Victory

“It doesn't count if you're already planning your defeat" Bob said.

“I am not planning for my defeat, I am just making sure I am prepared if I am defeated" Trevor said.

“Well then, my apologies. It just does not seem that you are preparing for a victory either" Bob responded.

“I do not want to jinx it" Trevor claimed.

“Oh, ok. Well Sven is much less likely to win than you" Bob assured Trevor.

“Yes, but he is also known to cheat. And this is a big event, it could lead to one of us getting into the pros” Trevor replied.

“Well, you never know who will win this fight or if that has anything to do with whether or not you would get into the pros. You have an amazing resume and one of the best win records" Bob said.

“You are my manager, so you have to say these lines" Trevor said.

“It is because I am your manager that I want it, but if I did not think it was possible I would not even bother managing you" Bob said.

“Well we will see, I do not want to get my hopes up" Trevor replied.

Trevor then got up from the bench in the gym they were in, and went to shower as he had just been cooling down from the pre game workout.

Bob waited in the gym for Trevor to finish showering.

Trevor put the heat up as much as possible in the water, and he stood under the water to just let it wash over him. Trevor was trying not to think about his upcoming fight, it was the biggest of his life. There would be acoustic there and how he performed would be key to his attempts at getting into professional fighting.

Trevor took a deep breath and counted to 10 to still his mind and the uncontrollable thoughts. Trevor wanted to follow his fathers footsteps, he had been a world wide famous fighter. He was well respected and very beloved. Often, Trevor felt like he was in competition with the world for his dad's attention.

Once Trevor's dad died from an accident suddenly, he knew that his father would never be as much of part of his life as he had hoped. Trevor's dad always promised that once he retired he would see him so much more.

After he died Trevor was angry, angry at the world, angry at his dad for leaving him, angry at God for taking his dad. Because of this he got in a lot of trouble as a kid, picking fights, always fighting with his mom, and going to juvenile court for petty crimes.

Trevor's mom tried everything a grief therapist, a psychiatrist, grounding him and taking everything away to indulging him in everything he wanted to hopefully get him sick of it, she even tried church intervention. There was nothing his mother could do to get him on the right track.

It was Bob who stepped in, he was Trevor's fathers manager until he passed away. He had come into Trevor's life and helped him channel his anger into something more productive, boxing. It allowed him to fight and get out aggression and had a set of rules that he had to follow.

Trevor became entrenched in boxing, he loved knocking somebody out and being declared a winner for doing so. Boxing also made Trevor feel closer to his father, he wanted so badly to follow in his footsteps. Attempting to follow In his father’s footsteps.

Trevor had a great appreciation for everything that he did. As a child he just knew his dad as a boxer he had no idea how much work had actually gone into actually getting to that level of fame.

It would mean everything to Trevor to get into the pros and follow in his father's footsteps. Trevor had hoped that his father would look down on him and be proud. All he had to do was win this one fight, just one more fight.

The problem was his opponent was undefeated, and ruthless. He feared that he would lose and underperformed, but he wanted to win, and wanted to go professional.

His opponent was named Sven, Trevor never met him before. But he felt as though he had met him before, he had the same mannerisms as many bullies before him. They were intimidating, and loud unnecessarily because they think it overpowers everyone they meet.

Trevor also knew that these kinds of people did things like this because they were always afraid, afraid of the world, afraid of being seen by other people as a regular flawed human not a God. But their fear did drive them, and Trevor knew he had to fight against this. Trevor had his pain and anger from his childhood trauma, but that did not always win out.

Trevor’s shower was fading to luke warm now, he knew he had to actually cleanse himself. So Trevor washed his hair and body quickly then got out of the shower. Trevor looked at the time he took much too long in the shower thinking much too much when he did not want to, so; he was running late now.

Trevor got dressed quickly, and met with Bob back inside the gym.

Bob got up “Let's go we are running late we have to get to the stadium. You are not blowing your big chance by not showing up"

“OK, let's go then" Trevor replied.

They left the gym, and got into Bob's car. Bob drove them to the stadium quickly, they went to Trevor's dressing room. Trevor's team was there, after he dressed into his uniform he went out into the team cheering him on. The team kept telling him he was going to win.

Trevor loved his team but was really annoyed with them, he really just wanted to be told that he would have to work hard to defeat this particular opponent. But that was not their job, their job was to pump him up.

The rest of the night felt like a haze, he got into the ring they went three rounds, it was very competitive. Neither one had knocked the other out though they both tried. It came down to number of legal hits. With only 1 more than his opponent Trevor had won.

That very same night he was offered a spot in the pros. And he did not have to feel guilty because they were as equally impressed by Sven and he also got an offer.

Trevor went that night to his father's grave site and put his old boxing gloves on the corner of his gravestone.

Trevor said to his father's grave “I hope I made you proud"