The wife and ma don’t get it. Yer always alone.
The corner men yellin’ all that stuff and I don’t hear a word of it. No crowd, nothin’ all the time. I hear the other guy chuffin’ and the bell and that’s it.
The fight doctor never says nothin’ but I hear him all right. Watching like an audience that’s allowed to climb in the ring and beat you. The swells sit with their broads in the front row and I shower them with a man’s sweat and baptise ’em. I could beat them all one after another or all at once but they’re not there. The fight doctor is there over your shoulder, like death.
It’s a wonder I ain’t killed ten refs ’cause they’re not there, neither. They can say what they like and stand between me and the beezer I’m pounding and I jes go around ’em like a fireplug. You don’t listen to fireplugs, do ya? I don’t listen to none of them ’cause they’re not sayin’ anything I need to hear. I’ll kill that man if they let me and he can cheat all he wants so it’s all nothin’ to me and I roll with it.
Oh, the new ones come and try every gambetto and the refs give ’em a little talking to. I swear they do it to get a minute away from me with a little man that smells of aftershave instead of a big man that smells of sweat and death. I’m your dentist and they’re all coming out, pal. Hit me low and he talks to you and saves you for a minute. I don’t care.
The ref backs away and we’re alone again. You can’t win. I like it here.
7 Responses
Long-time reader. Thank you for this. Beautiful writing, for all those in a lonely profession with a lot of pain. Mine would be studying medicine for now. I can answer the bell one more time…
Thanks, and thanks for reading and commenting.
M.D. is another title worth winning.
The issue here is manliness. What must be done when you are alone–courage.
My father's generation of the Depression and WWII were "boxers" or a kind. Look again at any old 30s film. The willingness to stand up and "box" was common.
Is this why they survived the depression without succumbing to dictatorship? Is this why they prevailed in WWII.
God help us an our children.
came here some time back on a link from Daphne at Jaded Haven or mebbe Gerard at American Digest.
Keep coming back due to your content. Good Stuff. Thank you!
Love it! Reminds me that I wanted to show my son the movie Cinderella Man again.
Puts me in mind of doing four years of law school at night while working full time during the day and playing in a band on weekends.
I never noticed the seasons change during those four years.
Paddling out when it's way too big. No mercy.
JWM