the night before

"I knew it! I totally knew he wouldn't make it!"

That's what I said to my cornerman, Diego, as my opponent stepped off the scales and put his shorts back on. I didn't really know he wasn't going to make weight, of course, but I had a pretty good feeling. All the ingredients were there. He's 5'10", quite tall for the weight class, and already quite lean. He's coming down from featherweight and the fight is on two weeks notice. So while when I saw his number on the scale: 61.8, three-tenths of a kilogram over and above the 0.5kg allowance on the 61kg weight class, my eyes may have rolled, but I smiled a bit on the inside. Us little guys fighting at our natural weight get to cherish these moments.

Cameraphone pic of the staredown

My cut was easy. At 1pm on Wednesday afternoon I stopped drinking and eating. At 7pm I allowed myself a tuna steak which I know weighed exactly 330 grams, the only food I had in the interim. For fun, I charted my weight at various intervals during the cut:

1pm yesterday: 63.4

3pm: 62.8

7pm: 62.2

11pm: 62.2 (in the interim is where I ate that tuna)

7am today: 61.4

noon: 61.2

1:45pm, official scale: 60.98, still wearing shorts

All of this was done without any sauna or exercise. So while I had an easy cut and could have even weighed as much as .7kg or so more (when considering my shorts/underwear), he struggled. I enjoyed scarfing down sweet potatoes and sports drinks while he had to put his sauna suit back on and jog in circles hoping to coax out those last drops of sweat.

The quick medical check after the weigh-in wrapped my last real obligation before fight day. I've had a photo shoot, media day, shadowboxed for the cameras, done interviews with both Legend and outside/independent media. I was able to confirm my cornermen yesterday and I have full confidence in them.

Other than that, not much to report. I've been training specific techniques for this opponent but basically haven't had a hard session all week. It actually feels kind of strange to be totally healthy and not training. I almost feel lazy going so many days without a hard workout, but obviously busting ass in the gym 72 hours before a fight is not going to create any positive physiological adaptation in time.

I'm sort of at a loss as to what to write. I feel like I should have a lot of thoughts since this is the night before the biggest night of my life, but my mind is pretty blank. A few days ago I could have told you about all the thoughts and emotions racing through my head, but now there are none. Anything I could write is just a cheesy cliché that you've heard many times before if you've watched any amount of fighting at all.

I feel like normally I'm pretty good with words, but this time there really isn't much to say. I know what I have to do.

I'm going to get in a fight. And I hope you enjoy it.