Friday night was a very cool and very unexpected evening. Before I move on, I must thank Tony (one of my former co-workers from ExpressVu). He works in Pay-Per-View and got some tickets to a boxing match held in Mississauga on Friday night. Tony and I wanted to see each other before I left for Milwaukee in a couple of weeks so we arranged to meet up for this match on Friday night.

Now the story...

I met Tony in front of the Hershey Centre and he gave me my ticket - a Media Pass that I wore around my neck. After seeing this, I already knew that this was going to be an interesting evening. We walked in and got some stuff (program, etc.). Got a quick bite to eat and then walked down to our seats. We were on the floor somewhere. The setup was pretty cool. This boxing ring was set up right in the middle of this hockey arena (boards were down covering the ice). And there were a bunch of circular tables surrounding the stage at which about 8 people could sit, eat and drink while watching the fights. Then, along one side of the ring - there were a bunch of seats setup in rows (very close to the action).

We were looking around and couldn't find our seats and then Tony, looking straight ahead towards the ring says to me "Look over there" I looked and didn't know what I was looking at. "Is that so and so, I said" (referring to some big guy who I thought was a boxer). He scoffed at me and then said What's my name?" I didn't understand what he was talking about so I didn't answer him. He said again "What's my name?" I finally answered him and said "Tony N". Just as I said that, I realized what he was talking about.

Straight ahead of us, inside the apron (which separates the ring and surrounding perimeter from the other seats), there were a row of about 8 seats. The last two on the row - closest to the entrance of the boxers had a sign on them that said "Tony N". I couldn't believe it! I was sitting so close to the ring that if I had stood up and reached, I could have touched the ropes. Right in front of us were the guy who rings the bell, the announcer who gets in the ring and introduces each fight and says something like "LLLLLLLEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTT'SSSSSSS GGGGGEEEETTTT RRREEEADDDDDDYYYYYY TTTOOOO RRRRUUUUUMMMMMBBBBLLLEEEE!!!" If you couldn't read that - that was Let's get ready to Rumble! The doctors and all the judges were sitting in front of us as well.

The story gets better though...

Beside us, there were 6 seats and in about 20 minutes, some wonderful people arrived for those seats beside us. They were the Mojo Radio Girls and the Appleton Jamaica Rum Girls. Yes that is right - these are the girls who hold a sign that says Round 2 or Round 3 or whatever round it is in between each round. They are wearing next to nothing and of course, looking pretty good. We were speaking to them and a couple of them were definitely very very very stupid. But, there were a couple that we pretty smart and could carry a whitty conversation. Anyway, it made for a good site to see - that is for sure.

It gets better...

The promoter of the fight came to see Tony part way through just to make sure that we were doing all right and enjoying the seats. We both said that were having a great time and couldn't believe the location we were sitting. He then said to us that we would like what was coming next. He told us that someone very important to the boxing world was going to be making an appearance that night.

Then in about 15 minutes, none other than Mr. Lennox Lewis arrived with his entourage. Yeah, you heard me correctly - the WBA Heavyweight Champion of the World. So many people were going up to him and bothering him for autographs. He signed a few but I don't blame him and his entourage for slowly refusing cause it was taking away from the action in the ring and no one was really paying attention to any of the fights. I got some photos of him but the best thing was that just before the final match of the evening, he came out into the ring to say a few words. Since I was sitting right beside the entrance, I was the closest to him at one point as he entered - I was within 4 feet of him. And no, I did not say anything stupid to him like I did to Latrell Sprewell 6 weeks ago)

All in all, a fantastic evening that was totally unexpected and ended up being really fun. I can't wait to see my photos - hopefully they turned out. The actual boxing action was awesome too. There were 5 fights in total and they were all pretty impressive. It's amazing to watch the endurance and agility of these athletes. Over the past couple of years, I've started appreciating the sport of boxing for its skill and strategy rather than thinking of it as some sport where two people beat the crap out of each other. Sitting so close, I heard every blow and saw all of their facial expressions. It was really pretty exciting.

Wow - I've written a lot. I got to get some work done now .
Have a good Sunday.