MidReal Story
Knocked Out by Destiny
Scenario: I step into the boxing ring against a professional female fighter and get knocked out in the first round.
Create my version of this story
I’ve always been driven by challenges.
As a college athlete, my competitive nature led me to become a standout on the football field and the decathlon track team.
After college, I knew that I needed to find another outlet for my fierce passion.
I needed something that would challenge me mentally and physically, and give me the opportunity to prove myself in a new light.
I found my calling in a new job where I persuaded people to make lifestyle changes to become more eco-friendly.
My company was failing before I joined, but after I came on board and implemented my new strategies, our bottom line skyrocketed.
Getting people to change their behavior was a challenge, but I enjoyed the work and found it very fulfilling.
But now, three years later, I have an itch that won’t go away.
A need for a new challenge that’s been gnawing at me in the back of my mind for a while.
I have a great job and I love what I do, but my career is no longer stimulating me the way it used to.
It’s not enough to just be successful professionally anymore.
I need something more, something that excites and motivates me like my job used to.
I need something that will allow me to test my limits and capabilities once again, just like I did when I was playing sports in college.
And now I’ve found it: boxing.
I’ve always enjoyed watching boxing on TV, but I never thought about getting into it myself until I talked with a friend of mine who was an amateur boxer himself.
He told me that he’d been training with a coach at a local gym who was looking for some new students.
The idea of getting into boxing sounded like it was exactly what I needed.
It would give me something new to focus on and help channel all of my pent-up energy, and it would also give me the chance to compete again in a way that I hadn’t done since college.
And I knew that if I wanted to be successful at boxing, I would have to work hard at it.
That’s just the kind of person I am.
I’m someone who takes everything that I do seriously, and I was determined to make boxing no exception.
I decided then and there to take my friend up on his offer and start training with his coach, and he even agreed to introduce me to his trainer to get me started.
Now, as I walked through the doors of the gym, I felt a surge of excitement and energy.
I was going to become a boxer!
It sounded so cool, and while I was aware that there was a difference between training and actually fighting, the idea of becoming a boxer made me feel like I was on top of the world.
I couldn’t wait to get started, and I hoped that my performance in the ring would match my enthusiasm.
I had no doubt that I would be able to put in the effort necessary to succeed.
My name is Jake Thompson, and I like to think of myself as an overachiever.
As soon as I stepped into the gym, the sound of gloves smacking against heavy bags filled the air.
The room was filled with guys who were working hard on their punches, preparing themselves for their next big fight.
The gym itself was definitely showing its age, but the equipment inside was top-notch.
Everyone was so focused on their workout that they barely even looked up when I walked in.
Some were jumping rope, others were shadowboxing in front of the mirror, and there were even a few guys who were being coached by an instructor in another ring at the far end of the gym.
Everywhere I looked, there were serious athletes who were working hard to improve their skills.
and it made me feel even more excited to get started myself.
“Can I help you?”
someone asked from behind me.
I turned around and saw a burly guy standing next to me, staring me down with his arms crossed over his chest.
“I’m Jake Thompson,” I said with a smile, extending my hand to shake his.
I’m here to meet Coach Mike?”
The man continued to stare me down for a few seconds before he finally extended his own hand to shake mine.
“Yeah, I’m Coach Mike,” he said as we shook hands.
I couldn’t help but notice the roughness of his grip and the calluses that covered the skin of his palm.
This was a man who’d put in his fair share of hard work over the years, and I knew that if he was going to be my coach, I was going to have to do the same thing if I wanted to impress him.
“Nice to meet you,” I said with a smile.
“Your friend told me that you might be interested in training me.”
“He did, huh?”
Coach Mike replied with a raised eyebrow.
“Well, I don’t usually take new students, but if you’re really interested in learning how to box and you’re willing to put in the effort that it takes to be successful, then I guess I can take you on as one of my pupils.” He let out a low chuckle and gave me a small smile.
“Thanks so much, Coach,” I said enthusiastically.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to become a great boxer.
You won’t regret taking me on, I promise.”
Coach Mike stared at me, and for a second, I thought that he might have been second-guessing himself about agreeing to help me.
But then he let out a loud laugh and gave me a pat on the back that nearly knocked the wind out of me.
“I like your attitude, kid,” he said with a smile.
“You’re going to do great things in this sport, I can already tell.”
I couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief when Coach Mike told me that he would agree to take me on as one of his students.
I knew that it wasn’t an easy decision for him, but deep down, I knew that it was the right one for both of us.
I had a feeling that if he was willing to give me a chance, I would be able to learn a lot from him and become a much better boxer than I ever would have been able to become on my own.
As I made my way back home later that day, all I could think about was the decision that I’d just made to start training as a boxer.I knew that it wasn’t going to be an easy road ahead, but then again, nothing worth having ever came easily, right?
I’d been thinking about getting into boxing for quite some time, but for some reason, it had always seemed like nothing more than a pipe dream—something that would never actually come true because I was too scared to try it out.
But now that I’d finally taken the plunge and made the decision to start training as a boxer, everything felt different.
For some reason, now that it was actually happening, it felt like something that I was actually capable of doing—and something that I could potentially be really good at as well.
That might have been because at one point in my life, sports were basically everything to me.
In college, I’d been a two-sport athlete; playing baseball in the spring and football in the fall all throughout my four years at school.
I’d always been a gifted athlete, but at that point, I just wasn’t sure if there was anything left in me—or even if there was anything worth finding.
Sure, those days might have been behind me now, but that didn’t mean that I had to give up on my dreams of becoming a great athlete completely.
If anything, now that I had a little bit of free time on my hands, this seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to give it another try and see if maybe this was something that I was meant to do all along.
