Bumps and Knockouts

Mort was all suited up, ready to go, when he was summoned to the weigh-in area during the Golden Gloves this past Saturday night. I could see from where I was sitting in the balcony bleachers that he didn't get good news. He was talking to Steve with an irritated look on his face. It appeared that the tournament organizers and Russell, a boxer from the Harvey gym both didn't have their schedules in order. The Harvey boxer should have had a match during the preliminaries, but he didn't, so Mort was bumped in favor of accommodating him. "I hope his ass gets knocked out," Mort spat. A few fights later, Mort got his wish. Simon, a boxer from Team Z, knocked Russell out hard. Laid the boy out flat. Russell had to be picked up off the canvas.

The best fight of Saturday night was between Adrian, of Team Chicago and Rolando, of Defining. It was non-stop punching action for three rounds. That match received a standing ovation with Adrian taking the win.

There are so many boxing clubs involved in the Gloves this year that I have never heard of before. Also, Windy City Boxing seems to be less of a presence this year, I guess because they don't have a regular training space (they lost their 90+ year old gym a few months ago). JABB Gym is still sort of the new kid on the block, so they don't have as many participants, either. Evanston Boxing Club has a lot of fighters this year, and surprisingly, they appear to be better than they have in the past.

On the way home from the Gloves, Steve got a call from Mort on his cell. Mort forgot to get the DVD of his last match out of Steve's car. Steve pulled over near Foster Avenue, where the both of us waited for Mort, J.J., and Keith to come by in Keith's car. About 15 minutes went by, and it was after 11:00 PM. "Where are those guys? I want to go home and eat. I'm tired!" Steve said. Finally, the guys pull up, and Mort's in the passenger seat. He rolls down his window and says in a Brtish accent, "Do you have any Grey Poupon? In case you don't know, I'm referring to mustard!" Steve was going to get on them for showing up late, but the both of us had to laugh.