Final Night At The Gloves

Steve caught up with Keith late in the afternoon on Friday to apologize for having the dates wrong for Keith's championship match. Dave of Evanston Boxing Club had broken the bad news to Keith earlier that morning. "I dropped everything and ran out to find Steve," Keith told me at the Gloves last night. He found JJ and got Steve's phone number. JJ called Steve right after Keith left and told him, "He knows." Keith was still salty about the whole thing on Saturday night, and I can't blame him. If I was in that situation, I wouldn't be happy, either. Unfortunately, things happen. What are you gonna do?

Raphael, who none of us had seen in about a couple of years, showed up out of the blue last night. He left his camrecorder with me because he wanted to see Mort's fight, but couldn't stay. Mort and Tony's fights didn't take place until late in the evening. We all thought he had gone to Las Vegas, but Raphael had stayed in the city to finish a massage therapy course. He'll come by the gym later this week to pick up the camrecorder.

Bovino, who trains at the same mixed martial gym that Tony does, won the trophy in the super heavyweight division. Tony also won a trophy against a guy who trains at a rival mixed martial arts facility. The coach of that gym tried to pour cold water on Tony's win by telling him he didn't think Tony really won the fight.

Mort was popped in the jaw hard by his opponent during his match. On Thursday, Simon had also hit Mort in the same place, and he had complained about the pain. Mort responded to the hits by coming back strong on the other fighter. Mort looked very good during the match, while his opponent looked unsure, as Simon did on Thursday. I was taping the match, when in the last moments, the battery gave out. I knew I should have brought the company camrecorder with me, but I couldn't shake the feeling that something might happen to it, so I left it at work Friday night.

I reverted to my old 35mm camera to catch the decision of the fight -- Mort's hand was raised in victory. He was so happy, running around the ring with his trophy for the 178 pound championship. Then he ran upstairs and gave me a hug. I took a picture of him with his trophy and a copy of the Golden Gloves program.