Page 1 of Undefeated

PROLOGUE

“So this kid’s going to be here by 3:00?” the trainer asked as he turned away from the boxing ring.

The manager of the gym, nodded - giving his best form of assurance that the boxer would arrive for the afternoon match.

“Where’s he from again?” the trainer asked as he picked up some loose tape from the floor.

“Compton,” the manager responded.

“As in Compton, California?” the trainer asked, tossing the tape into the trash can beside the ring.

“That’s what he said. Compton, California,” the manager said as he walked toward the locker room.

The trainer, walking beside him, rubbed the two days growth of beard with his thumb and forefingers.

“White kid?” he asked.

The manager nodded.

“And you said he’s riding here? As in he’s riding a motorcycle here?”

The manager again turned and nodded as they entered the locker room.

“What do you know about him? Just seems kinda weird. Kid says he’s undefeated, and he’s moving here, of all places. The fact that he insisted on fighting the day he rides into town is just asking for getting his ass handed to him,” the trainer stated as he sat in the bench in the middle of the room.

“Just like I told you, said he needed a trainer and a manager. Told me his grandfather died, and he was acting as both. Kid says he weighs about a hundred ninety. He sounds eager as hell. Shit, he’s from southern California. There’s fighters all over the place that you and I never heard of, don’t make ‘em good or bad,” the manager said as he sat on the bench beside the trainer.

Slowly, he looked around the locker room.

“It’d be kind of nice to have some fresh talent in here, that’s for sure. Who’s gonna fight him?” the trainer asked.

“Mike,” the manager looked over his shoulder and smiled a slow smile.

“Ripton? The Ripper?” the trainer asked, his face filled with surprise.

The manager nodded.

“That’s going to be a one sided affair, don’t you think, Joe?” the trainer asked, trying to hide a smile as he shook his head from side-to-side.

“I suppose so,” the manager laughed, “just figured as eager as he was, and the fact that he said the word undefeated about ten times in the conversation that I’d teach him a quick lesson about how we do it here in Texas. You can build him back up from there, Kelsey.”

“So that’s why Ripton’s been here since lunch, ain’t it?”

The manager turned his head and nodded.

“So what you thinking?” the manager asked as he looked around the locker room.

The trainer shrugged as he slowly turned his head and looked at the lockers that lined the wall.

Kelsey looked at his watch. Joe looked at him and slowly raised his eyebrows as he placed his hands on his knees.

“Ten before,” Kelsey stated.

“Well, I think we ought to stick with blue. If we’re going to make this place look like something, we ought to paint the wall a different color, not the lockers. Lockers never hold paint very well. Blue,” Joe said as he stood up from the bench.

As the trainer stood, he turned his ear toward the wall and squinted his eyes.

“You hear that?” he asked.