Post-fight comments

The fight is over and I now have the time to summarize my experiences. The entire week leading up to the fight, which I spent at the camp, was really quite tough. The daily training at the boxing gym left its mark, especially since I was already quite weary from my own training before I got to Berlin. 

But on the night of the fight itself, I have to say that I was feeling pretty good. The nervousness had largely subsided and I thought I would be able to offer some decent resistance in the ring, even though I knew that my opponent would be a tough nut to crack. 

Of course reality proved very different, and very quickly I realized that I was facing a boxer of a strength which I had never encountered before. The weight difference between us surely also made a significant contribution, because in effect, it felt as if the punches thrown at me were putting me out of balance even when they were landing on my guard... 

And even though the fight lasted for less than a round, that was enough to give me a decent headache for the day after, coupled with a week of irritating ribcage pain. 

Anyway, this is history now. I have definitely learnt a few valuable lessons. I have met some people who seem very passionate about making chessboxing more and more popular. And if my contribution to their quest has come from being KO'd in first then, well, so be it. I just hope that if I get a second chance, I will be able to show some more skills in the ring. So yes, I do hope that in a not too distant future I will once again be able to enter the ring and move around some pieces at the same time. 

And finally, I have to take this moment to mention the organizers, who made a really impressive effort and usually seemed more stressed about fight night than the players did. So to Iepe, Christine, Nico and everybody else who contributed to make this a great show, well done! And to all the boxers, Andrew, Wolfram, Jan, David (good luck with your championship fight!), and of course Sebastian, who shared most of my hardships in the week prior to the fight, I hope I will see all you guys fight again.