I knew that it wasn’t going to be easy, but for the first time ever, it almost felt like it was possible—even though there were still plenty of people who were trying to talk me out of it.
The minute that I told my family and friends that I wanted to start training as a boxer, they all started to freak out and tell me that it was a terrible idea.
They were all worried about me getting hurt or permanently damaging myself in some way, but at the end of the day, it didn’t matter what they thought—or even what they said—because this was something that I wanted to do no matter what.
My father had been an athlete when he was younger, and for as long as I could remember, he had been trying to instill in me and my brother James the same love for sports that he had when he was our age.
He’d started each of us in little league baseball when we were young, and from that point on, we were both hooked.
I’d played baseball up until my senior year of college when a severe knee injury had put an end to any hopes that I had of playing professionally after graduation.
My brother James had been an incredible athlete himself, but unfortunately, he’d had his own set of injuries as well, which had made it impossible for him to play sports beyond high school.
I meet the professional female boxer.
As a result, James had gone on to become a doctor instead of pursuing a career as a professional athlete like our father had always hoped.
He’d long since given up on those dreams of playing professionally himself, so I think that’s why he was especially disappointed when I told him that I was planning on getting back into sports again—especially boxing of all things.
My brother was extremely protective of me and honestly believed that I was going to get myself killed if I tried to get into the ring with another person and start throwing punches.
I didn’t blame him for his concerns—after all, I’d be worried about him too if he were trying to do something like this—but at the end of the day, that didn’t mean that I was going to let him stop me from doing it anyway.
“You’re kidding, right?”
my brother asked as soon as I told him my plans.
We were both sitting on my couch in my Manhattan apartment when I finally spilled the beans to him, and as soon as I did, his eyes widened in shock.
“Please tell me you’re joking.”
“I’m not,” I said with a smirk as I leaned back against the couch cushions.
“I’ve already met with my coach and everything.
We’re going to start training next week.”
“Are you out of your fucking mind?”
James asked as he sat up straight and turned to face me.
“What is wrong with you?Are you really going to do this?”
“Why do you care?”
I asked in response.
“This is something that I’ve always wanted to do, so why can’t you just be happy for me?”
“Because it’s fucking dangerous!”
he exclaimed.
I’m serious, Jake.You could really hurt yourself if you try to get into something like this!
You know how fragile your knee is—there’s no way that it would be able to hold up if you were to get hit again or anything like that!”
“I know that,” I said as I ran a hand through my short hair.
“But that’s why I’ve done everything that my doctor has told me to do over the years to keep it in shape.
“You also know that you shouldn’t be doing anything like this if you don’t have to,” he said in response.
“After all of those surgeries that you had to go through over the years to fix that thing up, why would you even want to risk hurting yourself again by doing something like this?”
“Because it’s what I’ve always wanted to do,” I said honestly.
I’ve always been an athlete at heart—you know that—and for as long as I can remember, there’s always been something inside of me that’s been pushing me to get into the ring and start fighting.
I’ve tried to ignore it for years now because I was too scared of what might happen if I did it and failed in some way.
But now that I’m getting older and finally starting to realize that there’s only so much time left for me to do it, it just feels like something that I have to try or else I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.”
“Is that really how you feel?”
James asked in response.
“Yes,” I said honestly.
“Is that really what you want?”
“I mean, yeah,” I replied hesitantly.
James asked as he raised an eyebrow at me.
“There’s nothing else that you’d rather do instead?”
“Not really” I said with a shrug.
“I mean, when I think about it, nothing else really interests me all that much.
I’ve tried to get into different things over the years, but no matter how hard I tried or how much time I spent on them, they always ended up losing their appeal to me after a certain amount of time.
I’d get bored or burnt out on them and then want to move on to something else.I don’t know if there’s some kind of underlying issue that I should be looking into or if that’s just how life works for some people.
But no matter how hard I try not to think about things like that or try new things anyway, nothing ever seems to keep my attention for very long.”
“So then why would you think that doing something like this is going to be any different then?”
James asked as he leaned back against the couch cushions and crossed his arms over his chest.
I mean, it’s really easy for you to say that you want to do something like this and think that it’s going to change your life or mean something big for you.
But at the same time, how do you know that doing something like this really is going to be any different than anything else?
How do you know that you won’t just end up losing interest in it within a few weeks or months after you start it?
What are you going to do if you start it now and then end up quitting it six months from now?”
“I won’t quit,” I said in response.
“Oh, come on, Jake, let’s be honest with each other here,” James said as he shook his head at me.
“How many times have you tried something new and then given it up after a little while because you lost interest in it?
Or is there something different about boxing or fighting or whatever the hell you want to call it?”
“I don’t know,” I replied honestly as I shrugged my shoulders.
“But when I think about getting into the ring, it just feels right.
There’s just something about fighting that excites me in a way that nothing else ever has before.
And even though I’ve never done it myself, there’s a part of me that already knows that this is what I’m meant to be doing in my life.”
“God, you’re crazy,” James said as he shook his head at me.
“You know that, right?
You’re absolutely fucking insane for thinking about something like this.And if you go through with it, then you’re just asking for trouble…
Just asking for something bad to happen to you…
And even though we both know that you’ve dealt with your fair share of injuries over the years…
That doesn’t mean that I want something bad to happen to you now.”
“And that’s really how you feel?”
James asked as he leaned forward and looked me in the eyes.
“Are you really that sure about this?”
“Yes,” I replied as I nodded my head at him.
And even though there were still plenty of things that could potentially go wrong or get in my way once I actually started training and getting serious about boxing, there was something inside of me that was telling me that this was the right thing for me.