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"Of course I do He was on the card the night we met, he beat some Italian kid that I don’t remember at all"

"Nobody does"

"He took the heart out of hihting tonight, is he? He’s not on the progra ’eht"

"He’s sitting right over there," he said, pointing "No, ht to win, but the boy he’s fighting is sitting on eleven wins and two defeats, and one of those they stole the decision fro about fight strategy when Mick cae paper cups One held beer, the other Coke "In case you get thirsty," he said "I wouldn’t care to stand in that long a line for a single beer"

I said, "Mickey Ballou, Chance-"

"Chance Coulter"

"A pleasure," Mick said He was still holding on to both drinks, so they couldn’t shake hands

"Here cohter came down the aisle flanked by his retinue He wore a royal-blue robe with navy piping He was good-looking, with a long, square-jawed face and a neat black mustache He s

"He looks good," Chance said "Eldonthe other one?" Mick asked

"Yes, Eldon Rasheed Here he comes now Maybe we can all have a drink afterward"

I said that sounded good Chance ave me both cups to hold while he settled hiuez,’ " he read "Where do they get their nahtforward naave me a look "Eldon Rasheed," he pronounced, as Rasheed clih the ropes "Well, if it was a beauty contest, you’d have to hand it to Pedro Rasheed looks as though God hit hi like that?"

"Why does God do half the things He does? Your friend Chance is a good-looking man How do you coo"

"Detective work?"

"That’s right"

"I thought he looked like a lawyer Dresses the part"

"Actually he’s a dealer in African art"

"Carvings, like?"

"That sort of thing"

The announcer was in the ring, ballyhooing the co what he could to hype next week’s card He introduced a local welterweight who’d be fighting in next week’s main event, then called up a few other celebrities seated at ringside, including Arthur "Kid" Bascoot the sareeted everyone else

The referee got an introduction, and the three judges, and the tiuy whose job it was to count in the event of a knockdown He figured to get sohts, and both had knocked out uez’s eleven ere by knockout, and Rasheed, undefeated in ten professional bouts, had only had one fight that had gone the distance

Doent at the far end of the arena Rasheed’s ovation was ether in the center of the ring while the referee told theloves and went back to their corners The bell rang and the fight got under way

The first round was largely exploratory, but both fighters landed so left jab and went to the body effectively He uez ard in coht overhand right that was very sudden, and he caught Rasheed over the left eye with it with thirty seconds to go in the round Rasheed shook it off, but you could see he felt it

Between rounds Mick said, "He’s strong, that Pedro He ht have stolen the round with that punch"

"I never kno they’ll score it"

"A few more blows like that last and there’ll be no need to keep score"

Rasheed had the edge in the second round He stayed away fro the round I happened to notice a side in the center section I’d noticed hiain