Portrait of the Fighter as a Young Man Page #10

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You're a college dropout, Charlene.

You're just a little bar girl.

Your life sucks.

All right. I drank too much.

I worked in a lot of bars.

And I ruined a lot of opportunities, but

I'm trying to do something better here.

- And so is Micky.

- And so am I.

And he needs me. You heard him.

And I know he needs you.

What is that blue sh*t on your arm?

It's icing.

OK. I'll see ya in Micky's corner.

Otherwise, go f*** yourself.

- It's a deal.

- All right? It's a deal.

We worked it out for you. Ask her.

Good. Go get O'Keefe back, too.

I will.

Hey, Mick...

You think I knocked down

Sugar Ray Leonard?

Went ten rounds. One of the best

ever and he couldn't hurt you.

You were my hero.

I was.

I was.

I'm sorry.

You are?

There's a press conference downstairs.

Come on, let's go.

Spot of tea, mate!

Neary:
Ten stone... six pound.

Ward:
Ten stone... six pound.

Hey, Micky, Micky Ward!

We have a question over here.

- How you been training?

- I train, I train hard.

Shea's 22 and 0.

He's never been knocked down.

- That's gonna change tomorrow.

- In fact, we expected

a much better fighter.

I'm just grateful to be here

and have the opportunity.

Thank you guys for the shot.

Shea, who do you respect as a fighter?

And who would you like to fight next?

I plan on moving right

through Micky Ward tomorrow.

Moving on to other great fighters,

like Gatti.

Yeah, I believe Gatti and I

would make a great match.

Are you scared, Mr. Ward?

And now, ladies and

gentlemen, 12 rounds of boxing

for the WBU Welterweight

Championship of the World!

I can't see!

Here I go again on my own

Goin' down the only road

I've ever known

Like a drifter

I was born to walk alone

- Hey, fellas, let's go.

- I made up my mind

I ain't wasting no more time

Here I go again on my own

Going down the only road

I've ever known

Like a drifter I was born

to walk alone

Don't listen to 'em, Mick.

I made up my mind

I ain't wasting no more time...

And there is Micky Ward

of Lowell, Massachusetts,

entering the ring. It's his

first fight outside the United States.

Micky Ward:
30 wins, seven losses.

He's gotten better recently, 20 KOs.

And now Ward awaits his

opponent, Shea Neary.

Neary regards himself

as the European Arturo Gatti.

Meaning that he is a head-on,

high-contact fighter

who throws 70 punches per round.

Neary's from Liverpool

and should have

a huge following here tonight.

Accompanied

by Paint the Town Red by The Mahones.

Neary is the current

Welterweight Champion of the World.

He is a very tough young man.

Beyond dedicated.

Lives a Spartan existence.

And according to his promoters,

does nothing but eat,

drink, think, fantasize...

...dream of fighting.

Shea Neary has had 22

professional fights and won them all.

Seventeen KOs.

Come out when you hear the bell.

Don't piss about. Shake hands.

Both of ya... shake hands!

As close as we just saw

them in the middle of the ring,

- forehead to forehead,

- Did you see that?

That's how close we expect them to be

for as long as this fight goes on.

Ward is a long ways from home.

Don't coast in a foreign country.

Well, the big challenge for Ward

is to get off to a faster start

than is customary for him.

Micky Ward, a notoriously

slow starter in big fights,

Shea Neary, an ultra-fast starter.

And that's the question

that hovers over round one.

Will Ward be ready for the fight?

Already, Shea Neary starts

taking it to him on the ropes!

And Neary going to the body,

which is Ward's specialty.

Neary bangs Ward to the body.

And a big uppercut by Neary.

Neary leads off with a good left jab.

- Come on, Micky!

- Keeps Ward off balance,

jabbing here and there.

There's a good left hook

by Neary as he stepped in on Ward.

Ward not able to deal with him very well

when Neary stands at range like this.

- Come on!

- That's it! Get him!

And a left hook

lands up top from Micky Ward.

Neary digging his

own right hand to the body.

They trade shots at close range.

Ward, he's trying

to match Neary blow for blow

and now Neary starts to come on and

take the last 30 seconds of the round...

How about that?

Break!

Tremendous barrage in

the first minute. Just look at this.

- Unbelievable.

- What a great round one!

Ward is gonna have

to pick up the tempo

and beat him with volumes of punching.

No doubt, Neary is a better boxer.

Four hard right hands...

Neary has belted in the last minute.

Quicker than Ward,

more assertive than Ward,

surer of what he wants to do.

They're standing and trading shots

at the center of the ring.

Ward's gonna have

to step it up a little bit more

than he is right now.

Micky Ward's corner

taking a real deep look

at what's going on now.

And his family at ringside well aware

he's stepping up in class.

Ward has fallen to the pedal.

He's gotta be more aggressive.

He can't just try to wait

until everything is perfect.

His dominance over Micky Ward

is increasing as the fight goes on

because his technical plan

was the right one and he's executing it.

Punches like these make it seem...

...that it's now Neary's fight.

Ward hasn't been in this kind of war

with this strong of fighter as Neary.

They are trying

to hurt each other with every punch.

They've tested each other's will,

now they're testing each other's skill.

And Ward wobbled there

by a right cross from Neary!

Ward hurting now. His legs are gone.

Neary goes to the body

as he tries to finish Micky.

Vicious body shots from Neary.

And Ward still doesn't

even try to move off the ropes!

I don't know if he can, Jim.

He's waiting for Neary

to punch himself out.

Down goes Micky Ward! He may be out.

That ain't f***in' it!

- One... two...

- Come on! That's it!

- That's my boy!

- Forward! Forward! Come on!

Ward is out on his feet.

Loser! Go back to America!

- This could be it for Micky Ward.

- Dicky, give him the f***in' stool.

Charlene, will you get

the f*** outta here.

He needs to f***in' sit down!

His brother's got

Ward jumping to wake up his legs.

I think this could be Ward's last chance

to turn this fight around.

It's Micky Ward

against the aggressiveness

and clean punching of Shea Neary.

If you don't have your defense up,

you can really get hurt.

He's making it very

difficult for Micky Ward.

I don't think he's gonna

get into it at this rate.

This is a survival mode...

Are you like me? Was just

good enough to fight Sugar Ray?

Never had to win, did I?

You gotta do more in there.

You gotta win a title.

For you, for me, for Lowell.

This is your time, all right?

You take it.

I had my time and I blew it.

You don't have to.

All right?

You f***in' get out there,

and use all the sh*t

that you've been through,

all the sh*t we've gone through

over the f***in' years

and you put it in that ring right now.

This is yours. This is f***in' yours.

OK. F***in' head, body, head, body.

Say it back to me.

F***in' say it back to me.

- Head, body, head, body.

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