriends came out to support me, so at least someone would be cheering for the ugly bald american. lol
The guy I was fighting had won his first fight a few weeks earlier with a knockout in the 1st. He was a strong Eastern European guy, and Coach Steve was nervous about his power. I knew my reach, cardio, and technique was better than his. Oh and I weighed in at 110kgs (down 13kgs from when I arrived in August!).
Here is the video of the entire fight:
As you can see, I did what I had to do. I stayed outside, peppered him with jabs and generally tried to stay out of his range. His ridiculous charging into me like a bull elephant didn't do much but get him more winded. He was so tired in the third round.
Here I am awaiting the decision
And VICTORY is mine!
and look I even got a participation trophy! lol
I felt like it was a good performance, but not a great one. But here is the best part...they want a rematch! That's right folks on March 3rd I will be fighting him again. Giddy up!
Thanks again to everyone for their support. I appreciate it very much.
