Another Chance at the Championship Belt!

I have posted a couple of times now about the SL Boxing that has become a favourite past-time of Connie Negulesco, my lovely adoptive parent, but this time as I post Connie is in the boxing ring once again, sparring with a friend at the House of Champions, a place where she now has the tag of "Champ". 

Back in February I posted that Connie had earnt the right to take on the reigning Champ, Mr roofetty Ireman, for a chance to take his title, unfortunately Connie was beaten and roofetty remained on top. Then, just over a week ago I was informed that there would be another chance for Connie to attempt to take his title... This time would be different, I could feel it in my bones... 

My feeling for once proved to be right... For when I awoke on March 4th, Connie came to chat with me in IM and slipped into the conversation that she had won the title, her announcement slipped into conversation as easily as if she had been talking about the weather... 

After talking to Connie, it was decided to turn it into an interview that I could share here, so that other people could hear from the champion herself about what things went through her mind and just how it felt to be named Lightweight Champion at the House of Champions...(I had to get this interview cut as Connie came up with some inspirational but LONG answers, if you want to see the full interview please ask me in world for the Notecard)

R = Back in February I posted a page on my blog about a Championship fight between you and roofetty Ireman. I later heard that you lost the fight, how did you feel watching him be presented with the title belt? 

C = Well, in truth he was not presented with the belt. Since he was already the reigning champion, he had the belt in his possession ro begin with. It was mine to win from him. And that just wasn't meant to be. Losing that fight was particularly hard for me, though, because I had spent so much time training for it. It was a demoralizing moment as I saw my dream of a title vanish before my eyes. So, it was a very tough moment for me. 

R = Later you were offered a rematch for the championship, what thoughts went through your mind? How did you feel about taking him on again? 

C = Actually, I had to earn the right to have the rematch. There is another lady boxer at the gym named BrendaRua Heliosense and she is also very good. So, it came down to a showdown between she and I to determine who would win the right to face roofetty a second time. And I won in a very heated battle.  I didn't think I would pull it off, but I did. So, I was excited by the prospect of getting a second chance at the title and looked forward to it.
R = During training for the rematch, what did you do differently? How did you psyche yourself up to get into the zone again? 

C = The irony in getting ready for the rematch is that we only had one week between my beating Brenda and having the title fight. So, there was not a lot of time to train or prepare. However, having gotten back into the position I was in and how I had accomplished it, I felt about as ready as I was going to be.  The other irony is that, I felt very likely that roofetty was probably going to win again anyway. So, I decided that I had nothing to worry about and took a lot of internal pressure off of myself.
R = As the fight was in progress, did you keep track of your score or were you surprised when you realised that you had actually come out ahead of your opponent? 

C = Normally, I'm too busy worrying about the fight to try and sneak peeks at the scoreboard while actually boxing. I only look at it in between rounds when there is a countdown before the next round. The fun part here is, whatever happened to me when I got knocked out of the ring also managed to bork my viewer. When I took my corner and waited for round three to begin, I couldn't propely see the scoreboard anymore. All I could see was that the red corner had 2-- points and the blue corner (mine) had 2-- points. So, we both had two hundred something points. However, I didn't know who had what so I went into the third round NOT knowing what the actual score was. Even so, up until the KO, I felt I was winning. So, until the final bell rang, I still didn't know what the final outcome was or who had actually won. Then I looked at my chat window and saw the final score printed there: Connie Negulesco wins by 43 points!

R = How did it feel being presented with the Championship belt?  

C = There isn't an actual presentation of the belt as it is just transferred to you like any object in Second Life. So, there really isn't a ceremony. However, I did get to stay in the ring longer and bask in the wonder, glory, excitement and drama of that moment and hearing all the applause and cheering from the crowd. It was a wonderful, glorious moment and one that I don't think I will ever forget. It was a tremendously long and often frustrating journey, but I finally realized my dream of winning a boxing championship in Second Life. That was and is a great feeling.
R = One final question, as a representative of the HOC, what would you most like to say to someone who was interested in Boxing in SL?  

C = That's an interesting question. First of all, I would think a person must like boxing in general. Otherwise the concept of boxing in SL becomes somewhat pointless. However, if you enjoy being competitive. If you enjoy something that is fast moving and does require a learned skill that seems impossibly difficult at first. If you enjoy meeting interesting and colorful people. If you don't mind being smacked around a lot (despite it IS only SL and the only thing that can actually get hurt is your pride) then I think you might really like boxing in Second Life. I know it has been very rewarding to me personally and I have made some truly wonderful friends. And at the end of the day, you can't ask for much more than that.

Connie Shows off her moves in the Main ring at the House of Champions!

Connie is an inspiration, I don't think that I am the kinda girl that would ever be found in a Boxing ring, but her drive to succeed is definately an inspiration as she proved that through her sheer determination she could beat the odds and rise to the top... I am incredibly proud of her and hope that some day I could take a leaf out of her book and follow in her inspirational footsteps to reach my own goals!