Canzano: Getting a kick out of the fight game
"Old guy" thing isn't new.
Years ago, in the infancy of mixed martial arts, I was covering an event on a Saturday night at a tribal casino in California.
It’s where MMA fights were held before they became legitimate and were sanctioned. Anyway, the promoters had a fighter back out on one of the undercard bouts. Rather than cancel it and leave a hole in the program, they found some guy in the crowd who raised his hand and offered to step in.
Ticketholders were intrigued. It was one thing to attend one of these fights as a civilian. It was another thing to find yourself actually in the octagon throwing punches.
Anyway, everyone leaned forward in their seats as the fight started. The surrogate fighter looked like he was in good shape. They’d suited him up and warmed him up. The guy even threw a flurry of impressive fists in the first 30 seconds of the bout.
Then, his arms turned into sandbags.
He’d punched himself out.
The guy could barely lift his hands. His opponent seized the opportunity and moved in. Within a minute or so, the substitute fighter’s face was covered with blood. Still, he was somehow on his feet. Just before the bell sounded, ending the first round, the substitute fighter stepped back, paused, shook his head, and raised a hand.
Everyone stopped.
The crowd grew quiet.