Round 2

Percy's cornerman must have also suggested being more aggressive because when the bell sounded to start the second round, and while I was realizing how disappointed I was that this bout did not merit Round Card Girls like the ones they had at Michael's a couple of weeks ago, Percy started acting like a Kamikaze pilot. Instead of dancing around the ring with me, he kept advancing forward, actually getting closer and closer to me. I responded in kind. Only backwards. Until I felt the ropes rubbing against my back. I remembered that Danny told me that I didn't want to be in this position, but I couldn't remember what he told me (or even *if* he told me) what to do about it if I *did* have my back to the ropes (as it were). It was hard for me to concentrate because Percy kept throwing left-right combinations at my head and that was terribly distracting. I thought, "This is it. What's taken him so long to getting around to murdering me? In a minute I'm going to be knocking around the ring like a shoe in a clothes dryer." It occurred to me that this is where my defensive "instinct" should have kicked in.

I suppose it did. Percy was scaring me more than he was hurting me because I had both gloves out in front of my face and most of his punches landed on my forearms. But he left little doubt that his intention was to end this fight in the second round. Once when he got tired of punching me he rested his arms for a moment and I was able to hug him. Not in an affectionate way, mind you. The technical term for what I did was to "tie him up." The net effect of which was that the referee (Josh) told us to break it up and after I released Percy I was back in the middle of the ring, no longer rubbing my back on the ropes.

That flurry of activity seemed to take its toll on Percy (still upset, I believe, about his earlier encounter with the law). He kind of shot his wad. Instead of beating me like a rented mule, which I felt for sure was about to happen, he grew a little arm weary and his punches didn't seem to have the pizzazz they once did. We exchanged a few jabs and I connected on a right cross to his head and a left uppercut to his chin, neither of which had the desired effect.

By the time the round ended, I want to tell you, I was spent. It really seemed that we had been going at it for a couple of hours by this time. I didn't want to admit to Danny that my legs felt rubbery, but he noticed that on his own. He massaged my legs and cooled me down with water, wiped my head with a smelly towel and exhorted me to remember that there were only another 120 seconds left to go.