Life Flashes Before Your Eyes....**: The world of boxing...**

So, I have been taking a break from boxing, and I have been really happy with my decision to do so. But LEGS has been doing some research and there is 15 boxing gyms located all around Illeshiem where we will be stationed. As soon as he told me this I got really excited even though they are all 45 minutes away I have started to get the urge to train and fight again. It would be such a great opportunity to get some International fighting experience, and I have been told the Germans LOVE female boxers!

What makes this urge even stronger is my boxing Idol Manny PACMAN Pacquiao is fighting Antonio Margarito tonight, in a pay per view fight. I didn't said anything to LEGS about it for two reasons, one these pay per view fights are expensive and the last three we have bought have been disappointing. And second, I am afraid of getting the urge to fight again because of how much it does take to train hard and be good. He told me today he is going to order it for me because it could be the last time Pacquiao fights unless Mayweather steps up and stops being scared.......but that is another story......

Pacquiao is an amazing boxer. He throws 1200 punches a round, from all different angles. His opponents have accused him of being on steriods he is so good. He is the most classy, humble boxer I have ever seen. Freddy Roach and Pacquiao made it in the Wall Street Journal- the Wall Street Journal doesn't write sports articles. They are an amazing Trainer-Boxer team who is making history. Pacquiao is the next ALI.

I have gotten so many questions about why I like the sport and why I do it, and I am going to try to capture it here, TRY being the operative word.

I think being a fighter runs in your blood, you either have it or your don't. When you become a boxer which takes an extreme amount of dedication, hard work and sacrifice it becomes your life. All you think about, watch, do, dream about, eat and drink for, pray and hope for is to be a human fighting machine. Your body is so fit, chiseled, hungry, edgy, and focused that anything less than your best is not an option. Every boxer is stubborn and pig-headed-you have to be in order to not break down under the grueling training regime.

People often ask me how I can stand getting hit in the face. The truth is at first I couldn't. I turned my head (which is a HUGE mistake), ran from my opponent, and when I got home to LEGS cried like a baby. (Side note: DON'T EVER CRY IN THE GYM ESPECIALLY IN FRONT OF THE BOYS) Your face gets used to being hit, and once you learn to accept being punched your body adjusts to it. Its like your face turns to stone, the trick is to watch the punches come. There is also something to be said for being sweaty, tired, bloody and bruised and reaching down deep to come up with something you never thought you had, to keep going, to be a beautiful and gritty female who can handle whatever your opponent brings. Its powerful, and being powerful is addicting.

Boxing is an interesting sport as well. You basically do the opposite of all the things your body is pre-programmed to do in a flight or fight situation. Most people turn their heads from danger, ball up, and run. In boxing you keep your eyes wide open, you relax, and you stand in front of the danger. They don't call it "The Sweet Science" for nothing, it is an art, that is extremely difficult to master.....I like boxing because you are always learning, even the top boxers are still perfecting, still training, still learning everyday.

The confidence I have received from boxing is priceless. I don't worry about going anywhere by myself- lets face it most boxing gyms are not in the ritzy neighborhood's, they are in the ghetto's. Which means you learn to navigate your way around urban, rough, people of less fortunate circumstances. Once you prove yourself in the gym, its like having the Hell's Angels behind you all the time. The people that you bleed, sweat and spar with become your guardians- your protectors- and they can fight.

What I like most about boxing is like a Pro- Female boxer I know well says "Fighting Solves Everything." And doesn't it? When you step inside the ring, your both scared to death, each person has whatever work they put in the gym in their toolbox, they both weigh the same, have the same uniform on, same size gloves on, and they go to battle. The most basic raw human emotions come to the surface. Nothing else political matters. And at the end of the fight when you have made your opponent bleed, they have made you bleed, and you stand in the center- how could you not respect them?

Being a boxer or any kind of fighter becomes who you are. When you ask a boxer what defines them- they will hold up their fists in a familiar way, they will get into fighting stance. Identity is so important and reaches far beyond boxing, it is how you want to be remembered, how you envision yourself, and how others see you.