Saturday Book Club - Fear No Foe Chapter 6

The Chapter six of my book Fear No Foe Please feel free to give me feed back on the book interested on what you think of the story line.

CHAPTER 6

Shay got up the next day with a hangover from hell, he and Emma had, had a great night, but he was paying for it today.

Shays Mom told him that Kenny had called and wanted to see him down the gym. Shay got himself together and made his way to see Kenny. When he got to the gym, it was all locked up which was strange as it would usually be open by now. Shay banged on the front doors and Kenny answered it, they went into Kenny’s office, Shay asked why the gym was the closed? Kenny told him that the A.B.A had banned him indefinitely so the gym was closed.

Shay looked confused and said “Fuck me Ken that’s bang out of order of them, so what you going to do?”

Kenny lent back in his chair and smiled and said “The gym will be open by next week son; I knew they’d do something like this so I got my pro coaching license renewed. Case’s gym is going back to being a professional gym again”.

Shay was chuffed with this news as he knew he wouldn’t have been able to train there with the Amateur boxers.

Shay said “Well that’s great news Ken; I’ll be back in next week.”

Kenny replied “Yeah Son and be ready to train hard, I’ve already got some good lads coming in on the opening night”.

A few days later Shay got a call from Frank Goldsten, Frank told him to start getting himself fit as they wanted him to box on the same show as Gary Britain after the Olympics that started in a few days time. Frank was expecting at least a bronze from Gary at the games and was putting on a big show for his debut as a Pro Boxer. Frank told Shay it would be in 3 months time and his opponent would be named closer to the date.

Shay started back at Case’s gym the first night it was reopened; there was a good mix of Pro Boxers there, which meant Shay was getting some useful sparring. While Shay was training for his fourth coming fight, Emma had started house hunting for them. She had signed with Dexter’s friend Samantha’s modeling agency so they had plenty of money for a deposit on a house.

Shay’s training was going well and Emma’s modeling career was taking off as well. Shay was doing the odd promotion for Brumsdale and 1066 Entertainment which was earning him a bit of extra cash.

The Olympics were in full swing and Gary Britain was doing well destroying everyone they put in front of him to reach the finals of the Olympics. The papers were full of articles about the ‘Golden Boy’ Gary Britain which did annoy Shay, not that he didn’t want Gary to do well, but for the fact that he thought he should have been there.

Gary Britain won the Olympic Middleweight Gold medal in a tough fight against a hard boxer from the U.S.A called Roy Frazer. Gary was brought home a hero from the games and was doing loads of interviews on television and radio and always had Frank Goldsten by his side.

Shay and Emma had now moved in to a nice big house in one of the posh areas in Birmingham called Harbourne. They had got it at a decent price as it needed some work done to it, but as Shay’s Dad was a builder they could get it fixed up for next to nothing.

They were relaxing one night in their new home, when there was an interview on the telly with Frank Goldsten and Gary Britain. Frank was announcing Gary’s first fight, it was to be held at the N.I.A Birmingham and the main event would be Richie Hatter defending his Welterweight World titles. Also the newly crowned British Super Middleweight Champion Bruno Beef would be defending his title against Jeff Ripper. Gary would be fighting his first 4 rounder with Irish hope Danny O’Dyer also having his first Pro fight, their opponents were not named. Frank did mention Shay, but it seemed only as an afterthought.

Shay sat there watching and said in a very annoyed manner “It’s nice of him to mention me.”

Emma just replied “Just think Babe that could be you on telly if you had of beaten that Gary”.

Shay just looked at Emma and replied “Yeah nice one Em, just what I need to hear”.

Emma gave him a cuddle and said “I was only saying, I know you got stitched up”. Emma paused for a second and then said “but I got to say that Gary Britain is looking well fit”.

Shay just shook his head and carried on watching the television.

The next day Shay got a call off Frank to tell him when and where he was fighting, Shay told him he already knew from the telly interview yesterday.

Frank replied “Oh yeah don’t you think Gary is handling the press well?”

Shay just said in a sarcastic voice “Yeah Frank he was ‘great’.

Frank laughed and said “Yeah good one Shay ‘great’ I like it, just make sure your ready in 2 months time for your fight, I’ll let you know who your opponent is closer to the date”.

Shay replied “Nice one Frank I’ll talk to you soon”.

Shay really started doing some hard training; Kenny worked him hard at the gym with lots of sessions purely on cardio and fitness. Kenny got Shay sparring some of the biggest lads one week to teach him how to take a heavy shot. Then the next week he’d spar the smaller, faster pro’s to improve his hand speed and foot work. Shay was doing well looking really sharp and really strong at Middleweight.

