07/07/2007: "Fight Re-Scheduled; Interview"

Hi All,

A few bits of miscellany. First, most important, the boxing match with Jonathan Ames has been rescheduled. The reason for this is: there is some arcane American Amateur boxing rule that states there can't be a ten-year difference between two boxers, or an under-35-year-old can't box an over-35-year-old, something like that, which totally screws Jonathan and I. Pros can do it---Evander Holyfield could fight a 22-year-old if he so pleased, and he's older that Jonathan---but amateurs, I guess the thinking is we're not totally versed in the sport (in my case, that's very true) and so these rules are set in place to try to make sure overt mismatches don't take place.

In any case, rules is rules and you can't buck them. So we can't box on that card down on the Hudson River, but Soho has arranged for an exhibition/book launch sort of a thing at Gleason's Gym in NY, Jonathan's home gym, on TUESDAY JULY 24th at 8:00. So, the same bout, just termed a "sparring exhibition" or some such. Should still be fun. Soho's looking at getting some booze into the joint, which should have the crowd well-lubed and hooting and hollering by the time we touch gloves.

My training is going well. Pretty brutal schedule, but I stick to it. Leave the house at 3pm, back at 8pm. Hit the gym, run laps, light workout, more laps, abs, to the boxing gym for circuit training or technique plus sparring. My body, surprisingly, is putting up with me abusing it like that. Hands a little sore, and when I first got back into training ALL of me was sore, but I've gotten over that hump. Weight has stabilized at 160 lbs; a lot of old friends thinking I look like I wandered out of the forest having been lost for months, but really, I feel pretty good. I think I'm right at about 180 so this is light for me, but since I'm doing a lot of cardio---I might get knocked out, but I don't think I'll be gassed out---it's good to be light. My body has turned very veiny (veinous?); all up and down my legs, my arms and shoulders, coming up my ribcage, over my biceps---veins everywhere. Coming up my hips, too, radiating from my ... well, my crotch; I can feel these two big vascular bundles on either side of my hip, little berries under there pumping blood. So, y'know, a little weird, this new bodily dynamic, but I don't mind for now. My body, I've come to realize, is really utilitarian; it seems designed just to keep moving along. Not dextrously, not flashily, not with panache or brute strength; just keep plugging along, doing what I ask (force) it to. An endurance body, which in this case is what I need.

But I'll tell you, once this fight is over I'm eating everything I can lay my hands on. Maybe I'll write a new book called THE GLUTTON. Just this guy who goes around eating everything, eating himself into the grave. LEAVING LAS VEGAS for the gourmand set. Chapter 1: French Fries. Chapter 2: Pastries. Chapter 3: Buffet-Hopping. Chapter 4: Pastries Redux. Etc.

Second bit: here is an interview conducted with Darran Anderson of the UK site BookMunch. Great questions and I thank Darran for taking the time to ask them. Still that old photo of me; I really need to get a new one!

http://bookmunch.co.uk//view.php?id=1845

All best, Craig.