Saturday, October 20, 2007

Amateur Record

The smoke machine started to pour out its chemical clouds. My barefeet moved across the stage floor. Coke moved in front of me. He pulled the ropes down and I swung over them. The music wasn't on so I waited for a moment. Fuller came out and entered the ring. The Ram Muay music began on so I started to seal the ring. After knocking each corner three times and circling the center of the ring , I kneeled down. My body moved to the erratic music. Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding, pause, Ding, Ding, ding. My mind was focused on elegance.

"Remember Matt, beautiful, beautiful," Coke had said in the days preceeding the fight.

The dance came to an end and the referee brought us together.

"I want a clean fight, blah blah blah."

The bell rang and we moved into the center of the large ring. Fuller extended his gloved hand and I knocked it. We waited a moment and the fight began. Fuller was evasive the entire fight. He rarely initiated the action and ran almost literally around the ring. He would occassionally throw punches which I blocked. The bell rang and we moved to our corners.

"You need to step out with your kicks. Step out Matt," Coke said.

"He keeps running. Fuck him. Punk him Matt. Next time he starts running taunt him," Mike said. "You won this round. Keep it up."

The second round was similiar to the first. Fuller jogged around the ring avoiding confrontation and so I taunted him. It was a bizarre experience and it seemed a little unsportsmanlike at the time, but in retrospect I should have taunted him more. At the end of the second round I straight kneed him which made me happy.

The final round had him cut kick me twice. He threw a few super man punches which I blocked and the fight ended. I was pretty sure that I had won. I held up my hands and went to my corner. Coke and Mike helped me take off my gloves. The referee brought us to the center and the verdict came in. Fuller won by split decision. The crowd started to boo.

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