13 Unexpected Help

"Really?"

'Slippy. He said he can help me! What do I do?'

"Well let him. He seems confident enough. What's the worst that can happen?"

"Yeah. You say you want hand wraps for your first boxing class, but what's your intention in getting into boxing?"

"Umm."

'My intention? Oh yeah to get stronger and protect me and Miley!'

"To learn to fight for myself and others!"

The blonde kid looked at Ray with more interest in his eyes now.

"If you are going to do that. You are going to spar and train a lot. Meaning you should not only get a pair of hand wraps, but also 16-ounce gloves, mouth guard, and maybe an extra pair of hand wraps."

"16-ounce gloves? Why?"

Ray spoke a bit rapidly.

The blonde boy grinned.

"16-ounce gloves are the standard size for sparring."

"Oh."

Ray said rather loudly.

Still squatting down, the white-trimmed hair boy stared at them, listening in onto their conversation.

"And hey what's your budget?"

"I don't want to spend too much."

"Ok well, the average price for a good glove would be from eighty dollars to three hundred for non-custom gloves."

"Huh?"

'Custom gloves?'

"Yep, so it really depends on what you want to achieve. Your glove is the thing that will hammer out your ambition."

Ray:….

'How do I respond to this?'

"If you are only planning to learn a bit of boxing then quit then I recommend the Titleholder classic leather Elastic training glove. It won't hold up for too long, but it's cheap and only $50."

The blonde kid pointed out a red glove placed in an open shelf.

"So…"

'Wait I don't know his name!'

"What's your name?"

Ray looked down embarrassed.

'I should have asked his name earlier.'

With a slightly surprised look on his face, the blonde boy replied with.

"Oh, my name is Simon, what's your name?"

"My name… Is Ray."

"So Ray. You should tell me how long do you intend to use your gloves. Otherwise, I can't recommend anything good."

'Phew, he wasn't too quiet or loud this time.'

"Um, I think I will probably spend a little more than $50, but below $70"

"Hm, that is a tough range. Let me think."

Simon pulled out his phone and started typing in it.

"Lol, what the heck?"

The bar of soap spoke through the earbud.

"Hmm. So I could only find good sparring gloves in this range that are borderline $70."

'I think that will be alright?'

Ray thought with a frown.

"I can spend a little more."

"Ok, but essentially I found two gloves I can recommend. The first glove would be Ringer IMF sparring gloves which cost about $75. It's alright, but only the lace-up is priced like that. And if you don't know what a lace-up is, it's a glove that doesn't have a strap, but has lace-like my running shoe."

Simon pointed at his black Null running shoes.

"The problem is that it's very annoying to put on for a beginner."

'Yeah, I don't think I want a lace-up.'

"What about the second glove?"

"Well, the second one. Well, it's a high-quality strap on glove that only cost $70, but…"

"What?"

"It's not a pure boxing glove."

"What do you mean?"

"Take a look at yourself."

Simon pointed toward the glove shelves. At a grey glove.

Ray looked over.

'I don't understand Slippy.'

"It looks fine to me. Although it looks slightly different from the other boxing gloves."

"What's wrong with it?"

Simon laughed.

"Well, I guess you wouldn't know unless I tell you."

Simon pointed at that glove once again.

"That glove is designed with MMA, Muay Thai, and kickboxing in mind. It could still work for boxing, but you will notice that the way the padding is set is not optimal for boxing."

Simon then walked over to the glove shelves and pulled out both the $50 red titleholder glove and the $70 grey glove.

"Look at how this Titleholder glove has a smaller grip area then this Falcon glove?"

"Yeah-"

"Also notice that the Titleholder glove has a longer strap area as compared to the Falcon glove which has a larger back padding area and smaller strap?"

"Oh yeah. I see it now."

"Yeah, so the Falcon glove is designed for situations where you have to block and catch kicks hence the larger padding area and smaller strap. While the Titleholder glove is designed to punch with minimal area resistance. There are other details such as the grip bar, but you should get the idea by now."

"Hmm, this is new information that I should record in my system backlog for future references. So I could look good."

'Slippy your thinking out loud.'

"Oh shit."

"Honestly. I think you should go for the Falcon gloves."

"Huh, why?"

"Well, first of all, you want to learn to fight right?"

"Oh yeah."

"Well boxing alone is quite strong, but only if the opponent only uses their hands or doesn't know how to fight. To put it simply boxing alone won't work as self-defence around here. Ever since the recent rule change, there have been many incidents of boxers being downed by people that know how to kick or wrestle in the Bellatrix region."

'Rules? Kick and wrestle…'

Ray thought back to Wu and Guy. Guy doesn't seem like a good fighter, but even then he grounded Ray. If he uses pure boxing against Wu wouldn't that mean he will just get kicked around again? And furthermore, Wu seems to know some boxing basics already, but he is only the tactician of the Black Menace gang.

Wu had said that Ray was lucky to meet him and none of the elites of the Black Menace gang. If Wu is the planner and he already knows this much. What about the elites?

"But don't get me wrong. Boxing is still quite strong by itself and most effective martial art these days adapted their hand techniques from boxing."

"So what do I do?"

Simon grinned.

"It's simple. Cross-train in other disciplines and martial arts. Learn to punch, kick, and grapple."

"Bruce Lee once said that the best fighter is not a Boxer, Karate or Judo man. The best fighter is someone who can adapt to any style. He who kicks is too good for a Boxer, throws is too good for a Karate man, and punches are too good for a Judo man."

The Bruce Lee look-alike standing by the counter had turned around and faced them.

"Oh, Jack are you done with the errand?"

Simon said bemused.

"No. Not yet. The owner is still searching for it in the backroom."

"Getting back to you Ray. If you want to learn to fight and not just box you're probably better off buying the Falcon gloves."

"Well ok, but what about hand wraps?"

"Oh just buy some longhand wraps like those over here."

Simon walked off behind the glove shelf.

"I think they should be right around here. Aha found them!"

He pulled out some MISTER MMA hand wraps.

'So that's where the hand wraps we're hiding!'

"Honestly Ray as long you get semi-elastic hand wraps that are about 120 or 180 long it should be fine. Handwraps are simple like that. Stick with the normal ones and you'll be alright."

"Thank you, Simon!"

"Your welcome. Oh and don't forget to choose a mouthguard!"

"Oh do I need it?"

"Yeah. If you value your teeth or chin."

"Well, which one should I get."

Ray looked over at the many mouthguards by the counter.

"Just choose as you like. A mouthguard is all about preferences. I personally like a single boil and bite mouthguard on my upper teeth, but you should choose what works best for you"

"Ring!"

The door opened once again. Revealing who walked in.

"Ray? What are you doing here?"

Wu flashed a devious grin at Ray