The Young Prizefighter, Pt. 2

 

There were no proper changing rooms in the venue. Only a sectioned off part of the club was for the fighters to psyche themselves up and to change. Despite this, the room space given was box room standard to most clubs. They all accumulated and gathered around this space before they all went to war. At least they had their own personal toilets.

 

Tom stood over the once immaculate porcelain sink before snorting both nostrils. A spray of snot mixed with blood sprayed out of each orifice. He then briefly looked at the mirror before running the cold water and splashed his face to clean himself of the sweat and tacky, dried blood from his nose. He rinsed his mouth to spit out the taste of Iron out.

 

“Christ...” he gasped before wheezily coughing. He then shook and toweled off the droplets if moisture off his chiselled face. Tom then decided to do a once-over on his battered features.

He noticed his nose had a red and brownish bar going across the bridge of his nose. With a prod and wiggle, he flinched his head back from the pain as if he had Electric shock. It was badly bruised, but not broken. There was another mark around his right eye and cheek bone too, which will probably turn into a black eye later. But other than that, Tom was satisfied that he was relatively unharmed, only picking up the usual wounds.

 

The door suddenly opened with a loud bang. Tom looked over his shoulder and noticed two people carrying in what looked like another fighter on their shoulders. He looked near enough unconscious and had blood dripping from his mouth and nose like a tap

 

“How the Hell was that a fair match up? No way did that guy have only two bouts!”

 

“Oh, Shut up and get him over to the sink!”

 

Tom watched for a few moments before throwing his towel over his shoulder and leaving the toilets.

 

“Poor Bastard.” he said to himself.

 

He walked over to his corner and started getting changed out of his shorts and into his Grey tracksuit. Once finished, he picked up his bag and went to the main area. He stopped for a few moments to see what was happening in the Ring. He watched the fighters beat the crap out of each other before going over to the bar. He managed to squeeze in and finally get himself served.

 

The barman noticed who he was.

“Alright fella? Nice knock out by the way,” he complimented.

 

“All part of the game I guess. Can I get a Corona and large Vodka straight up?”

 

As he waited for his drinks, a couple of young lads passed by and patted him on the shoulder, congratulating him on the win. One then called his name.

 

“Oi, Tom!”

 

Tom looked over. A smart lad in a blazer and shirt, grinning ear-to-ear spoke to him over the noise.

 

“Well done, Champ! Fancy a Beer?”

 

He declined the offer. “Thanks, but I'm only staying around for one,”

 

“Ah come on, lemme by ya a drink. I just won a £200 from your win!” He turned who Tom was guessing was a friend. “I told he would win! Looks aren't everything you know?”

His friend just scowled and tried to ignore him.

 

“Huh. These pricks earn more from my performance than I do...Still, can't turn down a free drink though.”

 

“Alright, go on then. Cheers pal.”

 

“No worries at all me old mucker.” he winked.

 

When the barman came over, Tom paid for his before the young professional asked to get him another. Tom knocked back the Vodka and chased it down with some beer. As soon as he got his free one, he sent his thanks and best wishes before going away from the bar, weaving himself between the punters in the crowd.

 

“Right, just get your winnings and get out of here. Place is too cramped for this many people.” he told himself as he drained his beer and putting the empty bottle on a table he was passing.

 

Tom made his way towards the VIP area, where the promoter and other officials where sat. He stood behind the rope barriers and searched for the organiser.

 

“There you are! I've got something for you, darling.”

Tom noticed a smartly dressed woman at a table pull out a brown envelope from a pile of others before standing up and walking over to him with a warming smile, swaying her hips a little. She then held it out for him to take.

 

“There you go, that's yours. There a hundred quid in there, plus a Score winning bonus,”

 

“£120? not bad for a night's work,” Tom thought, feeling quite chuffed.

 

He took the money and smiled a little. “Thank you very much, #i appreciate it,”

 

“You're very welcome, how are you feeling?” She asked bubbly. Tom noticed her vivid blue eyes where rather wired and crazy looking, yet beautiful at the same time.

 

“Not too bad. The morning after is when you really feel the aches and pains,”

 

She laughed a little “Aw, I'm sure you'll be okay. Anyway, Well done, you did well tonight,”

 

Tom nodded and murmured another thanks for the umpteenth time. She then lent in gave him a small kiss on the cheek, which took him by surprise.

 

“Have a lovely evening!” she smiled

 

“You too, sweetheart”

 

He turned, took a drink of Beer and made his way out.

 

*

 

Tom stood outside the venue on the pavement, under the Orange glow of a street light. He fumbled to put his knitted hat on before rolling himself a cigarette. Then, he started making his way to the local Train station. He held his cigarette on the end of his mouth before pulling is phone out of his pocket. He dialled a number and held it against his ear.

 

It rang a few times before it answered.

 

“Hello mate, you okay?”

 

“Alright Jim,” Tom mumbled as he lit his Snout. “Not bad, still standing I guess,”

 

“How did you get on tonight?” Asked Jim.

 

“I won, K.O in the second,”

 

“Wahey! Nice one,” he cheered. “Better put the fizz in the fridge for you when you get in,”

 

Tom exhaled a cloud of smoke into the cold night. “Sounds like an good idea. Last time, that cheap cack was horrible when it was warm,”

 

“Hehe, don't worry, it won't happen this time. How much did you get for tonight?”

 

“A hundred and twenty pounds, should be able feed us lot for the next few weeks,”

 

“Oh wow. You should do this more often. When is the next one?” he said rather enthusiastically

 

Tom shook his head as he took another drag. “I dunno. To be honest,I'm going to give it a break. I can't keep doing this. I've had enough of fighting for money. I've been doing this for too long” he sighed.

 

There was a small pauses from Jim.

“If you say so, up to you end of the day I guess,” he finally said, sounding disappointed

 

“Exactly. We can get by with the student loan. Or be real people and get some sort of job,”

 

“True...Alright, I let you get home then. Try not to fall asleep on the train this time, Tom,”

 

“Yeah yeah...Tell Marie I'm not badly beat up like last time.”

 

“Sure, she'll be glad to hear that.”

 

Tom ended the call and put the phone down. He slowly stopped walking. He stood there, reflecting over what has happened to tonight. He looked around the empty street he stood on. There was barley any traffic, or people for that matter. All that could be heard was a few dogs barking from the neighbouring flats and the odd car driving past in the distance. It was funny for him, from jumping from a lively atmosphere to the dead of a winter's night.

 

He looked down at his hands. He turned them over to see his knuckles. Still red and sore from the previous battle, Tom even noticed it even had a tinge of blue forming, possibly from the cold. His face ached, the corner of his eyes and nose were becoming sore as the adrenaline wore off. Tom let his hands drop limply as he let out a deflated sigh. The student then looked up to the dark sky, seeing that the lights of the city bled through like ink through a wet tissue. Despite searching hard, there no stars to be seen at all, as if they had all been told to hide.

 

“I got to knock all of this on the head. Where's the quality of life in it?” He asked himself.

 

A chilly breeze was the only answer he got.

 

Tom put his head down and re-adjusted the bag strap on his shoulder. He stuffed his hands in his jacket and puffed on his smoke as he resumed his journey back home.