Bruising Is a Female

3| Maybe Like Iron Man Just Not Iron?

This past week only consisted of loads of bag work and shadow boxing to avoid any random injuries before the big day. Although, my body was completely relaxed as I only did some shadow boxing for the last two days, my mind was still swirling with endless thoughts. It's my first cross-gender fight. Yes, I fought many times against guys in my team, but never in an actual match in front of hundreds and thousands of people. The thought alone made my heart thump rapidly in my chest cavity.

I know nervousness is normal in those types of situations and I do get nervous in every single match, but today, I'm highly strung, anxious and my stomach has a whole bunch of butterflies flying in it.

My father, Sebastian and I are currently on our way to Madison Square Garden, the world's most famous arena. It's the home of marquee boxing events and has a rich history and tradition with the sport of boxing that easily places New York City near the top of any list on best boxing cities.

Every time I go there, the feeling of pride comes crashing back to me. I'm always honored to be able to go to a place as awesome and astounding as this yet hella nervous.

After bearing half an hour of listening to Sebastian awfully sing his lungs out to 'Sugar wraith' by Post Malone, we finally reached our destination. We circled around the mass of cars for about fifteen minutes until we eventually found an unoccupied spot.

As soon as my eyes landed on the ginormous round building, my mouth gaped open in utter shock. I've been here a couple of times before, yet the feeling of nervousness started haunting me as if it's my first time. The outer building was decorated with led-based solid-state lightning system and huge screens for advertisements making the building stand out even more than it already does. I stood there for a couple of minutes taking it all in while emitting long, deep breathes.

"You're gonna do great Charl." Dad patted my back softly and I smiled tentatively in response.

As I set foot in the Madison Square building, I found huge crowds thronging the whole entire place and the sounds of their chatters altogether was ear-splitting.

All three of us sauntered our way past the huddle of bodies until we entered the fighters room. The match was still in two hours so I spent most of the time eating some nuts to boost my energy and engrossing myself in conversations with dad and Sebastian in an attempt to calm my nerves.

"So have you seen your opponent yet?" Sebastian interrogated, throwing nutshells in the air while dad went outside to make a business phone call.

"Not yet." I heaved a deep sigh, "I don't think I'd see him anytime before we enter the arena."

"You know, ever since you told me about the phone call with Gary, my mind did nothing, but whirl with thoughts. It's really intriguing to know how this Justin guy looks like. He may be like hulk in height and shape just not green or maybe like iron man just not meta-"

"The match is nearly starting and we'll all find out." I said, cutting off his endless rambling as I wrapped the hand wraps and tape around my fists, "and could you please stop talking about him or the match. You're supposed to motivate me at the moment."

"Okay okay." He raised his hands up in surrender, "you got this. Happy now?" He teased with a satirical smile.

I rolled my eyes in response, hardly fighting back a smile. Did I mention that I love this man's sarcasm? No? Okay.

"Okay, but seriously. I know you're gonna do great Charl." He gave me a small, genuine smile, out spreading his hands and engulfing me in a comforting bear hug.

"Charl, get ready. The match is in fifteen minutes." Dad rushed towards me, clapping his palms together for motivation.

"But it's supposed to start at eight!" I creased my eyebrows, giving him a perplexed look.