I haven't been punched in the face... Yet.

I have been interested in boxing for a long time. Since a young age I’ve been regaled with stories of Muhammad Ali’s skill, Mike Tyson’s tumultuous personal life, and the missing piece of Evander Holyfield’s ear. By no means am I a connoisseur of boxing technique, strategy, or fighters. I can, however, like many people, enjoy watching a good fight.

When I first began college in 2004 I tried my hand at the sport and loved it. I never actually tried seriously to break into it, but I did just enough to get more bloody noses than I cared for. So, I continued with the workouts but not with the getting hit part.

Fast forward to present day 2010.

A few weeks ago I was walking down Sovietskaya (one of the main drags in Bishkek) headed home. It was around eight and the sun had long set so the only light I had was that of a few street lamps and the buildings which lined the street. I had just walked under an overpass when, I noticed light coming from a building to my left I hadn’t really paid much attention to before.

I looked into the windows as I passed and I noticed that there were about 40 young Kyrgyz men skipping rope, hitting bags, and sparring with each other. I immediately did a beeline for the door but found it was locked. I tried the one next to it but it was locked as well. I was more eager to make it home than to search around the building for an open door so I made a mental note and continued to my apartment.

A week ago I was talking with some friends of mine who told me they had recently started getting boxing coaching from the same place I had seen. I asked them how much it cost and if I could jump on with them during their Wednesday morning training session. They were cool with it and I was locked in.


This morning I woke up around 8:30, drank some coffee and packed my gym bag. I made sure I had everything and headed out for my 9:30 appointment with Damir, the Kyrgyz trainer, at the gym. I was the first to arrive out of our group of three and Damir was incredibly welcoming, I was thankful for that. A gym, for many people, is like a second home. It’s someone’s territory. So when someone new comes in, they can sometimes be very warm or very stand-offish.

Damir had me run laps around gym to warm up. As I did this the young Kyrgyz boys stopped and stared at the strange foreigner who had just come into their world. Logan and Tom came shortly thereafter and joined in the fun. That’s when the real warm up kicked off. Damir was all about us going non-stop for 30 minutes of intense punching, jumping, and slipping. By the time we were done warming up we were already covered in sweat and my shoulder muscles were burning from the inside. This was good. Then he had us work on throwing combinations for another 45 minutes or so.

The entire thing lasted about an hour and a half and it wasn’t complicated. We worked simply on the fundamentals, things I missed the first time six years ago. This is really something I can get into.

The Bishkek boxing and martial arts scene is quite a bit larger than I expected. Damir told us about a competition on Friday which will showcase fighters from all over Kyrgyzstan and I hope we will be able to check it out.