Zulpikar Mehmet Eli: Boxing appears to be a process of beating the opponent, but the first person the boxer has to beat is himself.
My dad was formerly a soccer player. In 1988, he learned how to box, but had no opportunity to compete except in the Xinjiang region. Later he became a boxing coach, but his dream of becoming a champion never came true. After getting married, he told my mom: “If I had a son, I would let him learn boxing and fulfill my dream of becoming a champion.” Shortly after, I was born.
I watched him train and coach boxers when I was still a kid. He would go to the principal’s office to ask for leave on my behalf and take me to every match. The first match I watched was held in Kashgar. It wasn’t a big deal, but attracted a large and animated audience. I felt like getting into the game myself and then and there made up my mind to become a boxer after growing up.
When I was three years old, Dad started training me and had me run with the adult trainees. I did whatever they were doing, including one-on-one boxing. More often than not, my opponent would fall immediately after I struck my first blow, which made me feel good and confident. Dad was very strict with me. We would walk home after each training session. When I did badly, he would put on an angry look and not say a word. Once home, he would apprehend me and urge me to improve. He would be very happy whenever he saw me making progress.
Every Sunday morning, CCTV Sports Channel would broadcast a professional game that Dad and I would always watch. The most famous boxer then was Mike Tyson, whom Dad and I both admired. I went so far as to copy his hairstyle.
When I was in sixth grade, Dad decided to send me to Xinjiang Sports School, but Mom objected because I was doing very well in school and had the potential to make it to college. Dad wanted me to be a boxing champion and he and Mom even had a quarrel over that. I sided with Dad and made a fuss against Mom until I had my way with the sports school. My first training class was quite something. By the end of the day, I was so worn-out that I had no strength to rise from the floor. It was totally unexpected. A week later, I was sore all over, and had to grab the handrails as I climbed up and downstairs. It was then that I realized how hard a profession I had chosen.
I started going to sports school when I was ten and a half years old. I was the youngest student there. I was homesick until I finally got used to it. My team leader took a liking for me because of my professional moves.
Training at the sports school was much tougher than what I had been through before. When I started sparring with people in gloves, I got punched all the time and my nose kept bleeding. I had cried and wanted to go back to a regular school because it would be so much easier. When I called home and told my parents my intention to quit, however, they said a lot of encouraging words that eventually changed my mind. It wasn’t until 2007, after two years at the sports school, that I had my first match, which was a 38 kg class match in Kashgar. I won two championship titles. In 2008, when I was 14, I became the youngest member of the Xinjiang Team and spent two years there. The daily training got even tougher and made me very homesick. Because I was the only child in the family and my family was well-off, I could do whatever I wanted to do after going back. I told my parents I wanted to go back and do something else, but Mom said I should stick to what I was doing and not give up. So, I stayed on.
My first international championship took place in 2010 in Kazakhstan. I was very excited because that was also my first trip abroad. After getting there, I discovered that the content of their athletes’ training was quite different. They were very relaxed and confident. As I observed them, I kept wondering why we were not as confident as they were. Next, I participated in 69 kg boxing championships, competing with opponents from Kazakhstan and Cuba.
It was the first time I met with black boxers, who gave me the impression of being very strong and tall and having long arms, but were actually not much different from us once we started competing. I won the first and second games, but lost the third. My coach was very pleased because I won third place in an international championship at a very young age. After that, I realized that our strength was actually no inferior to that of our opponents. The reason we lacked confidence was that we were short of competing experience. Once we had that, we will have the confidence to win international championships. A year later, I had the opportunity to go to Kazakhstan again for an International Tournament, during which I won three of four matches. The fourth and final match was with a Cuban boxer. My coach told me I first had to beat myself before I could beat my opponent. So, I relieved myself of all mental burdens and fought with confidence. Eventually, I won the 69 kg championship and the Best Athlete title of that game. I was overjoyed. Since then, my skills mushroomed.
