The Barnes Journal: Last and Final Fight

It's been nearly 10 years since he's started this journey. He has had a few matches in the ring and has had both his fair share of wins and losses. He's made more of an impact behind the scenes though with constant phone calls on behalf of his fighters speaking with promoters, managers and commissioners. Believe me, if he's not picking up his phone it's because he's sleeping or I've made him put the phone down long enough for us to have a family dinner. So in December, when Brad brought the idea up of possibly fighting in his "one last fight" in April, I wasn't too excited about it. In his last fight, the opponent got a few cheap shots in to the groin and even before that Brad just didn't seem like the energized fighter that he used to be, ultimately causing a loss to his record. He said "I won't do it if you don't want me too". I promised I would think about it. The next day I told him the conditions in which I would be supportive of him taking this fight.

1) No slacking when training.
2) When he gets in that ring, his opponent is not to be taken lightly. He is there under the same understanding that Brad is in there. They are both aware that there may be injury including but not limited to a bloody nose, gash on the face or black eye(s).
3) He will pursue this 100%. As he needed to be aware that this is his LAST FIGHT.

So here we are. It's been 4 months since Brad had accepted the fight. He has lost 20+ pounds since January and seems more confident about himself than I have ever seen him! Thanks to his sponsors (J & T Electrical Contractors & Envi Photography), he's had the opportunity to make a couple of trips to Dallas to make sure that he is getting the proper training and staying on top of his nutrition. Thanks to the guys at Rhino BJJ, he's had tremendous support from his home base as well.

I'm extremely proud of his accomplishments of the last few months and the transformation into the man I know he wants to become physically.

Now go give him hell!