I woke up and had a very normal morning...making breakfasts and lunches, packing snacks, walking the kids to the bus and then I started packing my boxing and overnight bags.
As I drove John to my Mom's house in JP, I stopped to pick up some diapers, and went to the Dominican restaurant to get my old favorite for lunch...arroz con pollo, frijoles negros y platanos maduros.
I saw my family from Florida for the first time since they arrived on Wednesday. My Aunts Kathy and Maureen and Uncles Jet and Chip, along with 2nd cousin Kael Michael, came all the way up to see my fight. I can't adequately express how much it means to me that they came. It shows that they understand how important this was to me, and how important I am to them. I feel very loved and blessed to have a family like this.
My Mom drove me to Forest Hills with all my bags and I took the Orange Line for the first time in quite a while. It still felt like home. It was the best way to get to the fight so that we'd only have one car in town, but it turned out to be much more significant for me. It brought me mentally back to my roots and to a state of calm, strength and pride. It started the whole "this is your life" feel of the evening to come.
For the weeks leading up to the fight I was confused and concerned why I wasn't nervous, and it was the same this day. I had no nerves or butterflies. It was only when I checked into the hotel room alone and I started thinking about my kids and how proud they are of me (look at the belt they presented me with the night before!) that I started to choke up a bit. I kept wanting to cry but I wouldn't let it out. Luckily Dave surprised me at the hotel and distracted me with some food and a beautiful letter.
It was quickly time to meet at The Royale. I met my girls, Katie and Annie, in the lobby and we walked over together and met up with Kathy, the owner of Fitness Advantage. The Royale looked fantastic in pink!
We checked in, got our badges and found the very tiny green room, packed with the 17 other fighters, their trainers and lots of gear.
I was 124 lbs the day before so Kathy told me to weigh in in my street clothes just to be sure I made it to 126 and I actually made 127 so that was a relief. All of the Belles made weight so the Haymakers were very happy. I also got the okay from the doctor after a quick check of my eyes, heart, and abdomen. This was another relief because I have an umbilical hernia that I was afraid they'd find. I'm getting surgery to repair it this week. I signed my official USA Boxing passbook and changed into my fight clothes.
I was going to be in the blue corner, which meant that I was wearing a white shirt and black trunks.
I don't know why I assumed the shirt would be black (maybe because the one I tried on at Lululemon was black) so I only had a black sports bra with me. Oh well. That was the least of the wardrobe problems. We laughed for a long time about how ridiculous the shorts were. It was great comic relief. There is nothing cute about boxing shorts, especially when the rule is that your shirt must be tucked into them!
We got over the outfit, Sione showed up, and started wrapping us up. I didn't realize that not only would we not be using our usual hand wraps but we wouldn't even be using our own gloves. Sione carefully wrapped each of us in gauze and tape and we had to have them checked before we were issued our 10oz gloves...lighter than we were used to.
The doors opened at 6:30 and people started arriving. Some of the first were my Mother-in-law and Dave's Aunts and Cousin. I was so happy to see them.
Soon after I saw Emily and her Dad, Brendan. Emily is the little girl who lost her Mother to breast cancer. She is such inspiration to me and I have dedicated my fight to her. She was here to participate in the night as a "ring girl", announcing the round numbers. She was an incredible reminder of what the night was really about. I was so happy that she could be there and she did a great job!
The night was about to begin. Annie "Cassius" Clay was warming up with Sione. Katie and I watched from the balcony. It was finally time for fight 2. Annie was up. Annie has only been boxing for 2 months and her opponent is the wife of the owner of Nonantum Boxing Club. She's been boxing for years. What we knew, that she didn't, was how hard Annie has been training and how tough she is...trust me...we knew all too well how unyielding she is in the ring. We were so excited for Annie's fight because we knew it would surprise everyone how relentless she is, and knew for sure that it would be a great match. We were right. As Annie fought her way to victory Katie and I were focused, intense and emotionally right there in the ring with her, throwing punches and cheers from the balcony. One down. Two more to go.
Soon it was time for Katie "Braveheart" Sullivan and I to start warming up. We went downstairs into the kitchen and hit the pads with Sione, Kathy and Dan. Now it was Katie's turn (fight 7). Even though I should have been warming up I could not miss Katie's fight. Katie was fighting my old opponent and I knew Katie would win. I just didn't know how quickly. Katie dominated and the fight was ended in 1 minute and 55 seconds! The only one round fight of the night! Katie's first opponent quit the competition after sparring Katie in August. She's like the Terminator. The crowd went wild! I was so happy for Katie and just as happy for Sione because he's spent the past 4 months telling us he wanted first round knock outs and he actually got one!
