The Art of Being Tony (Tony Winters Book 1) Page 21

  Instead of telling him that he was stupid, crazy and possibly insane, Jen just nodded.

  “All right. We can find you something. Who’s going in as your corner? Rick can’t, he needs to be ready for the fight after that. Raul is with Nick. I’m needed for Don. Really, I should go back now and get him ready.”

  Ashley slapped his back then. Not saying anything, just looking eager. She actually seemed excited by the idea.

  He nodded.

  “There we go. It’s practically like we planned this out in advance.” Which in a way, he kind of had, he realized. Anthony even had most of a fight plan for Ichihiro Saka. It was risky and might not work, but that was always the case in life. They all left with him, walking to the back. A secret world that he’d never seen before.

  It was kind of plain looking.

  They had dressing rooms, white halls and flat, very bright, lights on the ceiling. What they also had was Lexi, who, hearing he needed clothing for his fight, which had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, lent him the trunks to her outfit. They fit, being stretchy like they were. They were a bit damp, but he didn’t doubt that part was about to get worse. It reminded him to go to the bathroom first.

  Which he did right before the weigh in.

  They hurried through that part, the scale and a camera brought in just for that. He didn’t bother taking the shorts off for it, since he came in right at one-nineteen. That left him six pounds lighter than the other man. Then he had to pose, holding his hands up and looking fierce for a picture. After that there were contracts to sign, which Rick had to do as well, since Anthony was a minor.

  Denny came in, smiling like everything in the world was funny and grabbed the clipboard from Dan the promoter, filling things out quickly. The other man ran out with that and the camera, while Ashley spoke to him, her voice calm.

  “This isn’t how it normally goes. Still, if we’re going to throw innocent audience members into pro fights like this, you’d be in my top ten picks to do it to. I hate the other nine, so that’s not as bad as it might sound at first.”

  Rick saw something then, so turned up the volume on the small television that was mounted on the wall.

  Steve and t-shirt man Joey were talking.

  It was the man in the blue, rather tight, shirt that was speaking, holding his right ear.

  “This is good. It looks like they found someone last minute to fight Ichihiro Saka? We’ll have details on that after this fight. Stay tuned for that.”

  The fight itself was actually better than the other amateur bouts had been so far. Mainly because the camera had a better view point. The grappling was kind of intense too and while not perfect, they both tried really hard. It was won by a submission, in the third round.

  They didn’t want to talk to the man that won, even though they should have. Instead they put up the commenters again, who all seemed to think something was funny.

  Anthony grinned as well.

  “As if we don’t know who the joke is?”

  Before Ashley could answer, or Denny could say anything, Ken did.

  “Word just in, the fighter that is stepping forward is Tony Winters? We have the tale of the tape here…”

  His picture came up, next to that of Ichihiro, on the other side of the screen. There was writing as well, which was read out to them by Ken. He sounded rather serious about it. More so than the situation probably required.

  “Ichihiro Saka. Thirty-four years old with over twenty-seven years of martial arts experience. Hailing from Tokyo Japan, his record is twenty-one wins, three losses and one tie. Most of those wins were by submission, often in early rounds. He has backgrounds in jujitsu, judo and shoot fighting.” Then the man coughed.

  It was a slightly distressed sounding thing.

  “On the other side of the ledger, we have Tony Winters. Fifteen years old, with… seventeen minutes of martial arts experience. He has no record, this being his first professional fight. His background is in… Handing out towels, providing hydration… and floor mopping.”

  The t-shirt guy was making a face when they came back, trying not to laugh.

  “This… I don’t know anything about Tony Winters. Steve, do you have anything?”

  That got a pleasant smile.

  “You know, on that one I do. At a guess, this is going to be a battle like no one will believe until it happens. Everyone here knows how important hydration is and who knows floor work better than the man who mops it?” He smiled and the other two men chuckled a bit. It really was funny. Then he nodded and his face went dead serious. “Also, see those scars? A man attacked him, cut him up and then he subdued him. A perfect choke hold, from the rear, with a flop over so the man couldn’t fight his way out. In a fight that could have been to his own death. I’ve seen professional fighters that wouldn’t have been as cool under those conditions.”

