Gutted...but read on!

I got my planning wrong this morning and missed training for the first time...Ill be honest I'm gutted...

Its got to that point where I look forward to the banter, new friendships and incessant build up to fight night, even Scott's horrible shorts stolen from Mini me from Gold member
I pack my bag the night before, go through the ball ache of rolling metres of hand wraps, triple check my head guard and gum shield are present, its all a ritual, like despite not being religious I follow a certain process or I'm not happy.

People who love and play sport tend to head towards superstitions, my own are fairly simple, drinks at certain times, listen to music, but when I was playing rugby regularly it was far worse, I used to stress if I forgot particular pants, and then one day some ones boot ripped them and my arse apart, it felt like the loss of an old friend, and the loss of the pants far exceeded the pain of a 4 inch cut across my arse! (The shower after that was horrific)

I intend to write certain things on my hand wraps on the night, and some I will never explain except to my wife , some will be obvious to most  and refer to people who have passed and some I feel far deserved the shot at life that they got, I feel sometimes like I carried a burden when I was younger which made me the way I was, now I'm happy but this fight will put a few ghosts to rest for me. I'm sure I will be accused of making too much of what this fight is, a scrap between two blokes, but in order to step through some ropes it takes some nuts and I dare anyone reading this blog who thinks it is easy to step in and try it....and I'm happy to spar.

My life hasn't always been easy, but its far better than some, I believe you don't get a practice run at life, though this view will depend on your religious beliefs!

To the cause!!!!!!

I want to try and raise the profile of the thousands of unseen Londoners, the people with nothing, the people who don't sleep, don't eat, and beg for cash for drink to try and help them escape from the shitty reality of the life they are caught in, without charities like Broadway,  who I will fight for there is no way out of the cycle for these guys and girls. If you have ever felt cold or lonely then you have to feel the way I feel, its easy to write everyone off as scammers but this is in fact a massive minority.

With all the charities out there today its easy to feel like everyone wants something, but there is no one reading this blog who hasn't seen a homeless person, or wondered what they do when it rains or snows. Any donation will help! And a deep heartfelt thanks to those who have already donated.

I've promised to train in my pants, or NUDE if it raises the money for the charity, my personal dignity next to raising money for the cause is irrelevant! Don't make me though!

Enough of me bleating along! Thanks for the amazing support, through donations, tickets, and just messages telling me to keep pushing on. I promise an explosive fight on the night. You have my word.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserPage.action?userUrl=thebearboxes&faId=329837&isTeam=false

Thanks again everyone....

The Bear

A late one...

Sorry for the delay in the blog, had meant to write it over the weekend but a blazing hot sunday was the only reason I needed to be out all day, and then between work, training and dropping tickets off its been a busy week so far!
Saturdays training was purely boxing focussed and people were virtually straight into sparring and padwork, I got two rounds of sparring in and after being concerned about the need to move I again allowed Lee to use me as a punchbag by charging in, and being too static, I cant deny I was pissed off with myself, and sulked for a bit, but encouraged by everyone around me who bascially told me to suck it up and get back in, Jo and Leo really puched it along, I climbed back through the ropes.
This time Walter, who was down for the first time stepped up, and I got caught flush with a hell of a hook to the chin, I'm man enough to say it rocked me, but I managed to get a bit of composure and kept my shape and tactics to the end of the round, but still feel pretty unhappy with my all round game.
Its going to take more hard work and movement but with less than 3 weeks to go I am confident I can pull it off on the night.
It was actually great to see some new faces down at the gym, and everyone was made welcome as always in the WCBL way, the sweat was running down the walls and everyone is really putting the work in.
Scott asked us our 60 second questions this week about WCBL and I am pleased to have avoided biggest moaner (Cheers Lisa!) because all I do at the minute is moan about my form, tickets, being tired etc, but I love it really. Will be a hell of a night and I want to put on the best show I can, big defence needed, and sharp attack and I cannot wait.

