My friend keeps "calling me out" to spar with him... (long read)

ThETranCe · 11-04-2009, 09:50 AM

Ok so let me describe the situation. My friend, who is about 6'2 and 210-220 pounds, keeps calling me out to spar and shit. He would say things like "You trying to spar? LOL." I am 5'10 170 with 3 and a half years of MMA training, mostly Muay Thai and Boxing and have had 6 amateur fights. One night, I decided to spar with him since he kept bothering me about it and our group of friends wanted to see me beat him up (lol). Also, none of my friends outside of the gym I train at are really interested in MMA or anything.

So, it was 2 in the morning and dark as hell (duh). We both had boxing gloves on but no headgear (stupid I know). My definition of sparring is to not use all of your strength, but in my friend's case it was. So it was kind of hard for me to land anything because 1) It was dark 2) The grass was wet from the light drizzle earlier in the day. It was hard for me to predict anything he would do cause it was so dark and he didn't care cause he's blind without his glasses so the darkness didn't really matter.

So I was circling him as best as I could, hitting him with light,quick jabs. And then all of a sudden, he throws these wild hooks. Like, full strength hooks. I was surprised because I thought he wasn't going to use all his strength (mindset of sparring in the gym I guess). I managed to block his right hook but his left hook got me. I can't really say I saw stars cause it was so dark outside anyway. Well I shrugged that one off and told myself he was just getting excited. So I still continued to hit him lightly, which ended up "pissing him off" and he continued to charge at me. Finally I decided to beat the hell out of him cause he wanted to knock me down apparently. I noticed that he only threw hooks, and these were wide hooks too. So eventually I ducked under one of his hooks and landed a clean overhand right. It hurt him, made him stumble. Instead of continuing he stared to talk (which was a copout to take a break). He was saying "Oh good hit man I saw stars" and he continued to talk to our other friends for a bit to catch his breath. I let this go. So after he was done resting, we continued. I changed to Southpaw (my jabs are faster and stronger with my right hand) and I must have hit him with 3 really hard jabs in a row right to his face. And this time, instead of waiting for him to start talking, I stepped in and threw a hard left hook. He stumbled again, but this time he didn't get up for a good 20 seconds or so. I didn't want to continue after that cause I didn't want to end up knocking him out completely.

But still, after about 3-4 months the sparring had happened, he continues to call me out. He is claiming that I was being a bitch during that spar and didn't hit him enough. I tried to explain to him that I didn't want to go all out on him cause he would have been knocked out in the first 30 seconds, even in the dark. He claims that I was scared.

Now, this friend of mine likes to talk a lot of shit and he knows that what he is saying is bullshit. I am thinking about sparring him again just to shut him up but I know if I do, it would be a total massacre this time.

Yeah I don't know why I wrote this haha. I guess he has just been really annoying lately. He even writes on my facebook saying "Wanna try and spar with em again? LOL."

Soul Rebel 2 · 11-04-2009, 09:59 AM

Use body shots; he will never call you out again if you put a solid body shot clinic on him and the best part is that you dont really have to worry about hurting him. Just break him down until he gives up.

Also, dont spar in the dark, thats stupid.

Marvin Covar · 11-04-2009, 10:00 AM

There will always be douchebags out there that will provoke you to a confrontation, whether what they've done is completely worthy of violence is up to you.

Sweet Lew · 11-04-2009, 10:01 AM

I don't understand why you were sparring outside on the lawn at 2am?

Dude sounds like a douche. Shut him up.

**Sinister** · 11-04-2009, 10:12 AM

The easiest way to shut guys like this up is put money down. Take a hundo from your next paycheck, and tell him to put up his money. Tell him you don't intend to do this for free, so if he wants the best of you, he's gotta pay. If he actually does put his money up, now you have incentive to kick his ass.

Every time I go to parties of friends and someone there knows I box...some dingus always goes "oh man, I'll spar with you." Nowadays I charge for sparring for anyone, let alone Joe Dipshit at a party. So I reply with "how much money you got in your pocket?" This confuses them. And without ever cracking a smile or giggling I keep referring to that. "I'm trying to do this for a living homie, you want to see what I can do, you gotta pay just like anyone in the Gym or at a Fight." If they turn it down they have to do so understanding that they were trying to goad you into something, that they're not willing to put their money where their mouth is.

**Cool Hand Luke** · 11-04-2009, 10:18 AM

not that i think its smart to 'spar' in that sort of environment but i agree, body shots. it'll be over quicker than shots to the face.

also, invite him to your gym and ask him to spar in a ring, where its a bit safer than slippery grass.

Five by Five · 11-04-2009, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cool Hand Luke

also, invite him to your gym and ask him to spar in a ring, where its a bit safer than slippery grass.

Yeah who knows, he might enjoy it and you'll get a new training partner instead of just an annoying friend who thinks he's tough shit.

**Sinister** · 11-04-2009, 11:41 AM

Doubtful, most guys like that are tough until they get smacked around in front of people they don't know.

pol4088 · 11-04-2009, 11:44 AM

you need to decide whats important to you....... having the balls to say this kind of shit is stupid and being able to walk away.......or try again and lay the beating of a lifetime on him.....

Valentine Wolff · 11-04-2009, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sinister

The easiest way to shut guys like this up is put money down. Take a hundo from your next paycheck, and tell him to put up his money. Tell him you don't intend to do this for free, so if he wants the best of you, he's gotta pay. If he actually does put his money up, now you have incentive to kick his ass.

Every time I go to parties of friends and someone there knows I box...some dingus always goes "oh man, I'll spar with you." Nowadays I charge for sparring for anyone, let alone Joe Dipshit at a party. So I reply with "how much money you got in your pocket?" This confuses them. And without ever cracking a smile or giggling I keep referring to that. "I'm trying to do this for a living homie, you want to see what I can do, you gotta pay just like anyone in the Gym or at a Fight." If they turn it down they have to do so understanding that they were trying to goad you into something, that they're not willing to put their money where their mouth is.

Thats a great idea, im going to start doing that at parties.