  T-shirt man, whose name came up as Joe, gasped.

  “Oh, hey, I saw that clip! This is him? Damn, that was hard core. Anyone that can do that won’t go down too easily. This might be a fight after all!”

  Steve smiled then and managed to look a little bland.

  “He’s also been working for months with some of the best boxers, trainers and MMA fighters. Saka is better on the ground, but Winters’ standing game is nearly as good as anyone I’ve seen on the MMA side. I’ve gone twenty-four back to back rounds with him, boxing, which is a thing that few people can manage, or will even try. He regularly beats me on six and twelve mile runs, too. The biggest issue here is his age and muscular conditioning. Saka has him on both of those.”

  Joey nodded then, looking serious.

  “Wow, that’s impressive, for a kid. I… Didn’t his name come up with the Lancaster versus Rends fight?”

  That got Steve to smile.

  “Tony works with Ashley Lancaster on cardio training. Also realistic fight simulation. I’ve rarely seen anyone adapt to simulate other people’s fighting styles as easily as he does. I don’t know what will happen here, but this won’t be wasted time. If you’re watching this at home, I say get something to drink now and settle in, because you won’t want to miss this, no matter what happens.”

  Ken, the official commentator leaned in then.

  “Amazing. Well, this looks to be shaping up to be an interesting bout after all! Stay tuned.”

  No one thought he was going to win, of course. He knew that he didn’t. Still, people had paid to see a real fight, so he walked over his game plan with Ashley, who kicked Rick out after a few seconds, laughing about it. Mainly because the man was trying to insist on doing the match his way, when it was clear that only one of them had actually studied this particular opponent.

  “You have this, Tony. I won’t lie, this isn’t like practice. The big difference is that there, people can let you win and not feel too bad about it. This guy, once he sees you, will know that he has no choice. He has to put you down and hard enough that no one will ever doubt who won. That means you need to go in there and make him know that he isn’t just walking away with a win today. Go in there and fight like he kicked your dog. You get me?”

  “Kind of? I’ve never had a pet. I can fight the plan though and I won’t give up.” Because Tony wouldn’t. Probably not even if it was going to kill him.

  “I know that. We all do. The people that know you. Just, this isn’t about winning. It’s about doing well enough that you feel good about it, later. Most people wouldn’t even take this fight. Not like this. Though…” She paused and then shrugged. “The guy is a bit of a tool. It would be kind of nice to see him put in his place, wouldn’t it?”

  It might. If he could do that. On the good side he was about to find out how easy everyone had taken things on him the whole time. If it was too much, he was about to learn that lesson, the hard way. It caused butterflies in his stomach, but he nodded and got ready for the fight, since what they didn’t have was time for him to get cold feet.

  The dark black trunks he had on were mainly dry
still and when a man knocked on the door, Ashley whispered to him. It was so soft that he nearly didn’t hear it.

  “I know what you did, Tony. Letting him almost kill you, to save me. This isn’t even half that scary. Not even a fraction of that.”

  Then there was the roar of the crowd as he jogged out and held his hands up, like they cared, or even knew, who the heck he was. They hollered about him too, like his being there was planned. That was probably due to how ridiculous the whole thing was to everyone. Except, when he saw him, Ichihiro Saka. There was a door into the cage and he was already inside, across from him.

  Looking ready to kill. Not just as a joke either.

  Raising his right hand he smiled at the crowd… and then waved, like a little kid.

  It looked funny, he didn’t doubt, but if the man, a pro-fighter, was already going to fight him, probably with a lot of pain involved, then there was no reason for him to glare like he was currently doing. They moved to the center of the ring, to be announced.

  “In the red we have Ichihiro “The Red Dragon” Saaaakaaa! In black we have “The Unstoppable” Toneeeey Wiiiinters!”

