There was silence between Jimmy, Max and Izzy as they walked down the long
hallway to the locker rooms. A sort of nervous silence. All that needed to be said had
already been said in the gym and in the drive to the arena. Jimmy thought of his future
and how he got to this point. Only one fight and here he was. He was going to fight in
one of the biggest arenas in the city. What would be next if he won tonight? He wouldn’t
let his mind wander to the fact of the possibility of his losing tonight. Naw, I’ve trained
too hard and too long to let this happen. Max and Izzy were already planning the future,
and they had no doubts as to what the outcome of this fight would be.
The locker rooms at St......Arena were far different from the community locker room at
Barney's. Here the rooms were much smaller, and only 2 boxers were assigned to each
room. Both boxers were in a different weight class and were not opponents for the
evening.
“Okay,” said Max after checking the room out. “Lets get those clothes off and get into
your boxing gear. We’ve got 30 minutes before your match comes up, and I don’t want
you cooling off, So get up there and do some shadow boxing, and Izzy here, will do some
boxing with you using the boxing mitt.” No one knew who their opponent would be for
the night. He would have about the same experience as Jimmy had. Probably not as
much. Jimmy had plenty of practice, fighting on the streets of Harlem, his so called
match with Johnny, and his fight with Mike.
Franky and Joey had worked out a deal with the pushcart vendors and was sitting in the
10th row of the arena, pretty good seats for two sixteen year olds. Cameras were
everywhere, some were reporters from the daily News and other publications. Most
people including Max and the rest were not aware that some were there specifically to
see Jimmy fight. After hearing about his fight with Johnny and then seeing the fight with
Mike they sensed something different about him. They couldn’t put their finger on it, but
their experiences in the sports field especially boxing, told them to keep an eye on him.
Why not? They would like to say, see I told you so. I knew that he would wind up like
this some day. Wrong or right, they were reporters, and they figured that their chances of
being right were about 75 percent.
It was nearly time for Jimmys bout. The second bout had already started. It was
procedures for all fighters to be ready in the wing, an area set aside for boxers awaiting
to enter the ring for their next bout at least 5 minutes before they were scheduled to
fight. “Okay Jimmy, all set,” said Max. “Sure Max”, replied Jimmy, I’m all ready.”
“Then lets go.”
As they opened the door of their locker room, they could hear the shouts, the yells
and the whistling of the fight fans. The sounds got louder and louder as they got closer to
the waiting area.
Waiting in the wing, Jimmy, Max and Izzy, were waiting patiently for the bout to be over.
On the other side of the wing stood Dannys opponent and his handlers. Both boys were
eyeing each other, but not saying a word. Suddenly the bell rang signiifying the end of
bout 2. The 2 boys in the ring stood side by side with the referee between them, holding
each of the boys hand, waiting for the ring announcer to make his announcement.
Whichever hand the referee raised, would be the winner of the fight.” And the winner in
the red corner is.......,” With a short embrace and utterings of congratulations, the boxers,
handlers and trainers left the ring, jubilant on one side, and very very sad on the other.
This was so different, Jimmy thought. I should be nervous, but I’m not. There’s hundreds
and hundreds of people here. I wonder if it’s like this all the time? Gosh, it must really be
crowded when they have professionals boxing here, especially if someone famous is
fighting. On the way to the ring, he looked at the crowd, the yelling, the screaming,
whistling and the cameras popping away, the flashbulbs adding additional lighting to the
arena. He wondered if Joey and Franky were here. He bet that they were.
The ring announcer standing in the center of the ring, microphone in hand was waiting
for the crowd to settle down, and when they did, announced, “Ladies and Gentlemen,
welcome again to the .......Arena. This is the 3rd bout of the evening in the 112 pound
novice class. Three three minute rounds. In the blue corner wearing solid green trunks
and a yellow shirt, having 3 wins and no losses from Newark, New jersey, Phil Sullivan.”
The ring announcer waited for the applause and yelling from the crowd to abate, then
announced, “In the red corner, from the Harlem section of New York City, fighting for
the second time as an amateur, having won his first bout, wearing white trunks with a red
stripe down the center and wearing a light blue shirt, Jimmy........” The uproar from the vast crowd appeared to be more sustained than with Phil Sullivan. Joey and Franky were
cerainly providing their share of the whistling and shouting. “And the referee for the
evening is Antonio........”
In the center of the ring, the referee provided the boxers with final instructions. Jimmy
looked at his opponent and saw only a blank face. There were no distinctive features, no
nose, no eyes, no mouth, just a faceless youth. Better this way he thought. “I want you to
have a clean fight, no holding, no rabbit punches. If one of you goes down, I want the
other boxer to go to a neutral corner and wait there till I tell him to start boxing again. Is
that understood?” Both boxers nodded their understanding. “Now shake hands, go to your
corners. When the bell sounds, come out boxing”. It was a friendly handshake. Far
different than his meeting with Mike.