Emma’s modeling career was starting to take off as well, Samantha had got her some promotion and a few modeling jobs and she was becoming even more of a diva than she already was. Shay wasn’t too bothered about this, he was more focused on his first pro fight and it was going to be in his home town, he just couldn’t wait to get in there.

The 2 months of training went quickly, Shay and Emma didn’t really get to spend much time together in this time with his training and her modeling career, and there was just no quality time. There was just 2 days before the fight and his opponent still hadn’t been announced, Shay and Kenny had both been asking Frank who it was going to be, but Frank said they would find out on the day of the fight like the rest of the new lads.

This really frustrated Shay as he couldn’t prepare properly for the fight, but Kenny told him it was normal for boxers on their first few fights.

The day before the fight Shay was up bright and early for the weigh in. It was going to be held at the venue where the show was. When Shay and Kenny got to the weigh in Danny O’Dyer had just finished being weighed in and knew who he was fighting. Shay stepped on to the scales and as always was bang on the weight, he found out he was fighting 30 year old Jeff Johnson, a boxer from Manchester with a very poor record of 10 wins and 20 defeats, but 8 of his wins were by knockout.

As Shay stepped off the scales he heard a lot of noise coming towards the room the weigh in was being held in. It was the World Champion Richie Hatter coming to be weighed in; he walked in and by his side was the new Olympic Gold Medalist “Gary ‘Great’ Britain. They had reporters all round them and the crowd that who were at the weigh in were going mad, cheering Richie and Gary’s names.

Shay looked at Ken, smiled and said “I should have got the Newtown boys to have come to the weigh in”.

Kenny just laughed and replied “Come on Son, let the pantomime commence”.

Richie and Gary got to the scales and then Richie’s opponent came in. Carlos Motaina was a real tough Cuban boxer with a 25 fight unbeaten record, he squared up to Richie, but there people kept them from getting physical.

Gary Britain was the first to weigh in, his opponent Jack Dobbs who was 21 and had, had 5 fights and lost 4 of them had weighed in earlier.

Gary was bang on the weight and looked real good; he put his Gold medal round his neck so the photographers could get some pictures of him. He really milked it and the press loved it.

Gary turned and looked at Shay and said “You like my gold medal Shay? It looks good don’t it?”

You could see Shay was ready to exploded, but Kenny whispered in his ear “Stay keep calm son don’t let the prick get to you”.

Shay took a deep breath and replied “Yeah Gary it looks real good mate, well done on winning it”.

Gary didn’t really know what to say to that, he expected Shay to kickoff.

Richie and Carlos both weighed in, both right on the weight limit, there was the normal stare down. The stare down was broken by Bruno Beef walking in; Bruno the British Super Middle Weight champ came walking in with a very pissed off looking Frank Goldsten behind him. Bruno was supposed to have been there an hours earlier to have his own stare down with his challenger Benny Baker, but Bruno had over slept, well that’s what he told Frank who had, had to drag him out of the hotel room to get him there. Bruno walked up to the scales, brazen as hell, telling Richie and Carlos to make way for the champ.

Richie said “I’m the World Champion you joker”.

Which Bruno replied “Well just be glad you’re not in my weight division or you wouldn’t be”.

Richie’s entourage had to hold him back, Bruno didn’t even flinch, and he just laughed at Richie. He got on the scales and he was smack on the weight, one of his people handed him his belt, he looked at Gary Britain smiled and said “Have a look at this kid as it’s the closest you will get to holding it while I’m British Champ. If you ask me nicely I might let you touch it”.

Gary didn’t say anything he just smiled and walked off the stage keeping his dignity.

Bruno shouted after Britain, “Runaway little boy”.

Frank was there shaking his head, but secretly loving the publicity it would bringing. Shay and Kenny got out of there before Bruno could start on them. Shay and Kenny had a real good laugh about what had happened, Shay was relaxed and seemed really ready for his first Professional fight tomorrow.

When he got back home that night, Emma had prepared him a 3 course meal with a starter, a main course and a desert. Shay was stunned that she had gone to so much trouble, but as he went to get a drink out of the kitchen he noticed the trays the food had been delivered in from his favorite restraints just down the road. Shay didn’t say anything and just thought to himself that it’s the thought that counts. They had a really nice night, very relaxing; Shay didn’t stay up to late and got a really good night sleep.

