Against the Ropes Page #7

I'll be back.

Get your goddamn hands off of me!

And get them the hell out of here!

HBO.

OK? Please.

"Please", sh*t!

I'll throw them out!

No need to be alarmed or take notes.

He's venting. It's tactical.

- But we do need the room.

- Everybody out, come on, guys.

They weren't gonna stay.

All they wanted was ten minutes

of your time.

- I don't have that kind of time!

- You could have made it!

Jesus, I do. I work my ass off

to get you everything you want.

No, everything you want!

You still think you own me?

That I owe you?

You do owe me.

Where do you think this world you're

living in came from? It came from me.

Putting my life on the line,

having faith in you, Luther.

- Giving you faith in yourself.

- You b*tch!

I gave your ass a damn chance!

Everything you did for me,

I did the same goddamn thing for you!

That's how you got the world

you're living in.

HBO's in the ring after the fight.

- We are doing that interview.

- No, you do it!

Our sh*t is permanently disconnected!

You stay away from me! And you

stay the hell away from my corner!

Do you understand that English?

The only English I understand

is in our contract.

You fight for me,

or you don't fight at all.

Break! Break!

Step back!

We're in the middle

of the eighth.

I don't know what's holding Sands up.

He is taking a lot of punishment.

- Hard shots to the body.

- Take it to him! Get him!

Shaw's conditioning is just superb.

He really came to fight.

Moving well, crisp combinations.

He's showing me a lot of finesse.

That's it! That's it! Sands is down,

and he's not getting up.

- Fight's over!

- That's what I'm talking about.

That's what I'm talking about.

I got you. It's all right, man.

Excuse me, coming through.

Y'all see that?

You ain't got sh*t!

You ain't got sh*t!

You talking to me, sucker?

- Great fight. Great fight.

- Great fight.

- Give me that belt!

- Chump!

Come on.

Excuse me. Luther!

- Good fight, good fight.

- Thanks.

I'll get him to talk with you.

Luther!

I'll get him.

- Congratulations, Luther, great fight.

- Luther.

Luther.

We'll just give Luther a minute

to celebrate with his friends,

and then we're gonna look

at the instant replay.

Anyway, terrific performance

from Luther Shaw.

Stunning left-cross, right-hook

combination that put Sands down.

Jackie, you've gotta be very, very

happy with his performance tonight.

Did you read this?

You're glued to Kallen

for the next 24 months.

I ain't fighting for her

and that's all there is to it.

You don't have a choice unless

you choose not to fight at all.

Buy me out like you did Hernandez.

Hernandez was a bargain. You're

a gamble who won't come cheap.

Half-pint will hold me up like a bank.

Why the hell do you think I'm here?

I wanna fight for you.

You're here because you're mad.

Because you made a bad deal.

You throw tantrums in your room

instead of parties.

I don't minus points for that.

Hell, I like mad on my boxers.

I don't think you can

hold that thought

or keep your sh*t together sitting it out

for the next two years.

The guy with the two left feet

looks good.

I like the one

with the two left eyes.

Yeah, I try to make a champ,

I wind up with a monster.

So screw Luther,

I'll get somebody else the damn belt.

I wouldn't count on that.

Champ material is just like

any other special thing: rare.

What are you doing for dinner tonight?

My HBO thing's coming on.

I'd appreciate it

if you watched it with me.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I'll watch it with you.

It's a clich, but I'm living proof

dreams do come true.

Just one step away from

champion of the world.

Jackie Kallen.

Even if you don't follow boxing,

chances are you still

recognize the name.

Kallen didn't just claw her way

inside the boxing arena,

she captured center ring.

Kallen's a snake-in-the-grass

charmer. I gave her a start

and took a lot of heat for it.

She thought she was something

special. I didn't. Still don't.

- Back off, fool.

- No comment.

That's all, so get the camera

out of my face.

Why do you think

you've done well in,

for lack of a better term,

a boys' club?

Where women are notoriously

non grata.

Well, I didn't ingratiate myself, Doug.

I went toe-to-toe with the guys.

I made them deal with me.

They never saw ferocious

in high heels before.

In dealing with you, some of the guys

seem to have got pretty prickly.

Oh, prickly.

Interesting choice of words, Doug.

Look, I'm really good at what I do.

I'm not gonna disappear

just because I make some people

uncomfortable. It's not gonna happen.

Just ask her, and she'll quickly

remind you that Luther Shaw,

her middleweight wannabe of

the world, wouldn't be where he is

if she weren't where she is,

which is all over the place,

talking about herself.

Her impact on boxing is irrefutable,

but it's still a man's world.

A heartless, egocentric,

self-centered boys' club.

And Jackie Kallen

is its newest member.

Funny thing is, she'll probably think

that was a compliment.

I'm Doug Doherty for HBO Sports.

Thanks for watching.

I'm not like that.

I mean, come on.

Do you think I'm like that, Felix?

No.

Not to me.

See you tomorrow.

- Excuse me.

- Sure.

OK, Joanne.

I'd call, but I was afraid

you wouldn't see me.

There's a lot of that going around.

Well, you're right, I wouldn't have.

But you're here now,

so, what do you want, Jackie?

Listen, I'm sorry.

I am, I'm sorry. I knew a million people,

but I only had a couple of friends.

I grabbed a chance for myself, and

I took a great opportunity from you.

You did. I was counting on it,

and I was counting on you.

You know, for the first time in my life,

people heard what I had to say.

They had to listen

because I was too important to ignore.

That is not an excuse,

but it is an explanation.

I thought I could handle it,

had control.

But with guys like Sam LaRocca,

I'm just way overmatched.

Well, you changed

the face of boxing, Jackie.

You cracked some pretty hard cement.

You can be proud of that.

Well, I can't be proud

of what I did to Luther.

We're finished.

I accept that.

Listen, Gavin.

I don't expect you to forgive me,

but I just don't want you to hate me.

Jackie Kallen for Sam LaRocca.

Sir, Jackie Kallen's here to see you.

He wants to know what it's about.

Just tell him I have something

he wants.

You're here to make this deal?

Luther deserves a shot at the title.

It's the right thing to do,

so I'm doing it.

I'm here to negotiate myself so I know

he won't get screwed by you.

Well, I'm happy to amuse you, Sam,

but this is how it's gonna be.

He gets a shot at Hernandez

within a year.

He wins the title,

he gives you two years.

He loses, close or good,

you give him three additional fights.

And if he wins those fights,

you guarantee a rematch for the title.

I don't want him that bad.

Well...

...Luther's the next middleweight

champ. You know it, I know it.

This is one-stop shopping.

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