My manager says he got some sparring partners with more or less your style.” I can use Gleason’s Gym for some working out. Don’t you think it’s a good idea if we don’t see each other until the day of the fight? I’m going to stay with my Aunt Lucy in the Bronx. We gotta be like two heavy strangers that want the same thing, and only one can have it. When we get into the ring, it’s gotta be like we never met. “If it’s fair, hermano, I’m for it.” Antonio admired the courage of a tugboat pulling a barge five times its welterweight size. Tony, let’s promise something right here. We both know that in the ring the better man wins. But I wanna win, fair and square.”Īntonio nodded quietly. “I don’t mean to sound like I’m braggin, bro. There ain’t no draws in the eliminations.”įelix tapped Antonio gently on the shoulder. I mean, we both are cheverote fighters, and we both want to win. It ain’t natural not to think about the fight. In fact, since we found out it was going to be me and you, I’ve been awake at night, pulling punches on you, trying not to hurt you.” Yeah, right.” Felix’s eyes squinted at the rising orange sun. I don’t know how to come out with it.”Īntonio helped. The sunrise was now creating day.įelix leaned heavily on the river’s railing and stared across to the shores of Brooklyn. Antonio wiped his face with his short towel. They rested their elbows on the railing separating them from the river. It was not natural to be acting as though nothing unusual was happening when two ace boon buddies were going to be blasting. I think we both got something to say to each other.”Īntonio nodded. Antonio then beat the air with a barrage of body blows and short devastating lefts with an overhand, jawbreaking right.Īfter a mile or so, Felix puffed and said, “Let’s stop for awhile, bro. They fooled around with a few jabs at the air, slapped skin, and then took off, running lightly along the dirty East River’s edge.Īntonio glanced at Felix, who kept his eyes purposely straight ahead, pausing from time to time to do some fancy leg work while throwing one-twos followed by upper cuts to an imaginary jaw. One morning less than a week before their bout, they met as usual for their daily workout. But even when joking with each other, they both sensed a wall rising between them. The two boys continued to run together along the East River Drive. Now, after a series of elimination bouts, they had been informed that they were to meet each other in the division finals that were scheduled for the seventh of August, two weeks away-the winner to represent the Boys Club in the Golden Gloves Championship Tournament. Whenever they had met in the ring for sparring sessions, it had always been hot and heavy. Antonio’s lean form and long reach made him the better boxer, while Felix’s short and muscular frame made him the better slugger. If asked a question about any given fighter, they would immediately zip out from their memory banks divisions, weights, records of fights, knockouts, technical knockouts, and draws or losses.Įach had fought many bouts representing their community and had won two gold-plated medals plus a silver and bronze medallion. Between them, they had a collection of Fight magazines second to none, plus a scrapbook filled with torn tickets to every boxing match they had ever attended and some clippings of their own. While some youngsters were into street negatives, Antonio and Felix slept, ate, rapped, and dreamt positive. Early morning sunrises would find them running along the East River Drive, wrapped in sweatshirts, short towels around their necks, and handkerchiefs Apache style around their foreheads. Every chance they had the boys worked out, sometimes at the Boys Club on 10th Street and Avenue A and sometimes at the pro’s gym on 14th Street. Antonio’s hair was always falling over his eyes, while Felix wore his black hair in a natural Afro style.Įach youngster had a dream of someday becoming lightweight champion of the world. They had known each other since childhood, growing up on the lower east side of Manhattan in the same tenement building on Fifth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.Īntonio was fair, lean, and lanky, while Felix was dark, short, and husky. They were so together in friendship that they felt themselves to be brothers. Antonio Cruz and Felix Vargas were both seventeen years old.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |