Chapter 6

The quarter finals were scheduled for Monday evening. Again we walked over to the gym, arm in arm. Tonight we would fight in reverse order, which meant I would fight first and Lisa would fight last. Once again Karen acted as my second. Lisa was sitting at ring side cheering me on. It was a tough fight, but near the end of the fourth round the referee stopped the bout when he determined that my opponent could no longer defend himself. I was greeted, with a hug and a kiss when I returned to my corner. I couldn't help looking over to where Lisa was sitting, but her seat was vacant, she was already in the locker room getting ready.

"Great fight Bob, I've got to go to Lisa now, See you later."

She climbed out of the ring and ran to the women's locker room; while I had my hand raised in victory. I hurried back to the men's locker room for a quick shower and got dressed. I didn't want to miss any of Lisa's bout. I got to ringside just as her opponent was getting into the ring. Big mouth looked even bigger and meaner than I remembered. He was pacing back and forth,

"Where's that chicken shit little girl; is she too scared to come out of the locker room?"

I almost missed Lisa climb into the ring. She smiled down at me, and then glared at big mouth.

"I'm right here, big mouth, we'll see who's the chicken shit in a couple of minutes."

All through the referee's instructions they just stared at one another; Lisa had to look up and actually looked small compared to him. I was really beginning to worry.

They went back to their corners, Karen giving her last minute instructions.

Then the bell sounded.

Lisa practically ran out of her corner; catching him only a couple of steps out of his. She hit him with a series of hard jabs, catching him on his left eye with each one, forcing him back into the corner. I'm not sure he even knew what was happening at this point. Out of instinct he threw his hands up to protect his face. That was all the opening that Lisa needed. With cruel intent, she buried left and right uppercuts into his soft belly and rib cage; each punch drawing a grunt out of his mouth. After the tenth uppercut; she backed off. He stood there momentarily, then sunk to his knees and fell face first to the canvas. He rolled into the fetal position, while the ref counted him out. He didn't know it but he had gotten off lucky. Last year she would have held him against the ropes, and thrown a series of lefts and rights to his head, breaking his nose and rendering him unconscious before she quit. When her hand was raised in victory, she walked over to the beaten fighter and extended her hand to help him up. He looked up at her with fear in his eyes; then grabbed her glove as she helped him to his feet. When the announcer proclaimed Lisa the winner by knockout at twenty three seconds of the first round, he lifted her hand in victory once again.

I think the only two people in the whole gym who weren't in a state of shock were Lisa and Karen. They hugged then left the ring. There was an eerie silence as I joined them on their walk back to the locker room. I thought to myself,

"I hope she doesn't do that to me."

After they came out of the locker room, I walked them to their house. We said our goodbyes at the door. We both had school work to do, and I for one was feeling at little intimidated by the awesome display I had just witnessed. As I walked down the stairs, Karen put her arm around my shoulder.

"I know what you're thinking; don't let it get to you, you have one more fight to get through before Friday's finals. Besides you're a lot better than he was. I bet you would have done the same thing."

With that, I got another kiss on the cheek, and she turned and ran into the house.

Now I had more on my mind than just our next fights. What was happening with Karen? I'd have to be really careful not to encourage her, especially around her sister. That could be very bad for my health.