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Dave Bownds vs. Joey Van Wanrooy
30 Mar 2009 6:57PM
The fight went to plan. Exactly... well... almost. Pep and Jon were chuffed to bits with my performance and I have to say, so was I. I have watched the fight back and yes there were some technical hiccups and missed opportunities, but in terms of sticking to the gameplan it went pretty much as we had predicted (or hoped). On paper (and probably in real life) Joey has a much better stand up game, I am reasonably confident my ground skills are similarly better than his. We had to assume he had seen the youtube videos of my fights and would make the assumption that I would storm out o f my corner windmilling and trying to take him down... so we tried to be a bit sneaky and it worked. Instead we worked on the idea that I would keep my distance and counter punch as he came forward (playing to the one of the stronger aspects of my game), then when he over committed with that looping right he seemed in favour of I would shoot and take him down. Once on the floor I would keep him there and pound him from guard, side or mount and force a stoppage.
I hate the time before the fight, its dead time. Nothing to do and too wound up to enjoy any distraction. We chatted, did the social butterfly thing, listened to music, went for a Nando’s and so on. But come fight time I was more than ready to just go and get on with it. A month ago when I fought Steve Douglas I was far, far too calm and struggled to summon any adrenaline. This time I was swallowing it in pints. I kept it under control quite well, but it was there alright. The jelly leg, the anxiety, the pressure to perform. And it all helped. I think that being calm is great... but only if you’ve had to calm yourself from a state where you realise you need calming. Just strolling up to the ring like you’re going for a stroll in the park is no good. There has to be that fear, that worry about the loss and the ‘what will happen?’. This fight I got it about spot on and I hope I can capture it for future fights. Joey is much more experienced than me and has a good record. He has also fought some very, very good fighters in the past. That helped feed the nerves a little. He was supposed to be cornered by Dean Amasinger, but instead had Paul Daley, Sunay and Rupert from the Roughhouse... that helped a little more. Then Joey actually did me 2 big favours. Firstly he got in the ring and glared at me and swaggered about a little before pointing at me with his fist. This got my hackle up, big time. Secondly he made me laugh. He did that because he had just missed weight the day before and then in the ring, when the ring announcer read his weight out as 84kg... he looked at me, smiled and shook his head. This, when I laughed, took some of the tension away without distracting me.
The bell rings and we’re off. I circle... and so does Joey. A few feints and a crafty jab and kick and nothing much has happened. In my minds eye I can see Pep, all Obi Wan like “use your patience Dave... stick to the gameplan.” Eventually he comes forward and sets up with a combo. I counter with a straight right which lands... then again, the same... this time I throw a bit more commitment into the right and it visibly wobbles him. Then out of the blue he shoots on me!? Wasn’t expecting that! I cross face and put him on his back. We roll around a little and I drop some elbows from side then he escapes and we’re back up on our feet. No problem I think, we’ll stick to the plan... it’s working so far. Then... bonk! An overhand right wobbles me, it doesn’t land flush but his forearm or wrist also connects I think and my nose breaks (I knew it would, it was only a matter of time). I drop and sort of shoot and get a leg. Sloppy but it works and he goes down. In half guard I try and get a position I often work on Matt that he finds inescapable... and Joey escapes... and I end up with him in my guard... oops. This wasn’t in the plan. I sort of, nearly, almost get a triangley type thing and Joey lands a hammerfist which I think is what cuts my eye. No thankyou, don’t like those, time to get out. But then Grant Waterman moves us to the middle of the ring and restarts the fight. What happens next is a bit of a blur but somehow in a scramble I end up in full mount... perhaps I should really say I worked my position like a BJJ blackbelt, but I’d be lying and may get caught out on that. In mount I unload some elbows and fast shots, Joey squirms and I nearly take his back... then he rights himself and I remount him and carry on bashing away till I see him tap on my leg, I keep pounding and wonder why Grant hasn’t stopped the fight, Joey keeps tapping so I actually stop turn and look at Grant and say “he’s tapping”... Grant steps in and stops the fight. (I should point out that as in a fight your senses are so hyper sensitive what seemed like 20 taps by Joey was probably far, far less and time moves differently as well and it seemed like an age before Grant stepped in, but was probably milliseconds – so this is no criticism of Grant’s refereeing at all, I should also say he was a gent and I particularly enjoyed his story about the punks smashing up the London Underground).
So here I am 4-2-0 pro and a happy man. I had some beers and a chat with Joey and enjoyed the rest of the fights, though Tim Doyle’s KO was pretty frightening. Glad to hear he’s ok. I hope I can recapture that pre-fight feeling, that mix of nerves, excitement, anxiety, expectation and in time honoured fashion the ‘why am I here?’ doubts. It makes for the right frame of mind for me.
Despite asking that question before every fight – ‘why am I here?’ I know why I’m there.
It’s so I can sit here now and feel like this.
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