Boxing Progress Report No. 11: The Well Has Been Capped

Looks like my nose is on the mend. I got through 4 rounds of sparring on Saturday without any actual blood dribbling out of it. High fives all round. That’s not to say I didn’t get popped a couple of times. A few jabs got through my defences to test the elasticity of my nasal cartilage, but I’m please to report it sprung back to its original shape without having to reach for the hanky.

Along with my stock-in-trade left jab, very encouragingly, I also managed to land a couple of pretty good straight rights and... wait for it... an actual left hook. Aghast, The Armoury came to a standstill. The only noise heard being the dying slaps of the speedball.

"Yoh," said Clever.

On the down side, my neck’s not happy. I slipped a disc about 10 years ago, trapping a nerve. Cue eye-watering pain. Contrary to the scalpel-sharpened advice of “Cape Town’s leading neurologist” I opted for Ayurvedic acupuncture and 6 months recovery over a trip to the operating theatre and neck vertebrae fusion. It worked. Since then my neck’s always been a weak point, but at least I avoided very invasive surgery.

Any way, a couple of weeks ago during a boxing fitness class, we did some rather odd sit-up/squat/shoulder-raise combo exercise with a medicine ball... bad idea. The muscles in my neck went into a spasm which usually indicates the disc is unhappy. More uncomfortable than painful, but it’s hasn’t gone away.

My Auyurvedic guru has since passed away, but chiropractor/physio/acupuncturist Rob Beffa is my go-to guy these days. Time for another visit…