It was the first time Grant freshman Blu Midyett had ever been hit so hard, and it hurt. He could tolerate the pain, but with each punch from his opponent Midyett felt more and more powerless to fight back.
There’s a lot to focus on while boxing: the footwork, the punches, the push to keep going. At the same time, when you’re in the ring, everything besides the here-and-now gets blocked out.
After a few more slugs to the chest, Midyett’s confidence dropped even further. He walked out of the ring that day and left his sparring gloves behind.
It took four months for Midyett to get back up, but he did, and now it’s teaching him what it means to work hard and fight for redemption.
Midyett’s first name is Christopher but he’s known by his middle name, Blu. He was born and raised in Lawrence, Kansas. His dad left the family when Midyett was 2 years old. But his mom, Kristine Midyett, who goes by Doozie, has been in a steady relationship with a woman named Heather O’Brien since about the same time. “I don’t feel like much is missing,” Midyett says. “I have great parents so I feel pretty alright with all of that.”
Both Midyett and his parents have a lot of close friends they consider family, too, so he had it pretty good growing up. “Blu’s been raised by a village of people,” O’Brien says.
When Midyett was a toddler, his mom brought him along on a trip with a friend to Jamaica for a month, wanting to expose him to the world early on. When he was 4, they drove through Thailand on a moped for almost a month.
When he was in the fourth grade, Midyett and his mom turned traveling into tradition by starting to go on annual backpacking trips. On their first trip, they hiked part of the Pacific Crest Trail near Lake Tahoe for five days. They had no prior backpacking experience, so the trip was no walk in the park. “He probably weighed 25 pounds more than the pack he was carrying,” recalls Doozie Midyett. “I think both of us were close to tears.”
The next time, they went to Mount Jefferson. “Travel is an experience every single time you do it,” says his mom. “So every time that we got to share something like that, it was just an experience for us to create some memories.”
Earlier, he and his mom had moved to Portland with O’Brien. O’Brien’s mom, living in Corvallis at the time, was struggling with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a degenerative disease that affects muscle movement.
For Midyett, the move was an easy transition. He made friends quickly, and music soon became a hobby for him.
Growing up, he was always pushed to try new things. “It didn’t matter to me if it was an instrument or if it was a dance class or if it was voice lessons or sports,” Doozie Midyett says. “I just wanted him to try all kinds of things.”
Music became a bigger part of Midyett’s life when he and a few friends from school, the Metropolitan Learning Center, formed an indie rock band together known as The Castaway Kids. Midyett plays the guitar and bass in the band, but he’s also taught himself to play the piano.
He once took formal piano lessons during sixth grade, but he wasn’t into it. “It was like homework,” he says. “I didn’t like that.”
Although all four band members now go to different schools, they still meet twice a week, writing and composing music. Earlier this year, The Castaway Kids released their first collection, an EP called “Why Should I Wait.” Dozens of friends crammed into a band member’s living room as they performed new songs.
Midyett’s mom has been to all of his performances, from middle school talent shows to a concert in Anna Banana’s coffee shop. “They were little kids playing music and it was still wonderful to me. I didn’t really hear any of the mistakes,” she says. “But it was clear after watching (them perform) over these years … that what they just did for their CD was amazing.”
But after three years of making music, in September 2012, Midyett wanted to find something new. And with a quick Google search, he found what he was looking for: Knott Street Boxing.
“He runs hard, he tries hard, and that’s what it takes.” -Stan Dunn
Midyett joined the club at the beginning of eighth grade, knowing that the gym gained a reputation as one of the most successful amateur boxing clubs in the nation by sending five boxers to the Olympics in the 1960s. “I haven’t boxed in a hundred years, but I keep up with the sport,” says Stan Dunn, Midyett’s coach. “I’ve been coaching for over the last 11 years.”
It wasn’t easy. A lot goes on in each two-hour practice, four days a week. Midyett would often arrive early, and from there, work up a sweat running, stretching, “going on the bag” and sparring with other boxers.
Dunn says working with him has been refreshing. “Everybody doesn’t listen, but he listens,” Dunn says. “He runs hard, he tries hard, and that’s what it takes.”
Midyett’s mom was supportive, although a little hesitant at first. “She’s never seen me spar that much because she has a hard time watching me get hit,” says Midyett.
His family back in Kansas was also supportive, especially family friend Rico Dejoie, who was very excited about Midyett’s new hobby. Dejoie, considered an uncle by Midyett but not related, was a security guard in New York and kickboxed in the early 1980s. He eventually quit when he had kids, but the sport taught him to “stick with it and work hard,” he says. “Nothing is going to come easy.”
But at one of Midyett’s first sparring events, his opponent, although inexperienced, was aggressive and attacked him pretty badly. He egged Midyett on by throwing loose punches that kept coming. Midyett lost the fight.
From then on, excuse after excuse ran through Midyett’s head. You don’t want to be a boxer anyway, so what’s the point? It’s too much work. You’re not even enjoying it that much.
Once, Midyett walked up to the front door of the gym and stood outside, unable to bring himself to enter. But there was still a voice, although hushed, that told him to keep going.
After four months of indecision, a family visit to Kansas helped Midyett make up his mind.
Dejoie, who has always been close to Midyett, pushed him to return to Knott Street Boxing. “During the summer, he was thinking about not pursuing boxing,” Dejoie says. “We had a long discussion about his forms, what he learned, and I asked him – whenever he was ready – to go back.” And he did.
“He gave me a pretty rough talk,” Midyett remembers, “and he really convinced me.”
By July 2013, he was back in the ring.
“I was really proud of him that he went back and continued and had his first fight,” says Dejoie. “I just wanted him to understand that if he was getting frustrated by doing something, he should continue it.”
For Dejoie, the attitude is something to live by. “If you don’t intend on finishing it, don’t start it,” he says.
Now, even with a stronger opponent, getting beat doesn’t hurt so much for Midyett. “Even though it’s hurting my body, it’s not hurting my confidence,” he says. “You get beat up pretty bad. You feel good that you stood in there.”
Midyett’s mom says she’s glad her son went back. “It was a challenge for him that I knew he needed to overcome,” she says. “Boxing is not about low blows and just winning. It’s about conditioning. It’s about dedication. It’s about patience. It’s about practice. And those are virtues and pieces in life that are really important for a young person.”
A lot of times when people first get into the ring, they get so nervous that they forget everything they’ve been taught. “You kind of go into a panic and start throwing punches,” says Midyett.
That’s why his coach makes him count during exasperating practices. “If you can’t remember to count when you’re super tired, then you’re not going to remember what you’ve learned when you’re boxing,” Midyett explains. “You don’t want to think about what you’re doing when you’re in the ring, you just want it to come.”
Midyett recently fought in his first official bout. “He could have won the fight. It was close, but he didn’t win. But he felt like a giant,” says Dunn. “For his first fight, that was real good.”
“Even though it’s hurting my body, it’s not hurting my confidence,” -Blu Midyett
“I did not watch the whole fight,” recalls Midyett’s mom. “I stood in the hallway.”
But she couldn’t be prouder of Midyett, and they still plan on traveling together in the future. “We’ll definitely do a backpacking trip this summer together,” she says. “I mean I’ll probably do those with Blu until he decides that he doesn’t want to do them with me anymore.”
As for the band, The Castaway Kids have a gig at the Battle of the Bands at the Hawthorne Theatre this month.
And even though Midyett doesn’t want to become a professional boxer, it has taught him to keep going. “My goal is to keep on trying,” he says. “Not like I never want to stop. I might stop to do something else, but not to stop going for the wrong reasons.” ♦
