“You need to go to the hospital.”

“If you say that one more time, you’ll need to go to one yourself.”

Throughout the limo drive home, Azuku glanced at Manny with tired eyes, squinting to see if he was alright.

“Aren’t you pushing 70?” Manny asked seconds later. “Shouldn’t you be worried about yourself?”

“I’m your coach. It’s my responsibility to-”

“Not any more. I’ve retired.”

The old man sighed heavily, stroking a rather impressive bushy grey beard. “I’m your friend. It’s my responsibility to ensure you don’t do anything stupid.”

“What’s stupid about going home?” Manny hissed. “My family is waiting for me you worrisome fart. Besides, they have a little party planned. We can’t leave them waiting.”

As always, the attempts to provoke his former coach failed and he was only met with a stern look. “You’ve just come from a brutal title match. Any wise human being would get himself checked at the hospital.”

Manny rolled his eyes. “Tomorrow, old man. Listen, I’m feeling good. All patched up and the doctors saw no problems. No concussions. No seeing stars. I mean, have you seen the other guy? Now that bastard needs the hospital. If my bad memory serves me correctly, he got knocked down twice!"

Azuku scoffed though began to smile. “His technique was better than yours in round one, five, eight, nine, and ten. He landed almost twice as many shots than you and was hit less times than you. Let’s not forget how he slept you in round six. I have never seen such lousy form in my life quite frankly.”

Manny frowned for a split second before howling with laughter.

Of course. Only Azuku. It didn’t matter how many wins he had under his belt or the fact that he had been the strongest heavyweight fighter for almost two decades. The old man would always dig up the negative parts to humble him, which he actually appreciated. Any undefeated champion needed the occasional ego deflation.

For a long while, the ride was silent. Manny slouched on the leather couch and stared at the blue glowing ceiling of the limo caused by the LED track lighting. He reached for an ice chest and took out a complimentary water bottle.

Without the old man, Manny wouldn’t have been able to become the undisputed king of the heavyweight division. It was as simple as that. Not only did Azuku teach him boxing but he was the sole reason he entered the ring in the first place. Before professional boxing, to put it bluntly, he was a dude who loved punching people. In other words, a bit of a mad lad. Unlike the average civilian who ran away from brawls, he joined in, eager to take part in the chaos.

In his late teens, he stood at a crossroads in his life, on the verge of being heavily involved in gang crime. Azuku saw the future champion's embryonic talent when he happened to observe him in a street fight He offered a free boxing lesson and the rest was, quite literally, history.

And with a height of 6 ft 11 from the age of 17 and a tenacious fighting spirit, it didn’t take a genius to see the potential. Manny’s hands were almost as large as saucepans, practically designed for clobbering people. Physique alone, however, was not enough for him to not get his ass beat. Even with his natural advantages, he still lost his fair share of street fights because, despite being a hard hitter, he was subpar in almost every other skill required for fighting due to his obesity. Stamina, technique, speed, accuracy, agility, and footwork were all close to non-existent. He was basically the quintessential bouncer— a mountain of a man who could intimidate but could easily be avoided.

Fast forward two decades and Manny’s physical abilities could best be described as monstrous. The bulky physique was still present but the layers of fat had been replaced with muscle. In the areas he didn’t have much natural talent for, such as reaction time and technique, he compensated with a scary work ethic and spent thousands of hours with his coach over a 20 year period, moulding his mind and body into a weapon.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Manny could never fully repay what Azuku did. The man had dedicated a great deal of his later life to cultivate and train a stubborn, hot-headed boy and stopped him from going down a much darker path.

“Thank you, coach.”

“Did you say something, Manny?”

“Um. No, it’s nothing.”

----------------------------------------

The sweet scent of Jollof rice wafted in the air, a popular African meal. It was the smell of home.

“Happy retirement!”

In a spacious living room, close friends and relatives smiled and applauded loudly, eyes beaming with pride. It was a fairly small group of people, just below twenty, but they were all Manny needed. Most of them had known him for more than a decade.

Usually after winning a boxing fight, Manny’s method of celebrating was by analysing it on his phone and figuring out how to improve further. Instead of partying, he went to his study office, sat down with reading glasses on and scribbled down notes. He replayed every round multiple times and watched with eager eyes, wincing at every punch taken and cheering at every critical blow inflicted. Dozens of questions would run through his mind—“Could I have executed that better? Was the timing for that punch slightly off there? Couldn’t I have finished him earlier in that round?”

Until now, for the most part, there had been no off switch. If he wasn’t boxing, he was watching boxing and if he wasn’t watching boxing he was training for boxing. But now, all of a sudden, a finish line had appeared and crossing it was an experience Manny couldn’t describe in enough detail. Retirement produced a bittersweet emotion too premature to be classified as nostalgia and lacked any ounce of regret.

Scratching his bald head, Manny grinned for the first time after his fight. “Thank you everyone. You’re making me feel extremely old, but thank you.”

His older sister, Yemi, rushed to hug him. “Congratulations, I’m so proud of you! You deserved to win against that cheating piece of… How dare that man… Can you believe that someone would… I was so…” She abandoned her attempts to finish a sentence and cried instead.

“She was terrified for no reason,” Shaun said, Yemi’s husband. “I knew you had it in the bag. Never a doubt in my mind. A solid win.”

Yemi sniffed. “That man is lying to your face. He said you were finished in round six.”

“Could! I said he could be finished in round six! Why do you gloss over the details, woman?”

Everyone in the room laughed.

“The champ always gets back up!” Richie boomed, Manny’s close friend.

“Those last words you said in the ring? Iconic. It gave me chills. We were planning to throw you up in the air as a way to celebrate but realised we wouldn’t be able to carry your fat ass.”

Manny raised an eyebrow. “Heavy is the word you’re looking for and I can’t believe you have the audacity to say that when you’re literally built like a balloon.”

The laughter continued and when the champagne finally poured, smiles grew wider.

Chilled jazz music began to play and everyone began to disperse and talk amongst each other. Some guests went out into the garden where there was a swimming pool while a few others snuck into the kitchen to get an extra serving of dinner.

Manny tapped Yemi’s shoulder. “Where’s Sonya?”

His sister gave him a look of concern. It was the same look she gave him during their childhood when he got in trouble at school and a beating from their parents was inevitable. “She’s been upstairs all evening.”

“Oh...”

“Yeah.”

“Do you think I should…?”

Yemi shrugged, stuffing a canape in her mouth. “Yes. No. Probably.”

Manny knew why his wife was mad but decided to put it in the back of his mind. The last thing he wanted was for them to get into an argument in the middle of a party. He sighed.

“How’s work at the hospital?”

Yemi’s eyes lit up. “Oh, good question!” she yelped giddily despite it being a relatively standard question.

Infected by her positive energy, Manny smiled as she went into detail about how one of the doctors in the wards displayed unprofessional behaviour. The story was easy to follow at first but then it got complex when three nurses and four doctors were introduced and then it somehow split off into three mini stories about other co-workers.

Although near impossible to follow, Manny didn’t mind listening to the story. In fact, he felt quite the opposite. It had been a while since they’d caught up and he enjoyed taking a peek into his sisters life.

She was happy. Yemi looked happy.

At the end of day, that’s what mattered the most. As long as she was doing good and managing to cope with the daily obstacles in her life then he was doing good too.

“Hey, do you think Mum and Dad would’ve been proud?” Manny blurted, almost surprising himself. It was a silly question but it had been resting in his mind since winning the title fight. He wanted someone to confirm.

Tears immediately welled up in Yemi’s eyes. “Of course.”