Big Love

The Bear

Learning from Mistakes

Another week, another training session done in what is basically now a countdown to fight night, the glorious English summer arriving didn't help as I heading out with a bag full of kit yesterday morning.
I had a good week this time in the build up and felt far more confident after 3 good gym sessions, and a lot more sleep, I mixed things up this week with home and gym workouts and I think it paid off, I used the gym for the heavy bag, treadmill and machines, then at home focussed on moving and bodyweight stuff, push ups, crunches and planks.
The training itself wasn't too bad, bag work, shadow boxing then sparring, and as you can tell, those that have seen the videos I have clear work to do on my defence, I also need to hold back more as I am tiring myself out too quickly trying to land heavy blows, but the punches I took prove I have a chin at least, and it was good to spar against a tall guy and a shorter fighter as I had to think more tactically. In the build up to the fight and on the night itself I need to be more focused and not brawl as I have a tendency to do.
I had an incident in the gym today where I was loosening up after training which made me feel even more pleased to have been involved with WCBL and Scott over other companies that organize White collar events, a girl came up to me as I was hitting the heavy bag and asked if I was training for a fight or just for fitness, when I said I was training for a white collar fight she said she had been asked to do the same thing by someone from her gym in Harrow, except he was billing it as a models fight night! She was unsure whether to do it or not, I advised her that it sounded a bit dodgy and if she was serious about wanting to get involved in white collar she should go to a gym where she would be treated equally. I'm no Germaine Greer and I can think of worse things to watch but I can imagine the event would not be what she was looking for as a challenge, unless the challenge was to get into Loaded magazine. At Knights everyone gives everyone else banter and the girls in the group train and fight just as hard as the guys, if not harder.

Fight night isn't far off now and the tickets are flying out the door, I can guarantee it will be a great night in Camden and I think the buzz is building among my friends and colleagues as well, if anyone wants to get hold of some send me a message and I will happily sort you out.

Right, little word about my charity now if I can, as people know I have chosen a homeless charity to benefit from donations building up to the fight and I have been really impressed with the response so far. Broadway look after the needs of London's homeless, and I feel it is a fantastic charity. I know there were some statistics that showed that a percentage of London's homeless these days are foreign and this may be the case, but a large percentage are from the UK, and many are ex-military who couldn't cope with the things they have seen in theatres of war, or were treated badly and not supported when they came home and Broadway give the first step on the ladder back for these people. Not that I care about the foreign issue either, if someone is in such a position that they are on the streets, sleeping in parks and doorways, afraid to close their eyes to sleep I couldn't give a shit where they originated, they need help, end of. If you would like to donate please do so and feel free to look up Broadway to see exactly what they get up to helping those who need it.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserPage.action?userUrl=thebearboxes&faId=329837&isTeam=false

Thanks for all the donations, bought tickets and support, I won't let you down and promise to give absolutely everything I've got.

Big Love

The Bear

Quick Midweeker!

As I sit here in the office, on my lunch hour, halfway through the week I am well pleased. My training this week has been hard but rewarding and I am feeling really positive. The secret to keeping motivation going it seems is creating mini targets, and not setting goals that are unachievable.

Train hard, Win Easy!

Ups and Downs...

Sport is a funny thing, you can have highs and lows alongside the obvious winning and losing of matches, you might be disappointed with a training session or elated with the progress made, and if you have a bad one the little demons creep into your head, but when you have a good one you consider calling out David Haye!

Been a funny old week this week for me training wise, after Saturdays session spent  a good 2 hours in the gym on Sunday, came out feeling awesome, then rest day Monday, cardio Tuesday and then another session I was really happy with on Wednesday, then I let things tail off towards the end of the week for some reason, not enough sleep by my own error caused me to have an average session at best yesterday and I promise this week will be better.

We started off with a nice run out to Tower Bridge and round the Tower of London, while I wasn't especially enjoying the running the views were pretty sweet, and the looks on some of the tourists faces were worth it, plus the comment from a group of fat blokes walking towards the bus stop cracked me up "Why the f$$k would you go jogging?", it is a valid point but then equally valid would be "Why do you want to die of a coronary at 50?". What also motivated me on this run was the fact that if I dropped behind I had no idea how to find my way back to the gym! Props to the 50% of the group who managed to not read the bit about the training starting with a run at 10.00am, I believe you, but remember God sees everything!

Back at the gym after a bit of shadow boxing it was straight into sparring, having not sorted my mouth guard I nearly bottled it, but wanted at least a round to keep my hand in, took a few smacks but I think it was a bit better than last weeks, but I am aware I need to be more aggressive and keep my head up, and trust my guard more.
There were some pretty intense sparring sessions this week, and I filmed a few so they are on my fb page, and eventually when I have time I will slap them on Youtube as well, I am going to make the video another part of this blog because looking back over the videos really adds to the story.

