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.

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.”

To be continued.....

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