'Fight Night' fundraiser planned for February

Chris Stewart/Staff Photo Amelia Robinson, Dayton Daily News columnist

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By Amelia Robinson, Staff Writer Updated 6:10 PM Thursday, March 1, 2012

I socked two very nice ladies in the face the other day.

No need to call the police.

They punched me, too, and the blows back and forth were for good reason.

The fists have been flying at Drake’s Downtown Gym as part of sparring in preparation of KnockOut V.I.P. Fight Night.

The fundraiser, being planned by the old-school boxing gym, Aids Resource Center Ohio and Dayton History, is at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, at Memorial Hall, 125 E. First St., Dayton.

About 16 of Miami Valley’s citizens will risk their mugs and such during the exhibition that comes with a prohibition-theme and hopefully a lot of hooting and hollering from a room full of jubilant spectators.

Here’s hoping everyone’s mug and such survives.

While I am not keen on being hit in the chops – I like my chops just where they are thank you – I couldn’t turn down the charities.

Dayton history is important to preserve and I’ve seen the horrors of AIDS.

A close family member is living with AIDS.

I know others who have HIV or AIDS or have died from the latter.

I can go on and on about the seriousness of AIDS and how it is still an issue despite medical advances and public awareness campaigns.

In 2009, 1,032 people in Montgomery County were living with HIV/AIDS, a 30 percent increase from 2005, according to the county health department.

The charities are worthy, but I’d be lying if I said they are the only reasons I agreed to fight.

As I am finding out first hand and have always suspected, boxing is a sport that is as much about strategy as it is might and speed. (Hopefully I’ll develop at least one of those skills before the bell rings.)

This event won’t be my first “fight” mind you.

The others were far from planned or desired. It is a rare dumpy-nerd who escaped Cleveland Public Schools in the early ’90s without having had to throw a few punches or toss a few handfuls of sand in youthful eyes.

That said, I am a little embarrassed by how much I enjoyed hitting those two very kind and smart ladies — one is a very good friend.

And I hate to admit that I can’t wait to hit someone — perhaps another very good friend who from all her smack talk has it coming — at Memorial Hall.

I think the experience will be worth being socked in the face.

General admission tickets to Dayton KnockOut are $15.

Visit daytonknockout.com for more information.

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