  There was cheering, but he couldn’t understand any of it. He just focused on Saka, ready to fight. He put his hands out when it was suggested, to touch gloves, but the other man refused. That got a negative reaction from people, he thought, but he moved back like the official told them to. Then got ready to fight.

  The other man rushed him instantly, then, almost comically, tried to box with him. It was a mistake.

  Tony didn’t even realize that he’d hit the man at first, not until he was following him as he backed away, trying to turn his body to avoid him. Behind him, he heard a single voice in the mess.

  Ashley.

  “This isn’t boxing! Keep going!” He actually got that one, so did it, loading punches directly into the back of the man’s shoulder, as hard as he could.

  In boxing that was illegal. In MMA it was just a target. He could even slam the man there, if he wanted, as long as he didn’t hit with the point of his elbow. Instead, the guy still turning, he rushed in and hit the side of his head. Then, snaking an arm around his neck, trying to lock it off, he fell backward. It wasn’t an elegant move, but it took the guy by surprise.

  He was under the man and it was hard to breathe, but it was nearly impossible to get out of a rear choke hold like that, once it was locked off. Which he nearly couldn’t do. The man wasn’t a slouch on the ground, after all. It was a real fight to get that done. They moved fast and hard. The other man managed to protect himself pretty well, so he lasted until the bell rang.

  That left three more.

  When he moved back, there was a stool for him to sit on and some rinse water, as Ashley patted him down with a towel. It was all right, but not as nice as the ones at the gym.

  “That was a decent start, but get back on plan. Force him to fight you on his feet. You get a bit less than one minute to tire him out. You have better conditioning. That first round was desperate for him. Go and make his life harder.”

  Then, before the warning she pulled everything out and moved back, with him on his feet, waiting. Staring at the man, smiling at him, pleasantly. Like they were about to play a game. He waved too, when the man glowered back.

  There was no rush this time. Tony had to chase him down, but almost exactly when he expected him to make his move, the man tried to dart in, stepping behind him for a throw. Moving around it wasn’t easy and had to look awkward, but on the other side he launched a low kick. It hit, hard enough, but didn’t do much. Then, that was really his personal weakest area. Kicks. He’d barely worked on them at all.

  So instead of chasing a skill he didn’t have at the moment, he started punching. As hard as he could and keep any kind of speed. The other man, thrown off like he was, tried to stand up and fight Tony after he stumbled a bit. Which reset the clock in his head. That meant they moved in again and punched, at close range.

  Then knowing that grappling was the other man’s game plan, Tony darted in, did a double leg that was all right, dumped him and didn’t follow the guy to the ground. Instead he started kicking at Saka’s side, not connecting, making him scramble away. Standing and thinking that it was a win, rather than Tony playing him. That led to another full thirty seconds of him getting to hit the man before the bell sounded.

  This time Ashley just nodded and gave him a single sip of water.

  “That probably won’t work again. His corner is telling him to go for the takedown now. It will be his first move. He’s scared. He’s about to lose to a fifteen-year-old and his team knows it. He knows it. That means he has to fight on his turf.”

  Tony nodded.

  “Right. So… I can’t stop him from doing that.”

  Ashley nodded, moving back.

  “So don’t? Just make it cost him?”

  When they moved back in, the other man practically dove for his legs. He didn’t fight it at all, just hooking under Saka’s left arm and twisting the other man in the air as they went down. It wasn’t a great move and they were still on the ground, but he was on top. As skilled as the other man was, it was hard to grapple when someone was throwing fists as fast as they could, without stopping. That didn’t make for devastating punches, but it did mean the other guy was being punished for about twenty seconds. Then Saka grabbed Tony’s right arm and very smoothly started to lock it out. The audience gasped. All at once. They went silent, too.

  Really, the technical way of getting out of the thing wasn’t going to work. Saka was just too much better than he was with submission holds. That meant the game was over.

