This week we had a new experience - we went to the fights. This was not on our bucket list but the opportunity came up so we decided to go for it. And it was really interesting. There were 8 or 9 fights, starting out with the least experienced and working up to the most experienced boxers. I was concerned that it would just be guys trying to beat each other up, and I guess that is basically what it was, but there are a lot of rules that keep it from getting out of hand. And the referee watches carefully to be sure they follow every one of those rules. Sometimes he was so close to the fight that it looked like he was going to get hit!

There was also a big Mafia-looking guy (big, beefy, wearing a black suit, lots of hair oil and no smile) at each corner. In between each round he watched the boxer very carefully to make sure he was not too hurt to continue. He also watched to make sure nothing illegal went on while the boxer got water and advice before going into the ring again.

There was only one knockout and fortunately the guy wasn't really hurt, he just got the wind knocked out of him. Another fight was stopped because the ref thought a guy was getting beat up too much, but he wasn't really hurt. The crowd was so unhappy that the fight was stopped that they gave the "loser" the biggest ovation of the night. He just loved that - he jumped up on the ropes, gave a couple of victory yells, then exited the ring, grinning from ear to ear.

The rest of the fights went the full rounds. The less experienced guys had 6 rounds and the more experienced guys fought for 8 rounds. After each fight the judges would announce who they decided had won.

One more new and interesting experience!