Round 3

When the bell sounded, Josh asked each of us if we were good enough to go on. "Yes," we both lied. Percy, sensing that he was losing the fight, started getting wild. He started throwing really hard punches which, had they come anywhere near my body, certainly would have killed me. But he wasn't even close. It's as if he were shadowboxing. As for me, I also felt that I was ahead on points and saw no reason to have to prove myself. As long as The Purse didn't connect, I wouldn't have to hit him anymore. The spectators, regrettably, disapproved of my reasoning and kept insisting that I "get in there" and "mix it up."

At times I pretended that I was trying to get in there (just to scare Percy) but I had more or less resigned myself to practicing my footwork. I did my honky version of the Ali Shuffle, every once in a while getting close enough to The Purse to fool him into thinking that he could reach me with another one of those wild punches. He looked a little foolish to me, whiffing the air like that; but then I realized how *I* must have looked prancing around the ring with my shorts drooping down, my head protector askew and one of my shoes untied.

The third round seemed to fly right by. I was actually less tired after Round 3 than I was after each of the previous two rounds. At the end of the round, The Purse and I embraced and congratulated each other on a good fight (yeah, right). Then we touched gloves.