Junior's name was called before any matches started at the Golden Gloves this past Friday to come to the glove table. Those of us from the gym in attendance at that moment--Sarah, Saddiq, Keith--sat up in anticipation. The annoucement could only mean that Junior was going to be one of the first to fight that evening. His match was number three in the line up. Steve and Barry rushed to get him ready. Mary, Mike, and Ellen (along with Eli) arrived not long afterwards. The place was packed and practically sold out.
I could see Junior's opponent over in a far corner of the gym, warming up with his trainer. "Junior can take him," I thought to myself. Sure the guy was a little bigger in the muscles department, but he had looked very sloppy during his semi-final bout.
Novice fighters only go three rounds during the finals, as opposed to open fighters who have four rounds to get the job done. I was surprised when the fight ended, thinking there was one more round to go. Junior's fight had been featured in the program for that night. It was explained that novice fights are not usually given that attention, but powers that be saw something in Junior's skills that they liked. They felt that he would win, but they also listed his weaknesses. Apparently, his opponent had read that in the program, because his style was a little different than what he showed in the ring the previous week. Junior watched him carefully, and set him up for punches.
The announcer rambled on about the T-shirts on sale, the beer available to drink, and the special guest who would award the trophy to the winner. I was on pins and needles. I used to bite my nails when I was a kid, and was seriously thinking about taking up the habit again at that moment. Steve and Barry stood in Junior's corner, looking like they had patience in waiting for the judges' decision.
When Junior's name was announced as the 2006 Chicago Golden Gloves 165 novice divison champion, I jumped up from the bleachers and yelled my approval. We were all proud of his accomplishment; he worked hard for it. Junior only smiled for one of the pictures that was taken afterwards, though. I would have been hopping up and down if it was me, but Junior was quiet and subdued. "You're the city champ, man! Smile!" we told him. "I don't know, I just don't like smiling for pictures," he said. Junior did hang out in the audience, however, basking in the kudos that people gave him.
Saw the Judah-Mayweather fight at Steve's house on Saturday night. Very good match, but an ugly incident happened near the end of the bout. Judah gave Mayweather a low blow and a pop on the back of his head. Both punches looked deliberate. Mayweather stumbled to his corner, bent over in pain. His trainer jumped into the ring, mad as hell. He threatened Judah, and the referee, Richard Steele, attempted to head him off. Then Judah' s dad, who is also his trainer, jumped into the ring and yelled at Mayweather's trainer for approaching his son. A punch was thrown, and about fifty people, including cops and security guards, flooded the ring. I'm surprised the fight was not stopped, not only because of the mini-riot, but also because of the wicked low blow. But continue it did, and Mayweather ended up winning.
It was a good time, as both babies--Steve's son, Eli, and Barry's daughter, Lily, were in attendance at the viewing party. Now that I've had another good look at Eli, he has his mother's eyes, but his dad's face. Lily is a little charmer who smiled a lot. Also, Allan, a guy who judges matches was there. He told us that he had met Sugar Ray Robinson, when the boxer was at the end of his career. His brother, like Allan, was also involved in boxing and knew a lot of the big names, including Ali. Fascinating stuff. Another guy there, Marty, told me he had been involved with boxing for 22 years, starting off as a fighter. Makes me wish I had started earlier.
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