Thoughtmagnet

After the fight

Am I proud that I beat up a guy half my size? No.

Am I proud that I beat up a vegan? Hell YEAH!!

I often wonder how I get myself into these weird situations.

This summer, I went to Thailand for a few weeks, to chill out, hang with Sheriff, and get some writing done. While we were down there, we checked out Ko Phi Phi, a mind-bogglingly beautiful island off the west coast of Thailand, and met up with two friends, Tynan and Todd.

You may know Tynan as “Herbal T” from the game. Aside from running his blog he’s also traveling around the world with little more than a schoolbag’s worth of material possessions. You see, Tynan is a free spirit, the kind of guy who’s always up for an adventure, even if it’s probably not a good idea – kinda like me.

So, when we found out that there was a bar on Phi Phi that gives you free drinks for fighting your friends – we knew something fun was bound to happen.

I’d like to say that at first, I had qualms about fighting a friend who’s about 40 lbs lighter than me, but in all honesty, I really didn’t have any moral problems with it. Besides, Tynan is all into this veganism and cross-fit and health stuff, wheras I’m a beer and red meat kinda guy who gave up on working out when he found out he could get girls without being in shape.

We’re also pretty much exactly the same height, and the same age, so you could say this fight was ultimate test of fastideous healthy fitness vs raw animal fed bloodthirsty violence.

Ok, I’m being melodramatic here. It really was never a fair fight – I took boxing lessons a few summers back too.

Anyway, just because I clearly outweighed my opponent, didn’t mean I wasn’t still scared of him. I was really concerned that he would take advantage of the fact I was out of shape, and tire me out before pummeling me with his little weakling arms in the third round, when I was too tired to defend properly.

Also, I got a little drunk beforehand, just to even things up.

So we got in the ring, and there were probably over a hundred people watching us in a dingy, sweaty little bar, with the sound of thai music playing over the hum of the rickety old cooling fans.

We were suited up with ratty old gloves and Olympic-style headgear, so we wouldn’t hurt one another too badly, and our boxing shorts were literally splattered with the blood of previous contestants.

I bounced around to warm up. I threw some kicks to intimidate my opponent. The referee called us to the center of the ring. We touched gloves and it was on.

Tenmagnet v. Herbal

One thing I didn’t realize about boxing is how EXHAUSTING it is. Literally 15 seconds into the first round, I was completely exhausted. It’s not even like boxing in the gym – when someone really wants to hit you, your body just turns on the furnace and won’t let up. You’re completely, blind exhausted, but your body won’t let you stop fighting.

It was fucking cool.

Tynan was keeping his guard up, and managed to bounce some hits off the side of my head, because I wasn’t holding my hands high enough. Headache city. I threw some punches and kept him off balance, but he managed to get me one right in the face. I got him too, and knocked him on his ass.

Finally, after three rounds, it was over. That was the longest ten minutes of my life! I had a bloody nose, but had managed to knock Tynan down a few times. My head was pounding from the four or five shots he’d managed to get in. Tynan isn’t just a cool guy, and a good friend, he’s a vicious little bugger!

I had won, and got a free “bucket” of dirty thai booze and red bull, which I could barely enjoy because I was dizzy and messed up from the fight. Tynan and I shook hands, congratulated one another, and tried to stop our heads from spinning.

Truly an awesome experience.

Tynan has a lot of amazing stories, and definitely deserves a plug here Check out his blogs at www.lifenomadic.com and www.betterthanyourboyfriend.com