8
THE CHAMP

“How does it feel to be in here?” Nate asked.

“Scary. Like I don’t belong,” Tommy said. The arena seemed huge. He felt so small.

“Yeah. I know that feeling. Mister Fay says you have skills.”

Tommy shrugged. “But I choke.”

“We’ll see about that. Let’s do some work. Out of those shoes.”

They each took off their shoes. Tommy faced the champ.

“Take me down,” Nate told Tommy.

“You’re kidding.”

Nate shook his head. “Nope. Take me down. What’s the best way?”

Tommy thought a second. With a big guy like Nate, the best way was to get behind him. Drive his knees forward. Then Tommy could trip him. Nate would face-plant.

“I could—”

“Don’t say it,” Nate told him. “Do it.”

Tommy did it.

To his shock, Nate went down face-first. A second later, he was up on his feet.

“Faster,” Nate advised. “Do it again.”

Tommy did it again. Faster. Nate went down one more time.

“Again. Much faster. And try some other moves too.”

For the next ten minutes, Tommy took Nate down. He did it twenty ways. He focused. The only thing in the world was him, Nate, and the mat.

“Good,” Nate told him. “Now, one more time. End it with an arm bar.”

Tommy did. The champ’s cry of pain was real. He tapped out. Then he grinned. That’s what you’ll do against Don.”

Tommy shook his head sadly. “Are you kidding? He’ll fight back. There’ll be all these people screaming.”

Nate grinned. “The crowd gets to you? The yelling?”

Tommy nodded. “Yup. It’s like I have super ears.”

“It happened to me. Back when I was starting out. I know what to do about that. Try these.”

Tommy watched as Nate dug into his pants pocket. Then he opened his hand to show Tommy what he had.

Earplugs. Two foam earplugs.

Tommy cracked up. “I should wear those in the cage?”

Nate shrugged. “Why not?”

“Hey, hey!” Mr. Fay led the class back onto the arena floor. “Who won?”

“No winner,” Nate said. “Just practice.” He put out his fist to bump Tommy. Tommy fist-bumped with him.

“See you tomorrow,” Nate told him.

“Thanks, champ.”

On the ride back to fight school, Tommy sat next to Ben. He didn’t say much. The work with Nate had helped. But he was still worried. Don Moore was so big. He closed his eyes. It did not help. There was a movie in his mind. It was him and Don in the cage. Don had him down. Don was punching him. The ref watched. Tommy tapped out. But the punches kept coming.

“Hey! Check this out.”

Tommy opened his eyes. “What?”

Ben was looking at him. “What were you just thinking about?”

Tommy sighed. “Getting my butt kicked.”

Ben poked him with his elbow. “Well, I think I can stop that. Look.” Ben tapped his phone a few times. Up came a video. He gave his phone to Tommy.

Tommy started the video. It was a fight film of Don Moore. Tommy watched him crush a smaller kid with just five kicks and four punches.

“How’d you find this?” Tommy asked.

“Google. He probably doesn’t even know it’s there.”

Tommy moaned. “Great. What a big help. The guy is a killer. He’s gonna kill me.”

Ben shook a finger at him. “Don’t you get it? He’s a striker. Just like you. We can study this. We can figure out how to beat the guy.”