My exchanges with foreign boxers were not restricted to competitions. I also observed how they were trained and I conversed with them a lot. They were very self-confident and very serious about training. They would have classroom training in the morning, work out in the boxing hall in the afternoon, and practice boxing at night. Outside training sessions, they were pretty much on their own-they could go to school, read books, go dating, or do whatever they want. I told them we were in the middle of a repetitive cycle of training and competing.
What are you going to do when done with boxing? They would ask.
And that got me thinking, because training was my whole life and I had never thought about going to school or acquiring additional professional skills. I had no idea what I would do after retiring from athletics. Through communication with foreign boxers, I found a new way of thinking and learned how to separate career from daily life. I would focus on training while training, summarize when done with training and spend the rest of my time studying, reading, going to the movies, and learn English, Kazakh, and Russian. But I was then too young to start dating. I went to the sports school in September 2005, was elected to the Xinjiang Team in 2008, and won second place in the 2014 National Boxing Tournament, after which I got promoted to the National Team and won second place in a national boxing championship.
I could have participated in a WSB competition, but ended up missing it. So, I quit the national team after talking with my dad and decided to go professional on my own so as to achieve my childhood dream. And so, I signed a contract with a Shanghai based company. My current coach is an American who has trained famous athletes like Roy Jones Jr. I made fast progress under him and maintained good relations with him.
Professional matches are appealing to boxers because they enjoy a lot of publicity and audience attention and are more exciting and competitive. Since I went professional in 2015, I have so far won seven competitions. I hope to realize my childhood dream of winning the gold belt one day.
It has been more than 10 years since I started learning boxing. During the process, my parents have given me great help and support. My dad is a great father who has not only taught me boxing, but has also cooked delicious food for me. He does have a bad temper, but not bad enough to cause me to fear him. I have more respect for than fear of him. My mom watched only two of my matches. The first one was during the 12th Sports Meet of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. I went to see her after I had won. “Your 10 minutes in the boxing ring seemed as long as 10 years to me,” she said as she wept. After that, she never watched any more of my matches again.
On July 18, 2014, I went with her to Macau for a match and some sightseeing. After the match, Mom kissed me with tears in her eyes. On seeing my angst, she put on a smiling face and told me it was a quick win. Many people tend to give up midway, but my parents always told me that I had to suffer to get professional. Boxing is a very tough profession that involves a lot of sacrifice. During Eid al-Adha one year, my parents and I came to Urumqi and stayed in a hotel. On the day of the feast, we wanted to dine at a nicer restaurant, but many restaurants were closed and we had to dine in a very low-end one. I felt terrible, because as one of the biggest holidays celebrated in Xinjiang, Eid al-Adha is a happy time of family reunion.
When friends ask how many days off I have for Eid al-Adha and how I am going to spend them, I can only say I have no time off at all and all I have is training. If they ask why, I would reply that my only holiday is the day I win a championship.
Previously, due to lack of competing experience, all I wanted was to seek competing opportunities and win championship titles. Today, however, I have learned to pace myself and go step by step and I also learned to believe in myself.
Boxing appears to be a process of beating the opponent, but the first person the boxer has to beat is himself. It is only normal that all competitors would get very nervous and excited during each match. Many well-trained boxers lose because they fail to control their emotions or beat themselves during the game. So, instead of focusing on the end result, I try my best to apply what I have learned in each match. After each match, I would write down a summary of my strengths and weaknesses and those of my opponents and find ways to improve. I think boxing involves a spirit of craftsmanship too.
Boxing is a man’s game that can cause a lot of injuries. Very often, I want to give up, but on second thoughts, I realize it takes courage to excel at any profession. I love this profession, and once you love it, it will give back to you. That’s what I’ve been thinking.
(selected from Xinjiang: Beyond Race, Religion, and Place of Origin by Kurbanjan Samat, translated by Wang Chiying, published by New World Press in 2017)