Ticket sales are going well so far and thanks to everyone who has bought, or is in the process of buying tickets, it is looking like being a cracking night with some quality boxing on show, let me know if you are reading this and would like to come to the fight and watch us all in action.

Finally, things I have learnt this week:

* Charlie has a mirrored shower in his house, and a revolving bed (The bed may be my exaggeration)
* Disco may not be Lisa's real name
* Charlie has a disturbing obsession with David Attenborough
* Body shots are very effective (going to be doing some ab work this week)
*Wearing a mouth guard is advisable when boxing
* I am never going to end up on the bad side of Jo Yates
* Japanese tourists are very scared of large groups of men running towards them
* The Tower of London is smaller than I remember it being
* Next time we do a run like that I will remember to take my oyster card!
* I have a lot more work to do before the 2nd of August

So that's what I'm off to do...

You can catch the videos so far on Youtube, or facebook

Don't forget if you are feeling generous you can donate to the charity I am doing this for as well....

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserPage.action?userUrl=thebearboxes&faId=329837&isTeam=false

Big Love

The Bear

Halfway there....word from The Bear

At the halfway point in proceedings I can safely say its been a rollercoaster so far, I know people have read in the blog before about feelings, and emotions so I'm not going to go too mushy today don't worry.

As we gathered on the pavement outside Knights on Saturday morning I noticed how the fight night talk is slowly growing as the weeks are going on, there is a bit more tension, and not in a bad way about the fight, people are becoming more focussed on what they have to do to improve and now opponents are being announced it is likely you will be training, even sparring in the case of me and Fred with the person you have to beat on fight night. That naturally makes the situation pretty weird, some of the guys know each other really well and some just don't want to fight each other. Not out of fear of a beating, but possibly just damaging old relationships.

We are at the end of the day going to have a fight, and when its all over we will hug, bump gloves and be done, but in the build up to the day I can only see the sparring getting more brutal and precise as people are laying down markers and making their intentions known, Not that there is any animosity, Broner vs Malignaggi this weekend proved what how sometimes things don't end with the final bell, Broner deciding to end the day by declaring to Malignaggi after winning on points that he was "Taking his belt and his girl" and paraded Malignaggi's ex girlfriend around the show. I like Broner for his flash attitude, and I think he can back it up in many cases, but I lost respect for him as a man after his childish behaviour.

So the day itself, we got to the gym, and people were muttering things about a 2 hour session, I had not seen this coming, and knew I was going to be blowing by the end. We started with a bleep test, and I made a tactical decison to drop at level 7, I havent done a bleep test since school and I remembered why, they are f$$king horrible! Fair play to Bob, Mide and James the last 3 who were absolutely smashing it!

Back to the gym and split into groups it was time for either sparring, technique / skipping or pad/bag work.

First up for me was sparring and as the first pairs went in it was clear that some people were throwing a few shots at full power and it was pretty amazing to watch, and not bothering with headguards. I will always wear a mouth guard, as people know I have my modelling career to protect, Paris Fashion week wouldn't go ahead without my chubby, bearded face!

So Fred and I stepped into the ring, Im sure Fred wont mind me saying we are both big lads and I think we were probably showing each other a bit too much respect in there, particularly as it was announced that we are paired to fight on the 2nd, Fred is a good lad and I'm sure we will have a beer together after but in the next few weeks I can imagine we will be keeping a close eye on each other to see what we have got for each other. He got some good shots in, I got some back but we will both be massively improved by fight night and will be going for it full blast.

Then off to the heavy bags and pads, plenty of work on movement needed and the occasional shout from Scott to bend my knees more, or keep the guard up was employed as I was starting to feel knackered!

One of my favourite parts of yesterday was taking instruction from the master, the warrior Horice, the man is as old school as it gets, no bullshit and no excuses for poor technique, he taught me something I am going to throw into sparring next week and let people see if they can spot it! Regarding my movement ( or lack of!) he had this advise "When you go home today, don't get on the sofa and eat shit food, don't start pulling your plonker, get moving in the mirror, round the house"

With regards to pulling my plonker, I don't know how Horice got in my house to get that information, but I want the video back...

