Back in the Day Page #9

a chance to show you

that I've changed.

I'm old now.

And what I want is to share

the rest of my days with you.

You're my son, my blood,

and you've made me proud.

You made me proud.

Please, Anthony,

find a way to forgive me.

And if you find it

in your heart,

give me a chance.

Just like that,

after all those years,

he shows up on my doorstep.

Just before I was

walking out the door

to ruin my whole life.

When I look back at it,

I feel like it was a message

from my mom,

that my dad showed up.

I needed a break

from the only world that I knew.

It's because of you.

I see what you do every

day and it motivates me.

You're the only one doing

anything in the neighborhood.

I'm so proud of you.

I love watching you

in that ring.

You're gonna hold up that belt one day.

I know it!

You can do something better

with your life.

You're gonna do something better.

I don't know what it is,

but it's gonna be huge.

I'm very proud of you.

I know it hasn't been easy with your

father the last couple of years,

but you made everything better.

You brightened up every day.

...Come on.

We not ballet dancing,

this is boxing, come on!

- Eddie!

- Watch your body.

Yeah, what?

Phone call!

Keep jabbing.

Yeah? Hello.

I'm ready.

Hey... Anthony?

Anthony, where you been?

Get me a rematch with Germano.

I thought you were done

and it was over with.

Nah, it's far from over, Eddie.

Set it up.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Remember the bag

in the basement!

He's going... I see it!

He hit it!

Lookin' sweet.

You own him!

That's who his daddy is!

Come on, Vito!

What the f***, man?

Five, six, seven, eight.

This is not what you were

taught, come on!

Nine, ten, that's it.

All right, Anthony!

Huh? You love that!

No! No!

- It was a different story this time...

-That's my son!

...for Vito Germano,

who was knocked out halfway

through the first round

by Anthony "lefty" Rodriguez.

Come on, Anthony, go! Get him off you!

Come on!

Knock him out, son!

You got him, baby!

There you go!

There you go!

He's down! He's down!

He's down!

That's it, Italian power!

Puerto Rican power!

Blue to corner.

Yeah, yeah!

That's my boy!

Yes! He's all yours!

That's it!

Finish him off!

Finish him off!

Blue to corner.

Knock him out, son!

We're ready.

Five, six, seven...

We're ready!

Eight, nine, ten, out!

We're ready! Ha-ha!

Yeah!

Neighborhood kid.

He's representing, Gino.

He sure is.

I hope he opens up

Dawson's f***in' hole.

It's a big payday

for Anthony Rodriguez

as he is set to fight undisputed

middleweight champion Reggie Dawson.

As well as he's been fighting,

I still don't think he stands

a chance against Dawson.

Dawson is just too explosive.

He barely gets hit and he's

never been knocked down.

I really don't see Rodriguez

getting out of the first round.

Yo, are you kidding me?

Anthony who?

What's up with all this Brooklyn stuff?

Brooklyn this, Brooklyn that.

- Who gives a damn?

- Brooklyn?

Look, son,

we came from a rough

neighborhood

and it wasn't easy being

a Puerto Rican there back then.

But that didn't break you.

And neither will this

punk Dawson.

You knock him out, you hear?

You hit him hard.

These last few months with you have

been the best time of my life.

Thank you.

You don't have to thank me, dad.

I'm glad you're here.

You've been a big

inspiration to me.

Your mother would be proud,

mi Maravilloso hijo.

What does that mean?

My wonderful son.

So you go out there and you show

the whole world what you're about,

you hear?

Anthony.

Don't mean to disturb

your focus,

but there's somebody outside that

really wants to talk to you.

Anthony Rodriguez.

Mike Tyson.

Man, I just came by to wish a Brooklyn

brother some luck, that's all.

Speaking about Brooklyn,

you hear all that sh*t

that Dawson is talking

about, dumping on Brooklyn?

I'm from Brooklyn just like you,

and I took that personally.

Dawson's always talkin'

a lot of sh*t.

He's been able to

back it up, too

this time it's gonna be

different, right?

You're gonna prove

all these cocksuckers wrong

making you the

25-to-1 underdog.

You gonna go in there and you

gonna kick his ass in the dirt.

All of Brooklyn is

behind you out here.

You got this, man.

Trust me, you got this.

The crowd's electric here at

Caesar's palace

as the fighter from Brooklyn

Anthony "lefty" Rodriguez

makes his way to the ring.

Get ready, get in there!

Knock him out!

Knock him out!

Oh, that's it.

Oh, man, stack it up!

There you go!

There you go!

Brooklyn, Brooklyn, Brooklyn!

It's all up to you, Anthony.

Everything you've been

through in your life,

it's your time to make history.

Stay on him!

See, he's goin'!

The rest is history, Larry.

After all I went through

back in the day,

when my mom was alive,

that was the greatest

time of my life.

So has boxing

become an escape from

the real violence in your life?

Or is it part of who you are?

Part of the rock

your mother was?

I always felt like my

mom was in my corner

through every fight,

through every day.

I know she's

looking over me right now.

And whatever happened to Maria?

As far as I know, she's

still living around here.

I heard her

and Dominick got married.

Wow.

I thought he'd be up the river,

- behind bars by now.

- Yeah.

Yeah, you and everybody else.

He has a much smaller

crew now, so I heard.

So in a way, us meeting here,

is a kind of a statement.

"I'm not afraid

of anyone."

No, I'm not,

and that mob world,

it's changed so much.

You got these gangsters on

reality shows right now.

It's a joke.

The joke's on them,

because you're no joke.

You're the

middleweight champion.

They can never take

away that achievement.

Thanks, Larry.

Way to go, Anthony!

Way to go, champ!

You earned it.

Thank you, buddy.

Way to go.

Sure, yeah, go ahead.

I heard that you were here.

Being interviewed

by Larry merchant,

that's big time.

I told you that you would do it.

Thank you.

So you know, me and

Dominick, we got separated.

Really? That's too bad.

Yeah, actually it's mutual.

He's seeing some slut

in Staten island.

- What about you?

- Me?

I've been waiting for you to

come back here and rescue me.

Don't tell me that

you don't miss me.

'Cause I miss you so much.

Could you ever forgive me?

Of course, I could

forgive you, Maria.

I even forgave my father.

But I can't be with you again.

Those days are gone.

Are you serious?

I'm dead serious.

I'm sorry you feel that way.

Sh*t.

Dominick's here.

Why do you look

so nervous, Maria?

You can do whatever

you want now.

You know, I must say,

Rodriguez, you shocked me.

You proved Enzo right.

Now, I call a spade a spade.

You did it.

Congratulations.

You're not gonna shake my hand?

Don't think for a minute that I

didn't know you two wanted each other

okay?

And now you can have each other.

What, did you think you could

just come back here? Huh?

To my neighborhood?

You know what?

I'll see you outside.

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