I want to clear something up very quickly before I get into what I want to blog about. I've received many messages from 'loyal' friends that feel that I won the fight yesterday. While I appreciate the support and loyalty, you must all undestand that you must seperate that from the judgement of the fight. I didn't win. Plain and simple. Loudest cheers don't get you points with judges! My opponent won in all categories, He controlled the pace, was the aggressor, landed more shots, landed more power punches and inflicted more damage. My own cousins, trainers, and teammates all concede to these facts. Sometimes you see what you want to see, you wanted to see me win, so you saw the punches I landed and they were amplified in your mind, but I assure you, I definitely didn't win the fight. In fact I was a little nervous before they announced the winner, sometimes judges get influenced by the crowd and the winner gets some "hometown' gift and gets the decision, you see it all the time,but I'm glad that didn't happen, I wouldn't want a victory that way, it would've been bad for the sport and Ontario Boxing , and I wouldn't want to be part of something like that. Ian won the fight, fair and square and clear, so everyone put your minds and hearts to rest, the right call was made.
I was very emotional. I'm an emotional person. I apologize if my tears made anyone feel uncomfortable, that's just the way I am, win OR lose. I put so much ino boxing. I've worked extremely hard at it. I put everything into this training camp. I made the weight again, I got so many sparring rds in that I was forced to take more recovery days than I normally would, I had injuries(every boxers has injuries...24/7), I had stuff going on in my personal life(isn't that always the case with everyone!), I knew my opponent was faster, stronger, more experienced than me going in. This fight had been built up for a while. So when it was over, I do what I've become accustomed to, a tool I've used to help me stay sober, I just let everything go. I let everything out. It's funny that I used to play poker for a living! Because I have no 'poker face' now! Happy, sad, angry, emotional, you don't ever have to guess how I'm feeling, I wear my heart on my sleeve, you'll know. So there were so many factors leading to my emotional reaction, but if you know me, it isn't anything new. I had friends come see me from so many facets of my life, I had support there from all angles, there were my Beertown Fam, my cousins, co-workers,my neighbors, The Barnes family. The list goes on, I actually can't even list everyone there. My best friends from grade 8 were even there(I hadn't seen 1 in over 20 years), supporters from my blog that have been there right from the beginning, through it all. Truthfully though only about 20% of the people that said they were coming did! But I was extremely grateful, the ovation was tremendous, something I'll never forget.The BBSV community and my teammates and ALL the guys I've had sparring wars with, I really didn't want to let them down. I have so much love and respect for them, that I am always trying to be worthy of their company, I want them to be proud that I'm a teammate, I want to represent them and Syd. It was my first time having Saul in my corner and I really wanted to get the win for him. For most people, it would be the first time they would see me fight. My dad was there. I can't really get into the details, but let's just say it meant a lot to me that he came. After all these years,43 to be exact. To have him there to see me do what I was born to do. After everything I've put him through. I've waited 43 years, and so has he, to see me happy. When I'm in the ring I'm not alone. The demons I carry are always there too, and the significant people I've lost in my life, they are all there, weighing my heart down. I'm an emotional person, give me all those factors, let me sit on it for a month...when that fight was over there were going to be tears, win, lose or draw, sorry.
I wanted to thank all those who came to support me and my team, it was a day I will never forget. I also want to credit my opponent Ian Vasquez, he fought with determination and heart and will, I aspire to fight with his spirit, congrats Ian, you deserve it. You deserve to eat the junk food too! Although I didn't win, I did the same thing I set out to do at GoldenGloves, when the bell rang to end the fight, I had nothing left to throw, I left it all out there.