Shay got up fresh and ready for the day a head. He got a call off Dexter wishing him luck and a bit of a pep talk; he also got a call off Gary Southan, his Mom and Dad and Kenny. Because Shay lived so close to the event he was going to make his own way there. Shay had sold over 1,000 tickets himself to friends and people from a round Birmingham. The N.I.A had sold out for this show, there was going to be over 12,000 boxing fans watching the show live and million would be watching from around the world for the World Title Fight. Shay seemed undaunted by all this, he just wanted to get in there and show the world what Shay “The Hammer” Dempsey could do.

The show was starting at 8 o’clock that night and had a total of 10 fights on. Sky was covering the later part of the show, and Shay’s fight was one of the first that would be shown in the warm up to the big World Title Fight.

The broadcast wasn’t starting till 10 o’clock and they wanted interviews with all the boxers fighting on their live show. While the first 5 fights were being fought they started interviewing the undercard, Danny O’Dyer mumbled his way though his interview he looked really nervous, but his Irish charm got him though it.

Shay was up next, he answered all the questions they asked him, well until the interviewer asked him about his box off against Gary Britain for the Olympic place. This unnerved Shay as he still really held a grudge with the A.B.A for stitching him up.

Shay paused before answering it and said “I think the Ref stopped the fight to soon, I don’t think I fouled him once, but it’s up to the Ref and he disqualified me”.

The Interviewer then asked Shay about what he thought about Gary Britain, Shay took a deep breath and said “Gary is a class boxer, he won an Olympic Gold, fair play to him”.

They finished the interview there and went on to interview Gary Britain. Gary gave a polished interview, it seemed like he knew exactly what questions he was going to be asked, and he charmed his way though it saying how he was going to be a World Champ one day and how proud he was to be British.

The Interviewer lapped it up, even Shay who was watching the interview on one of the monitors had to give Gary his dues; he defiantly had the gift of the gab.

The broadcast for Sky started at 10 o’clock, Danny O’Dyer was up first, he was having 4, 3 minute round fight against a local boxer. Danny dispatched the journey man a minute into the second round; it was a good Professional display. Shay had been warming up in the dressing room and was looking focus and very sharp. He was wearing black Brumsdale shorts with gold trim; he had the Brumsdale logo on one leg and 1066 Entertainments on the other. He was ready and couldn’t wait to get out there.

They called him to make his way out, Kenny led him to the entrants of the arena then said “Shay you know what you got to do, now go out there and do it”.

Shay just looked at him smiled and replied “Ken that’s the best pep talk you have ever given me”.

Kenny just laughed and said “Just focus Shay and remember you don’t get paid for over time”.

Shay’s music came on and he walked out, he only took a few steps into the arena and looked up at the capacity crowd. The crowd gave him a very warm reception, him being a local lad. There was one section of the crowd that was going mad, most of the 1,000 tickets that Shay had sold were all seated together and making themselves heard.

Shay looked at Kenny and just said “Fuck me Ken look how many people there are here”.

Kenny replied “Just focus Shay, keep your focus”.

Shay walked to the ring and slipped though the ropes; at ring side he saw Dexter and Gary Southan sitting there applauding and cheering. Next to them were his Mom and Dad and of course Emma. Emma had gone all out for Shay’s big night; she had brought a £1000 designer dress. She had her hair, nails and make up done professionally. Emma looked more gorgeous than ever. Shay acknowledged Dexter, Gary his Mom and Dad and blew Emma a kiss with a cheeky wink.

Jeff Johnson was already in the ring, the Ref called them to the centre of the ring and gave them their final instructions and they were ready to go.

The bell rang to start the first round, Johnson came forward very aggressively which shocked Shay, but Shay was moving well and just kept out of range. Shay took the centre of the ring and got his jab going, he looked really slick and already you could see Johnson wouldn’t be able to cope with him. The first one, two Shay caught him with sent Johnson back to the ropes, Johnson covered up and Shay stepped in and went to work with a left hook to the body, left hook to the head and then a thunderous straight right that nearly took Johnsons head off. Johnson went straight down like a ton of bricks from the Case’s Special. The Ref didn’t even count and just waved the fight over.

Shay had won his first pro fight and won it in style. The place was going mad; the 1,000 people Shay had sold tickets were chanting his name.

Shay was buzzing; he went over to Kenny and said “How was that Ken?

Kenny just smiled and said “That will do Son that will do”.

The announcements were made and it was official Shay had won in just under a minute of the first round. He looked down at Emma, his Mom and Dad, Dexter and Gary and said with a smug grin on his face “Was that o.k.?”