Then I found her, and our eyes met. Anna. Anna was there. I wasn’t sure if she was going to make it since she was terrified of these things, but the look in her eyes when I told her I had needed her here… She knew I really meant it, and she wasn’t going to let me down. Deep down, I knew she would show up.
Her smile calmed my nerves almost instantly, and I tuned Artie back in.
“You’re smaller than he is. That gives you an advantage. All you need to do is be faster, Justin. Be faster and then you’ve got this one in the bag.” He gave me a pat on the shoulder. “Don’t let the crowd distract you. Just remember to focus on being fast. You have this, Justin.”
I looked across the cage at my opponent. He was much larger than me. Both in height and muscle mass, but I had learned in my years of fighting that size didn’t necessarily make him the better fighter.
The bell rang, and it was on. My nerves calmed some when I caught Anna’s eye, but I was still pretty anxious. I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know much about my opponent. All I knew was that I had to win this fight. I had to.
He went for a left hook. I ducked and got him in the ribs. He backed up some. I did the same. He went to lunge at me, and I ducked, again making him almost fall over. Artie had been right; all I had to do was be faster than him. I was doing great and holding up strong on my end when the end of the first round came. I was ahead and was starting to think how easy this was.
I was feeling good about myself. Maybe a little too good. I knew I should keep my cockiness in check, but I figured I could have this in the bag if I just kept evading him and making my move before he ever did.
The second round started, and automatically the guy picked me and flung me to the floor. I hadn’t had a chance to get away from him this time. The crowd gasped, and I got up right away, before he could put me in any sort of hold. I was glad I was quick to get up because I could have been KO’d. I could not believe how quickly this had turned around.
“You got this,” I said to myself and aimed for a right hook, then a quick left. I missed both and stumbled forward some, almost not able to catch myself. I took a couple of deep breaths to calm myself down. I could not let him have me. Just because he was bigger didn’t mean anything at all. He might not have the skills I did. He got a good hit in, and I almost fell over. I caught myself. He got a couple more hits in, and the third bell rang. I was relieved.
We started moving around in a circle a bit, eyeing each other. He was sizing me up, and I let him do it. I knew I could have an advantage if he started getting cocky. Just like I did at the end of the first round. My head was back on straight though. I was ready.
“Isn’t your wife dead?” the guy said to me. My ears perked up because I wasn’t sure if I heard him right or not. I was hoping it was the latter. No one could be that stupid.
“What?” I asked. It was hard to talk because of my mouth piece, but I made it work.
“Your wife. Isn’t she dead?” My blood started to boil, but he continued. “She probably died from embarrassment after being married to such a shitty ass fighter.”
I drowned out all the extra noise in the room. The crowd disappeared, and all I could focus on was him. I had never had anyone bring her up in a fight. The guy must have done his research and found something he thought he could use to his advantage. My breathing slowed as I thought about what he said to me.
He was taunting me now because he wanted to get a rise out of me. It was working, but I didn’t think it was working the way he hoped it would. That was one subject no one could bring up, especially if you were going to talk smack about it. My wife had been an amazing person and did not deserve some asshole bad mouthing her just to get a rise out of me.
“You better watch what you say,” I warned him. My anger was growing deeper by the second. I thought I’d give him a chance to change his mind. If he kept going this way, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to stop after I KO’d him.
“I’m just saying I wouldn’t want to live any longer if I were her.” And that was all he could get out before I lifted him into the air and slammed him on the ground. The adrenaline was pumping through my body.
He got up, clearly dazed by the fall. Then he looked at me and grinned.
“Looks like I hit a soft spot,” he chided. I saw red.
Without even thinking, I got him with three uppercuts and watched as the guy fell back down onto the ground.
I quickly moved and put him into a sleeper hold.
“No one ever talks about my wife like that,” I growled.
The guy passed out before he could even tap out.
The ref ran over, got on the ground, counted to three, and called out that I was the winner. It didn’t hit me right away. I was still so pissed about what the guy said.
The crowd went absolutely wild. And that pulled me out of my anger. I started bouncing around the ring getting the crowd even more pumped. I was still a little pissed about what the guy said about my wife, but I let my anger go. He hadn’t realized that he was just adding fuel to my fire. He helped me win by being an asshole, and for me, that was true karma. I went to the side of the cage and waved Anna over to me. She made her way down the stands and through the crowd.
I picked her up and gave her a huge kiss. The crowd went wild all over again. It felt so good to hear everyone chanting my name.
“Great fight. I’m so proud of you,” she said over the noise from the crowd.
“Thank you for being here. It made all the difference in the world to me,” I said and gave her another long kiss before I put her back on the ground.
I thought I saw her blush, but I didn’t have time to ask about it before Artie was telling me we needed to get into the changing room.
I told Anna to meet me back there in five or ten minutes.