Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting

So last month, I wrote a post about Mike being goal-oriented - and how I am not. Not even a little bit. Not even at all.

Well, I am begrudgingly writing this post because he has met ANOTHER goal while I am still floundering over here, but it's a pretty cool goal so I just wanted to share.

Mike fought in his first ever amateur boxing match.

He even got an amateur boxing license. Did you know there was such a thing? Well I didn't, but now I do.

When he first broached the subject with me, I rolled my eyes. I think I said, "You're kidding right? You are a DAD!!! What if you get hurt? You are the bread-winner - you CAN'T get hurt. What would we do?! What if you get knocked out?"

He dropped it then because I do think most of those are pretty valid arguments.

A few weeks later he mentioned it to me again, and I started to consider it. We don't really operate like a lot of other married couples in that way - I just don't tell him no and he doesn't do something because I said so. I started to really take a hard look at the man that I married and who I love so much.

- He thrives on adrenaline.
- This is something no one he knows does.
- He likes to push himself.
- It would be another goal he could meet.
- It would make him SO happy.
- It's good training for his job.
- If I agreed to it, the only condition is that I wouldn't have to go.

Ahem. That last one? I still had to go.

So I tentatively told him maybe he should do it - in fact because I am just as crazy as he is, I encouraged him. He trained three times a week for about a month.

First off, the fight was held at a club that is known for it's drag shows. So I can officially say that while I didn't see any of those shenanigans, I was in a club like that so cross that off the bucket list? Haha!

Actually my face was all like this when I was waiting in the parking lot for the show to start.

Thankfully thankfully thankfully my friend and her husband came to the fight to support Mike. Mike and her husband have become friends through MMA practice, and we know them from church. I was thankful they were there, because she was a great support for me and he could tell me what was going on in technical terms.

Here is the ring. Pretty official right? Mike even had a handler - though I know that's not what it is called. 

A little dark but here he is all suited up and ready to go. He looked pretty official, and to me he looked pretty nervous. Which I think he was. His opponent had a nickname AND a theme song. Mike did not. This was his opponent's third fight. 

Sorry the picture is so dark - I was sitting in the "VIP" box - ha! And using my phone to take pictures. I have a lot of video of it. For the record, it's really difficult watching someone you love take punches.

His opponent didn't even make it all the way through the second round. Mike won his first ever boxing match!

The ref (or the umpire as I kept stupidly calling him - hahahahaha!!!) raised Mike's arm in victory. Just like in the movies!

Another dark photo, but here I am with the winner. All in all it was a nerve-wracking experience. I was not always kind to him about it - the time taken away from our family so that he could train was not my favorite. But I am so proud of him, and I will always be his biggest fan. The rest of that night I dealt with a terrible tension headache because it was pretty stressful.

Will he fight again? He doesn't know. His age prohibits him from fighting anyone younger than him, and there aren't really a lot of men his age and size willing to fight. 

I told him maybe we should focus on having the baby and then we can re-visit it later. :)