My name is Nick Jones, and I’m a boxer. I have been boxing for a few years now and I have never gotten anywhere with it. My trainers’ name was coach Gonzalez. He had shaped 15 championship fighters before me. The pressure was on for me to win the championship this year.

  Coach Gonzalez found me at the bag. “Get ready, in two weeks, you fight Corosa.” “Win this, we go to championship. I trained hard for the next weeks and finally, Friday morning, I felt ready. As coach Gonzalez gave ma pep talk and did a last few minute drills, the called me out to the ring. There was maybe 250 people watching, but that wasn’t why I was nervous. I was nervous because the outcome of this fight would decide who goes to the championship and who goes home. The ring was about 15 feet all around circle with two dirty gray ropes around it. Not too much room to move around.

  After I took my place in the far-right corner, Corosa was called out to the ring. I am 5’10 175 pounds. Corosa was 6’0 175 pounds. So, Corosa had an arm length advantage, but I didn’t let that bring me down. As Corosa entered the ring he gave me a dirty look that told me this wasn’t going to be an easy or clean fight. “Good luck p****,” Corosa whispered to me as we shook hands. The referee told us, “Get ready…FIGHT!”

  As I approached Corosa, he hit me in the jaw before I could even put my hands up. As I staggered back, dazed, I put my hands and crept in. He threw a right hook, in which I dodged easily, and countered with an upper-cut. Corosa staggered back almost falling, and I rushed him and started swinging at him while he was dazed. I got five clean hits in and he hit the floor. DING!!! The bell rang, which signaled the end of the fight. The crowd went wild and so did my coach. I couldn’t believe it, I won in 2 minutes and I would be going to the championship for the first time in three years of boxing.

  As I got back to the gym, my coach called me over to him. “Congratulations kid, you finally made it, I am proud of you son.”

  However, even though I just won the match, I only had six weeks to prepare for the championship. I would have to work harder than I have ever worked. I ran endlessly, hit the punching for hours, practiced defense and blocking for days. Finally, after six weeks of intense training, the game was finally upon me.

  Despite all that hard work, I didn’t feel ready. I wasn’t confident I was going to win this. I was going to be facing Brown, who had an undefeated season and was a staggering 6’2 easily 200 pounds. This time there was 2000 watching, and the time I was nervous because my parents and my girlfriend was out there watching me. I did not want to lose in front of them, so I kept on telling myself I could win this, but no matter how much I told myself this, no part of me believed it.

  After what seemed like hours, I was called out to the ring. As I was introduced, what seemed like half the crowd started screaming. I went to my corner in the far left, where coach Gonzalez was already standing. As I approached him he gave me a fist bump and said, “Kid, I believe in you, I know you can do this.” Even then I didn’t believe I could do it.

  Finally, Brown was called out to the ring, and the crowd went ballistic. At that moment I knew I was the underdog of this match. As Brown entered the ring, he too gave me a dirty look, just as Corosa did in my last match. As the referee called us to shake hands, the butterflies in my stomach really took flight, and I began to feel nauseous. As I tried to pull myself together, the bell went off signaling the start to the match.

  I decided in that moment to play the outside and move around to avoid getting hit. Brown moved in with exceptional speed and threw a jab that connected, and I countered by throwing one back that missed. Brown started to move in on me and with amazing speed, threw jab after jab that connected. I threw up my hands and tried to stay on my feet and block as many hits as I can. I wanted to run away and give up, but that wasn’t option. I threw a couple jabs one connected but the other missed, but it didn’t seem to effect Brown. As he continued to move in I rushed to the outside, but got stuck in a corner. The bell went off, signaling the end to the first round.

  As I went to my corner, the coach asked me what happened out there. “I don’t know,” I said, “he is too quick.” The same thing happened for the next four rounds. Finally, I told the coach, “I give up, I can’t beat him” The coach slapped me and said, “You can do this, I’m not giving up on you kid.” “Believe in yourself, you can do this.”

  Finally, I believed I could do this. As I pulled myself together, I was ready for the fifth round. This time, instead of playing the outside, I was going to play the inside to change it up and throw him off guard. It worked, as he went in for the long punch, I ducked under, threw a right hook as hard as I could into his chin, and down he went. The bell sounded, and the crowd went mad. I could see my parents cheering and smiling at me and I couldn’t remember ever feeling better.

  As I thanked the coach for not giving up on me and making me believe in myself, I met my girlfriend and my parents. With my girls’ hand in mine, my parents hugging and congratulating me, and my championship belt on my shoulders, I walked out the ring and into the crowd to be announced the winner, I never felt better or prouder of myself in my entire life.

The End