Morning all. I’m fighting in 4 days time. That’s this Saturday. It’s my first fight in over 2 years and it’s all I think about when I wake up. I even found myself fighting the duvet over the weekend in my sleep. Muscle memory is a funny thing, so’s what rests in your sub-conscious.

Just recently I had a dream where a version of myself (before this gets too weird I’ve talked a lot about my inner critic during the course of this blog and that’s who I met) tore me to pieces about fighting. From what I remember, I took the lengthy rant in my stride and even used it to take some pointers. When your effectively getting a bollocking off yourself that’s not an easy thing to do.

In the real world training has been going well. Weights coming down, fitness is good and nerves have managed to get me not just once but at least twice in the past week or so. How do I feel about it? a glass case of emotion is how I feel about it.

Butterflies start my heart beats a bit quicker and my mouth goes dry. But as my last fight was so close and I’d drawn and then won the two prior to that I feel motivated to succeed and I believe in myself. It’s good to be back.

And besides, when it comes to nerves and fear I’ve learnt to make them my friend. Recently I’ve shut down the internal dialogue as best I can. The past is the past, the future hasn’t happened yet. All that matters is the here and now. I’ll be present and focused when I’m fighting  and I have a top notch corner. I remember how to turn fear into fire. I love the combat.

This week is my last week of training before I step up on Saturday and I intend to make sure its a good one. I guess I’m a little nervous about fighting with elbows despite having pads but I practice them a lot at the gym. The length of the fight isn’t a problem. I know how to pace myself and how to keep pressure on.

As soon as I step back in the ring I’m sure I’ll feel at home and I’ll fight not only with everything I’ve got but most importantly I’ll fight to win. I’ve never been one to let hard work go to waste.

So it’s training and a quick weight check later followed by a run Wednesday as well as a more training tomorrow and Thursday and finally finishing the graft with a light run on Friday. All being well,  this will equate to a job being well done before stepping up at the weekend. I only ever make these kind of moves when my heart’s in it. I guess the sky’s the limit. Have a great week, train hard and “chok dee” for all your fights. I’ll see you on the road.