Joy Day 10 - Flying High in the Ring!

Day 10- Flying High in the Ring!
by Joy Dickson (notes) Monday, August 18, 2008 at 11:24pm

I have had the good fortune of once again seeing another event, Boxing. Again, none of this was planned it just happened. I have never had this much luck before in my life and I am grateful and treasuring every minute of it.

Originally, my friend Martha Ortiz ( Wellesley'06), invited me to meet up with her after the Boxing competition on Saturday. Little did I know that one of her friends, couldn't make it and she ended up inviting me to go. Ironically, I pass by the venue everyday on my morning walks and had never been inside. We went with some of her coworkers and her fiance. Like most of the venues so many seats were available, so we got a chance to all sit together.

Some of you know this but I have a thing for sports that require men to beat the heck out of or hurt each other, Sumo, American Football, Martial Arts and Boxing. I am pretty sure I could go to a therapist about this but I am not interested in changing this aspect of my life. I actually miss watching those good old Tyson fights. And I was looking forward to this because I was offered Boxing tickets from someone else and it did not go through so I was excited to have a second chance.

When we got there I found out that it was for the flyweight division 49kg, which is a little over 100lbs. They fought 4 two minute rounds. Boxing and laughing usually don't go together but I swear I could not help it. Just imagine JJ Walker from Good Times and Stever Urkel from Family Matters boxing each other and you have pretty much a good visual of what I saw. At times I did not know if I was watching Boxing, Judo or Ultimate Fighting because the guys kept slipping and falling. They weren't being knocked down, which is supposed to happen in Boxing, they were literally slipping and sliding in the ring. One guy went to hug his opponent and hugged him so hard that they fell to the ground. Don't get me wrong, I know these athletes worked hard to get to the Olympics and fought as hard as they could but I think their weight really worked against them.

The fans were amazing as well. There was a whole section from Kazakstan(sp) and like in the movie Borat, they were EXTREMELY proud of being from Kazakstan. There were several from Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Dominican Republic, Ghana, of course China. And there were several Irish people walking around with leprechaun hats and flags.

Unfortunately, all of the fans were not so supportive or did not display good audience behavior. A bunch of jackasses from the US who were sitting behind us, decided to " yell out "Ghana-rhea", during this country's bout. Fortunately for them, the security people and the police officer that found their way over to our section, did not know what this meant or else they would have been thrown out or detained.

Another American jack ass decided in his drunken stupor to try and tell a racist joke to the nice Irish lady who noticed that a black person(me) was sitting right in front of her. I turned around twice and glared at him and the fool just kept on trying to tell the joke. See that is the beauty of racism it really knows no boundaries and at the heart of it is always some fool that thinks that it is acceptable. I actually have heard the joke that he was attempting to say from the uncle of a former co-worker of mine. But fortunately for him, the lady, whether it was fear that I was going to start a boxing bout in the stands or she genuinely knew it was the wrong thing to say, told him to shut up.

Before we left the building, we stopped in one of the many gift kiosks. And low and behold who did I see, Shaan Price on a poster hanging on the wall. Shaan is a good friend of mine here in Beijing and as well as a Moorehouse brutha from Kentucky. We are always teasing him because his face is all over China. My mom and I were in Guilin, a small city in southern China and there was his face on a billboard. Several months later, same billboard different place, Kunming. He also is on posters and billboards around town featuring an Olympic basketball player. He is cool people and humbly gets a kick out of us sharing Shaan sightings with him.

Coming up next...Hot mamas kicking some balls.