Closing Camp

So last night was my last big workout before the bout Saturday - "camp" is officially closed and I need to switch gears and have my mental preparation catch up with my physical readiness.

Some doubts have started to set in, but I think it's more jitters than legit concerns. After all, I feel great, have been having a lot of success in the ring, and got a vote of confidence from the gym owner tonight that all I need to do now is relax, have fun, and replicate all this when it counts Saturday.

My only regret, actually, is moving around with a kid last night that's notorious for cranking up the intensity randomly in the laziest of sparring sessions. He's a pretty decent boxer though, so I decided to change it up and work 4 rounds with him. As expected, he sprinkled some bombs into his flurries throughout our "light," final workout - including 3 well after the final bell that earned groans from a few onlookers - catching me off guard a few times and marking me up a little. I'm not worried about the cosmetics so much as a little swelling and bleeding from my nose. Some wear and tear is nothing new, but I just hate not being 100000001% going into a fight, especially when it's the result of some shenanigans 96 hours before. Such is life in the ring I guess and I doubt I'm the only boxer sporting some pre-existing war wounds at the weigh-in. Besides, I definitely would have won on the scorecards if it was "official" last night, so the underlying message is that I'm ready to dish it as well as receive. But in the meanwhile, here's to clear airways and not looking any more of a mess leaving the ring Saturday as I do going into it.

Randoms:

- I keep thinking of a quote from Manny Pacquiao on an episode of Hatton-Pacquio 24/7 that was along the lines of: "Training is the hard part. If you train hard, then the fight is easy." Now obviously there are a million variations to this quote, like "The harder you train, the luckier you get" and "The more you sweat, the less you bleed." While all are valid (albeit a bit cliche) there was something about how Pac-Man said this that stuck out as being genuine and profound. Just something that's crossed my mind a few times the past few weeks...

- I weighed in at 153 before my workouts each of the last two days, and well under 150 after each. At the risk of jinxing myself, I don't think I'm going to have to gas myself too much to make weight Saturday at 9 a.m. Early dinner, no water, lots of sleep, no breakfast or fluids until I step off the scale...should be all set.

- Speaking of weight, my roommate made cookies last night. I made her hide them.

This is what it's all about. I put in my time, paid my dues, now I just need to piece it all together, clear my head and go win some hardware.