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There were no other boxers in the locker room. Danny's fight was the last one of the evening. Lacey was
getting ready in another locker room, on the other side of the building.
"Now remember," Ralph whispered to Danny when the teacher left them alone, "get in close, grab, him,
trip him up, push him off-baiance. Then hit him with everything you got! Elbows, head, everything. You
got a good punch, so use it."
Danny nodded.
The crowd roared and broke into applause. He could hear the bell at ringside ringing.
"Okay Romano," the teacher called from the doorway. "It's your turn."
The head protector felt heavy, and clumsy.The mouthpiece tastes funny, like a new automobile tire might
taste , Danny thought.
As he entered the gym a big cheer went up. Danny started to smile, but then saw that the cheering was
for Lacey, who was coming toward the ring from the other side of the gym.
As he walked toward the ring, boys hollered at him:
"You're goin' to get mashed, Romano!"
"Sock it to him, Danny!"
"Hey, skinny, you won't last one round!"
Dr. Tenny was standing at the ringside steps. His jacket was off. He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt
with no tie.
"All set, Danny?"
"Yeah."
"I've checked with the medics. They're not too happy about you fighting."
"I'll be okay."
"Did you take a pill?" Joe asked.
Nodding, Danny said, "Two of 'em. Before I left my room."
"Good. If you need more, I've got some right here in my pocket."
"Thanks. I'll be okay."
Joe stepped aside and Danny climbed up into the ring, with Raiph right behind him. The crowd was
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cheering and booing at the same time.Guess who the cheers are for !
The referee was one of the gym teachers. He called the boys to the center of the ring and gave them a
little talk:
"No hitting low, no holding and hitting, no dirty stuff. If I tell you to break it up, you stop fighting and step
back. Just do what I tell you, and don't lose your tempers. Let's have a good, clean fight."
They went back to their corners. Danny stood there, alone now, and stared at Lacey. He seemed to be
all muscle, all hard and strong.
The bell rang.
Danny couldn't do anything right. He charged out to the middle of the ring and got his head snapped
back by Lacey's jab. He swung, missed. Lacey moved too fast! Danny tried to follow him, tried to get in
close. But Lacey danced rings around him, flicking out jabs like a snake flicks out his tongue. Most of
them hit. And hurt.
The crowd was yelling hard. The noise roared in Danny's ears, like the time he was at the seashore and
a wave knocked him down and held him under the water.
Lacey slammed a hard right into Danny's middle. The air gasped out of Danny's lungs. He doubled over,
tried to grab the black. His gloves reached Lacey's body, but then slipped away. Danny straightened up,
turned to find Lacey, and got another stinging left in his face.
It was getting hard to breathe.No, don't ! Danny told himself.Don't get sick ! But his chest was starting
to feel heavy. Another flurry of punches to his body made it feel even worse.
Danny finally grabbed Lacey and pulled himself so close that their heads rubbed together.
"You want to dance, baby?" Lacey laughed.
Then, suddenly, he blasted half a dozen punches into Danny's guts, broke away, and cracked a solid
right to Danny's cheek. Danny felt his knees wobble.
The bell rang.
Ralph was angry. "You didn't do nothing I told you to! You got to get in close, hold him, butt him!"
Danny gasped, "You try it."
He sat on the stool, chest heaving. His face felt funny, like it was starting to swell. It stung.
The bell sounded for the second round, and it was more of the same. Lacey was all over the ring,
grinning, laughing, popping Danny with lefts and rights. Danny felt as if he was wearing iron boots. He just
couldn't keep up with Lacey. The crowd was roaring so loudly that it hurt his ears. He tasted blood in his
mouth. And Lacey kept gliding in on him, peppering him with a flurry of punches, then slipping away
before he could return a blow.
Danny's chest was getting bad now. He was puffing, gasping, unable to get air into his lungs.
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It seemed as if an hour had gone by. Finally, Lacey backed into the ropes and Danny made a desperate
grab for him. He locked his arms around Lacey, wheezing hard.
"Hey, you sick?" Lacey's voice, muffled behind the mouth protector, sounded in Danny's right ear. "You
sound like a church organ."
He pushed Danny away, but instead of hitting him, just tapped his face with a light jab and danced off
toward the center of the ring. The crowd booed.
"Finish him!"
"Knock him out, Lacey!"
The bell ended round two.
Joe Tenny was at his corner when Danny sagged tiredly on the stool.
"You'd better take another pill," he said.
Shaking his head, Danny gasped out, "Naw& I'll be& okay& . Only one& more round."
Tenny started to say something, then thought better of it. He went back down the stairs to his seat.
"You got to get him this round!" Ralph hollered in Danny's ear, over the noise of the crowd. "It's now or
never! When th' bell rings, go out slow. He thinks he's got you beat. Soon's he's in reach, sock him with
everything you've got!"
Danny nodded.
The bell rang. Danny pushed himself off the stool. He went slowly out to the middle of the ring, his hands
held low. The referee was looking at him in a funny way. Lacey danced out, on his toes, still full of
bounce and smiling.
Lacey got close enough and Danny fired his best punch, an uppercutting right, a pistol shot from the hip,
hard as he could make it.
It caught Lacey somewhere on the jaw. He went down on the seat of his pants, looking very surprised.
The crowd leaped to its feet, screaming and cheering.
The referee was bending over Lacey, counting. But he got up quickly. His face looked grim, the smile
was gone. The referee took a good look into Lacey's eyes, then turned toward Danny and motioned for
him to start fighting again.
Danny managed to take two steps toward Lacey, and then the hurricane hit him. Lacey swarmed all
over him, anger and pride mixed with his punches now. He wasn't smiling. He wasn't worried about
whether Danny might be sick or not. He attacked like a horde of Vikings, battering Danny with a
whirlwind of rights and lefts.
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