  Except that something occurred to him as his elbow started to bend past straight, a leg over his face. He’d beaten this kind of thing before. True, against Ashley, but she was good and Ichihiro was not ready for him to act like an insane person. Using brute force he stood up and then, instead of trying to pound the other man against the mat, which would do nothing, he punched into the inside of his own arm. It kind of hurt, but let it bend and then by stomping on Saka’s middle and prying with both hands, he got himself free.

  Then as the man scrambled to get up he charged in and kicked him in the tailbone as hard as he could, just as he found his feet. It sent him flying forward, which had Tony mounting his back. The man instantly guarded his neck, since everyone knew that you went for the rear choke from that position. Ichihiro put his hands under his throat, in the front. Ready to stop an arm coming from either side. As the right side of his head was punched over and over again.

  The other man tried to put a hand out, the left, to stand up. Not even knowing why he was doing it for certain, Tony put a gloved right hand on the other man’s wrist, his other elbow down to the floor on that side grabbing his own wrist and then pulled back hard. Pushing his left elbow up at the same time. At first he didn’t think it was doing anything at all, but after a minute the referee was patting him on the shoulder.

  “Tapping out! He’s tapping out! Let go!”

  He did it, suddenly and just like in practice moved back and away, in case the man was hurt, or not done fighting. Sometimes the ref thought there was a tap out when there wasn’t. Then they’d start fighting again, but from their feet, where he had a decent chance to hurt the man a bit more. Either one was a positive in his book.

  Instead, people started cheering.

  Ashley was in the cage then, hugging him. The Ref called him over and after a moment took his left hand.

  “The winner, by submission and tap out in the third round is Toneeey Wiiiinteeers!”

  Then strangely, people started to chant something. He didn’t get what it was, but moved over to the other man and put a glove out. This time the fellow tapped it, politely.

  Then he bowed.

  “Gomen'nasai.”

  Tony bowed back, not having a clue what the other man had said. It sounded polite, but could and possibly did, imply that he thought the kid liked eating dog droppings. Still, the man had
stopped sneering at him and seemed nearly humble. It was enough.

  The loser got to leave first and while there was a bit of time, since they’d been scheduled for four full rounds, it wasn’t exactly comfortable, standing there like they were. In the open, with the world looking at them.

  Several people ran in and guided him out. Rick, Jen and Denny all did it, smiling. He was hugged as well, by several people. When they were out of the cage, he was given a t-shirt to wear, which said Winters Gym on it. It wasn’t the one that was his though, being new and way too big. That was needed, since his gloves weren’t off yet. They wouldn’t fit through a regular sized shirt’s holes.

  Not the small he normally wore. Then, instead of getting his things, he was taken over to stand by Steve, Joey and Ken. That man, the one in the black suit who had very nice hair, now that he was close up, was doing the talking.

  “Tony! Tell us, did the fight go as you planned?”

  He blinked, since there were bright lights and tilted his head.

  “You know, part of it really did. I went in with a plan to wear him out standing and that worked pretty well. Then on the ground I tried to keep the pressure up, with constant striking, hoping that my conditioning would help me there. There was only the one thing that didn’t go the way I expected, in the end.”

  The older man smiled at him and spoke, his voice even and deep.

  “Really? What was different?”

  He stared at the man, then smiled, shrugging.

  “Well… I didn’t actually expect to win.”

  The man laughed, but seemed kind about it.

  “That is different then. But I think everyone here tonight will agree, that win was earned.”

  There was applause then, from the people behind them.

  Chapter fifteen

  The trip back was fun that night, since all their people won. Nick’s fight had turned out to be a brutal slug fest, since Wilcox, knowing the other man was as good as he was on the ground, tried something different. Fighting from his feet nearly the whole time. Nick tore the man down that way however and actually knocked him out, which got a standing ovation from the crowd. Everyone commenting, except for Steve, was shocked by that part. Meaning that he was the one that sounded calm and did the best job analyzing what was happening as it took place.