Joking aside, I suppose I was saying that the boxing instructors saw me as 'disabled', or unable to box at least because I wouldn't be able to hit with the knuckle part of the glove, as I have no knuckles (well, on my left at least). They also seemed to think my wrist (which is smaller too) would break if I threw a punch with it. They even told me not to do press ups!Datsue wrote:clopixolacuphase wrote:I have a deformed left hand and briefly flirted with boxing when I was 15, but the trainers were pudenda to me and wouldn't let me spar. Natuarally I didn't stick around too long and graduated to other martial arts and ultimately MMA, where I fight other able bodied dudes no problem (I don't consider myself disabled anyway). I'm happier doing this, but boxing is the combat sport I follow as a spectator with any sort of passion.
I could've been a contender!
Interesting. I on the other hand, was just shit, but would be interested in competing in the Paralympics versus genuinely disabled individuals.
Or little old ladies. Or anyone already in a coma.
Many years of training in other arts have proved them wrong. There's plenty they could have taught me, but they were just ignorant dicks. Every instructor I have had since then has made an effort to work with me on ways around it, and consequently anybody who looks at my hand and thinks I can't fight is gravely mistaken.
I guess I would fall into a grey area in the idea of paralympic boxing because I'm too able bodied to be considered disabled and don't have the correct anatomy to compete properly against 'normal' boxers. I have a palm heel to hit with and that's it. I'm reliably informed I hit fornicating hard with it, though. It's just not in the rules of boxing to use it.
Mind you, Joe Calzaghe managed a career out of it.