Waiting for the bell to start round 1, Mike and Izzy gave last minute instructions to
Jimmy. Bong, the bell sounded, chairs were removed from beneath the boxers. Seconds
and trainers vacated the area. The two boxer walking slowly to the center of the ring,
Jimmy with his usual boxers stance, left arm high, right arm just in front and close to his
chin. Phil threw the first punch, a sort of left jab aimed at Jimmys chin. Easily blocked,
Jimmy countered with his right hand, the punch was expected by his opponent who easily
slipped the punch. It was a feeling up around for both boxers. Some of each boxers
punches got through, but they weren’t hard blows. Usually Jimmy would have been more
aggressive and would try to end the fight in the first round, but as Max told him, he was a
real boxer now, and this is the way they did it. Feel him out. See what he has. Try to
understand him, What are his weak points and what are his good points? And this is the
way round one went, with neither boxer gaining any advantage. But Jimmy noticed a few
things about Phil's style. Phil threw a lot of jabs, but he always protected his right side
when he did. Therefore it was difficult for Jimmy to do any successful counterpunching.
But Phil provided a very small area on his belly, just above he trunk line when he was
throwing or countering a punch, and this was noticed by both Max, and Jimmy.
As the bell sounded for round 2, Jimmy wondered if Phil had noticed any weak spot that
Jimmy had. Max and Izzy didn’t mention any, so he assumed that he didn’t have one.
Jimmy landed a beautiful jab to Phil's nose, and blood started to trickle, while Phil
countered with a hard blow to an unprotected part of Jimmys body. It stung like blazes,
but it had no affect on him. It was no longer a feeling up round. this was it, and both
fighters went at it with no holds bared. A one two combination by Phil reached its target
causing Jimmy to retreat to the ropes. He may of fallen if the ropes weren’t there. He now
realized that Phil was not an easy opponent. A blow to Jimmys mouth by a lead right
hand hurt as blood slowly eased out. He knew that another blow there may end the fight.
This couldn’t happen. Both boxers now slowly circling each other waiting for an opportunity, and it came. Phil threw a very hard left hook. It was so hard that he
momentarily lost his balance. If it hit Jimmy, it would probably have been the end of the
fight. But the punch went nowhere as Jimmy easly slipped the punch. That small target in
the center of Phil's stomach was open and vulnerable, and as Phil lost his balance, Jimmy
threw a hard right hand to the target, staggering Phil back. A hard uppercut caused Phil's
head to snap back. He was pummled mercilessly, reigning blow after blow on Phil's face
and body, until the referee stepped in and stopped the fight. Phil's face was a bloody mess
as he was steered to his corner for his handlers attention. The ring doctor stepped up,
examining Phil, and declared that there were no serious injuries.
Jimmy was jubilant, jumping up and down the ring in a show of victory. He had not
experienced such a fight before, glad that it was over, glad that Phil was okay and glad
that he won in such a stupendous manner. “And the winner by a technical knockout in 2
minutes of the second round from Harlem, New York” The referee raising Jimmys arm in
triumph , “is Jimmy....... The crowd went wild. The flashes from the cameras was
blinding, and the clapping, yelling and screaming was deafening. The reporters writing
up their stories for publication in the next days sports columm, were probably saying, see,
see, I told you so.
There was much gaiety in the locker room as Jimmy took his shower, got dressed, and
was ready to leave for the ride home. But reporters, fight fans, and who knows who else
were blocking their way, making it practically impossible for them to get through. The
Arena police were trying desperately to separate the crowd so Jimmy, Max and Izzy
could get through. One reporter his voice above the din of the crowd called out, “hey
Max, what’s next for Jimmy, is he going to continue fighting or what?” “Max replied, “
we have no statement to make at the present time. when we do, we will let ya know,
right now all we want to do is get to our homes, and get some rest, and would appreciate
your understanding.” Another voice from the crowd, “but don’t you realize that your
fighter is getting to be a celebrity, and every body wants to know about him and maybe
have him say a few words?” “We have nothing to say at this time,” replied Max as the
three inched their way out of the arena, helped by the arena police to their car.
On the ride home to Manhattan, they were jubilant. “Jimmy,” Max asked, “how do you
feel? How was it fighting up there with all those hundreds of people rooting for you?” “I
don’t know if they were rooting for me only, I’m sure that Phil had plenty of followers
too,” replied Jimmy, “But I loved it. I felt important. I felt that for the first time in my
life, people knew who I was.? “Then you want to continue? You want to continue
boxing. You want to devote your life to this for this is the way that it will have to be?”
“Yes Max I do.” “So be it.”
St.......Arena was a far cry from Barney's boxing club or any other boxing place that
Jimmy ever saw. The arena was located in a business district some what similar to where
he lived in Harlem. It reminded him of where the pushcart vendors were
located near his old tenement building. The building was huge, big enough to hold large
crowds, for that is what it was designed for. Large crowds, whether it be basketball,
wrestling, professional and amateur boxing and the such. Tonight it would be amateur
boxing, a full card of 8 matches, from the very light to the very heavy. Jimmy was
scheduled to be in the third match.
To be continued.....