Now the pressure was really on for me. I had to win for the team. We needed a clean sweep. My pink sledgehammer slamming entrance video played and I followed Sione and Kathy into the ring for fight number 9. As the Seminole Warchant played I soaked in the moment, waving to family, friends and my gym gathered in the corner. Sione kept telling me to focus but I was all Hollywood, loving the crowd.
My posse.
I love this shot. I'd call it Boxing Ballerina. I think the way my hair is reminds me of my dancing days. I had the same feeling getting on stage for both boxing and ballet. I love the lights and the crowd, confident in my abilities and training.
I had never met or sparred my opponent, Andrea, before so I didn't know what to expect. I just knew that Dave Myerson of Haymakers said that it would be a "blood bath".
Andrea was a great match for me. We both like to just stand in the middle of the ring and throw punches and that is what we did. Back and forth all three rounds.
Look at this reach advantage! If I were smarter I wouldn't have let her get near me. Of course, look where my right hand is...where I always leave it. Down! Ugh.
There was never a moment of panic like there can be sometimes. It was all very smooth. I hit her, she hit me and I never felt a thing except exhaustion. Until you do this you will never understand how tiring 2 minutes can be.
The rounds went by fairly quickly since we had always trained for longer than 2 minutes, but the minute rest between each round felt like an eternity. Sione never gave us a minute rest between rounds so it felt very long. I don't remember much of what he said to me in between...something about throwing a hook. I knew that the fight was very close. I couldn't tell who would win and we knew I needed to take round 3 to have a chance. I remember feeling tired but determined, energized by the wild "Amy" and "JP" chants from the crowd and then I faintly heard Sione yell "Do it for Little John John!" and it gave me the fire I needed to just keep throwing punches.
I've only seen a very blurry video so far and in it I feel badly that I am not doing many of the great things that Sione has taught me. I'm not really following the game plan, but I threw punches. A lot of them. I didn't ever connect my 2 like I needed to. My secret weapon is my power. Apparently I "hit like a dude". She was excellent at keeping her hands up and I never got in a clean shot. Nevertheless, we both gave it everything we had and it was such a great battle that we couldn't help but to hug at the end.
We still didn't know who would be the winner. We went and thanked each other's corners, checked in at ours, and met in the middle for the decision.
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I had my fingers crossed. They announced the scores (30-27, 30-26, 30-27 ). It was a unanimous decision for the BLUE corner!!!! I won!!!
Wow. What a feeling! As you can see in the picture, I looked right at Sione and Kathy. It was for them - to thank them for all of the dedication and time they have given me. I wanted it for Fitness Advantage. I remember pointing to my gym crowd, knowing that it was their victory too. I wanted it for my kids and husband who rode this ride with me to the very end and deserved a happy ending. I wanted it for myself too. The perfect ending to a really amazing journey. As Sione told us...we will have this experience in our back pockets forever. It has changed who we are. We have endured what most people have never attempted. We have trained like professional athletes for 4 straight months, all while juggling kids, husbands, jobs, fundraising, housework, family, injuries, obstacles, life. We have kept going when we didn't want to, and we didn't have to. Some girls did quit, but we didn't. We are the Belles of the Brawl!
I'm glad it was so hard - the training and the fight. It made the victory so much sweeter. To top off the whole thing Andrea and I won "fight of the night"! I guess we get a professional picture from our fight blown up as a prize. Completely amazing ending to this fairy tale but the night was not over yet!
The celebration was just beginning. I walked out of the ring, got checked quickly by the doctor and grabbed my passbook with a "W" inscribed in it, right into the crowd and didn't find my way back to my corner or green room. Dave met me with a glass of wine and I hugged friend after friend (as sweaty and gross as I was), thanking them for supporting me. (The "JP" chants were AMAZING!!!) I had friends there from all parts of my life...early childhood, high school, college, all of my bridesmaids, half the town of Dover, Dave's friends, family from near and far. This night could never be recreated.
We took the party to the W hotel in our robes given to us by the ladies of Dover!
Cheers to never punching each other in the face again!
Look who else was there! Seth Myers!
Some Boston Latin Academy kids.
The Lanni Girls. Check out the shirts they made! "You can take the girl out of JP but you can't take the JP out of the girl"...complete with bedazzles. Are you kidding me?!?! I love them.
One of my very best friends, Sheri!
Dave putting on my belt!
My love...who went above and beyond to make this an extra special experience for me.
I didn't sleep all night trying to remember every perfect detail. It's been days and I'm still on a high.
Did I mention that we raised $16,730 (and counting...donations are still coming in!) for breast cancer research and survivorship?!? Our event raised over $130K (haven't gotten the final number yet).
Amazing - all around. I am so blessed to have been a part of this. Thank you all for being a part of this. I look forward to supporting you in your endeavors, and to see what's next for me. Thank you from the deepest part of my heart.
(I'll post my reflections on the whole experience separately.)
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