THE WAY OF THE FIGHTER

It is 7:00 PM and I know my fight is coming up, I am in the dressing room with only my trainer as he is wrapping my hands for the match. “This is your fight tonight, make him feel that” he says. I nod my head in response. He tells me “Do not let him have an easy night, make him understand what a real fight is.” I hear my entrance music and I walk out to the entrance to the ring with my trainers hands on my shoulders and I both see and hear the large crowd screaming in front of me clapping as I walk towards the ring. I can feel the cold air from the smoke machine as it is blown towards me as I continue the walk. As I walk up the stairs to the ring and step between the ring ropes, I can feel how strong the ropes are. Once in the ring I can smell various scents in the air, women’s perfume, and food that the crowd is eating.

The fight begins and we engage and start throwing punches and leg kicks, once I am hit with a solid jab to the mouth, I can taste my own blood as my teeth are hit with power. I know at this point that my opponent is serious and wants to hurt me. So, we engage each other again showing no fear as punches and kicks are thrown. After what seems like forever the bell rings, but my opponent and I have no stop in us, and we continue hammering shots at each other until the referee must pull us apart. During the 30 second break my trainer tells me to slow down, and to not give him everything at the beginning but to pace myself. The fight continues and we both immediately move forward showing no fear, I glance out to the crowd and see and hear several people cheering or booing as the second round begins. At that point I become more aggressive throwing elbows at my opponent staggering him and as I go in to put him down the bell rings and the referee steps between us. During another 30 second break my trainer says, “It’s time to put him away he is going to be scared to engage after those elbows, DO NOT let him recover!”

The bell rings for the third round to start, we go towards each other hitting gloves as a sign of respect and the fight starts. He throws a hard kick to my thigh, and I stagger but recover quickly. As he engages again, I throw a push kick to his stomach to keep him away as I am regaining balance. I feinted with another push kick and threw a spinning elbow smashing into his face, causing his body to go limp and he falls hard to the canvas. My opponent stands up and staggers as the referee catches him from falling again and waves his arm signifying that the fight is over.

After 2 ½ rounds of hard fighting, we walk to the middle of the ring, and I feel the referee aggressively raise my hand and hear the announcer yell “At one minute and thirty seconds in the third round our winner by TKO Eric The Wolf Watson”. As I climb out of the ring hurt but excited over the win, I walk back up the entrance feeling the crowd grab at me from all angles excited because of the fight I make my way to the dressing room and almost collapse from the adrenaline and excitement of the fight. I say to myself, “I did it, I Won.” It is almost 7:45 pm by this time and I feel a sense of peace and content after battling so hard and being the Fighter standing at the end.