Originally posted by rabbitweed
Don't you remember being a kid? Fighting was awesome.
When I was about 13, my neighbor, Steve Strathern, noticed how good I was at winning fights, so he actually built an entire boxing ring in his basement, after asking me if I'd participate in boxing matches with opponents of his choosing, to which I agreed. Once he had the ring built, he went and bought professional boxing gloves and all the accessories, and he bought, and was given, about 40 cheap patio chairs from around the area, lined them all up perfectly in front of the ring in his basement, and set himself up a mic and amp as the Announcer, and also setup a bell. Then he printed up tickets and sold them around the neighborhood and advertised "The Big Fight". After about a month of campaigning, he sold out. I think he was charging about $2 a ticket, which, in those days, was about $20 today.
I showed up to the Big Fight and put the gloves on and took to the ring, and another kid, who I knew, James, came up and started putting on his. Steve was also the Referee. I was actually pretty good friends with James, a kind of stocky guy, weighed a little more than me, shorter than me, but had the muscles. The first Round started, and I came out swinging. Right away, I realized James was going to get his head knocked in. He was big and stocky and muscular, but he just didn't have the speed. I socked him good at least 5 or 6 times, but he missed on every punch. The audience was roaring the entire time. He didn't go down though, he held on his feet with every blow. By about the 4th round, it got to the point of ridiculous and I started to feel really bad for James, so I started pulling punches, and then Steve jumped in and grabbed me and said I had to stop pulling punches, that the audience deserved a knockout. I decided to keep pulling punches, until James tired out, and Steve had to call my win on points, and he was not at all happy he didn't get the knockout. The audience was more than satisfied and went away happy. I got my cut of 30%, and off I went happy as well. When he came to me again to repeat the process, I declined.