We finished with a 300 and I had to be encouraged to finish it as every part of my body wanted to crash out on the mat and pass out, but thats the beauty of this group, we push each other along, and won't let anyone fail or feel shitty about themselves!

Thanks for the week go to the people who have sponsored me, the people coming to the show, Jo for the cracking hand wraps - they are meant to bring me luck, but if they could bring me a bit of movement that will do me! Thanks to the group as always for the endless enthusiasm and friendship, Scott for another great, if f$$king evil session and finally thanks to my wife for washing my soaking wet sweaty gym gear!

Big nights not far off now, so I've started contacting people to sort tickets out any one else who is keen just drop me a line on FB and I ll sort it out.

Big Love

The Bear

Confidence - A Sporting Life

One of the biggest battles I and many others face will be the battle within yourself.

Ever since I was a kid brought up by a sporting dad, Gaelic football and normal football for the most part but he also dabbled in cricket I was raised to be always an aggressive sportsman, my Dad lost teeth as a Gaelic keeper and every time he told the story there was a look of pride in the pain.

Sadly I don't have the same natural ability as my my old man who has since passed away, but I was instilled with a mentality to win at all costs, whether that is in sport, be first up the stairs at the tube (Ive been known to have races no-one else knew they were involved in) or even board games at Christmas I will do anything, and everything to win. I have cried on rugby pitches after results that didnt matter in sheer frustration, and have seen more red and yellow cards than I can count - I think I still have the school record!

In rugby matches I have dived and smothered the ball when the referee couldn't see to slow down a game so my team-mates could get a breather, in 5- a side football as recently as a week ago I identified a player who while also really f**king annoying was also the oppositions best player and smashed him off the pitch. To sum up I have always loved sport, but havent been sporting.

Boxing has started to change that.

Today we were introduced to 2 aspects of boxing training, which both made me love this experience a little bit more, and question the way I have dealt with sport.

1) Hill Sprints - As Scott mentioned in the gym after the training he has run up hills far more steep than the one we faced today, but with a gut full of fruit and fibre and Red Bull the one we faced today was more than enough for me, and as we laboured up the hill, pushing and shouting each other along ( when breath allowed) I realised that, yeah its a sport where on the night for the minutes you are one on one it is an individual sport, but the build up, the training and the sheer f**king horrible workouts you endure as a group means that you bond and I want everyone to finish, and finish well.

2) Sparring - Nothing prepares you for the moment when you step in the ring and have your first real, even not at full pace spar. We have done a bit of body work but this was different, when Pat came forward and started landing what felt like decent punches to my head, face and body it was like he was everywhere, my training went out the window and I crouched into the shots and got punished, Scott was calling for me to move and use the left jab, and I could hear him but it wasnt happening so easily....BUT...I refuse to feel discouraged its the first feeling of being inside a ring, it felt real and even with my head ringing it felt right. I made sure I went straight to my sparring partner when he got out of the ring and asked his advice and bumped gloves, I chatted to the folk who watched the sparring round the ring, Charlie, Leo and the other guys and I felt shit about my performance but fearless about doing it all again till  I get it right. No-one said I got spanked, which I did, I got properly schooled. but all just passed on encouragement.

I know everyone who trains will read this but I reckon I will be pretty emotional on the 2nd of August when the fighting is over,  the lights have dimmed, I have been dragged by my ankles from a Camden watering hole and we head off our separate ways, I have no doubt I will keep training with Scott and see many of the guys and girls for beers (sorry, protein shakes) and catch ups after this but this feeling of being in it together will be hard to beat.

I want start to wrap up this weeks blog in the usual way by saying thank you. Thank you to the people coming on the night - I promise I will get over my defensive issues and give you a great fight and an ever greater night out, thanks to the people who sponsored me and are helping to make the lives of the homeless in London a bit more bearable by your donation, in a world wear every other person is doing something sponsored your generosity is well received Thanks to Scott our trainer who continues to push to get the best out of us all, and a big, big thanks to my mates at boxing, you push me on, you keep me trying to improve and I cannot wait to get on it with you after the last bell rings.


Finally for my pops, when you booted those footballs into space in the back garden, and they went so high they came down with snow on so you could build up my fear of heading the ball, I hope I am making you proud now mate. Rest easy.x

Big Love

The Bear