Irish Thunder by Bob Halloran

Author:Bob Halloran
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Sport, Done, Non Fiction, Biography
Published: 2008-01-01T13:00:00+00:00

The Roxy is an intimate setting that can only accommodate about a thousand people. It’s a throwback to the days of club fighting. The inside of the Roxy is similar in appearance to the Lowell Auditorium or the Blue Horizon in Philadelphia. Each has a balcony surrounding the ring, and particularly at the Roxy and the Blue Horizon, the balcony hangs over the ring. It places a lot of people extremely close to the action and can create an excessively boisterous and rowdy environment. And that’s exactly what you had when the Roxy filled up with about 85 percent Lowell natives. The balcony was full, and there was standing room only on the floor. The fans were all there to see Ward get another shot at a title. The full bar was simply an ancillary benefit.

The room was dark except for the bright lights shining down on the ring. Micky appeared from the darkness wearing white trunks with a black stripe down either side. Thirty-four-year-old “Cool” Vince Phillips entered the ring in shorts striped in purple and silver. Phillips carried a record of 36 and 3, but he was unbeaten at 140 pounds. His only losses occurred when he moved up to welterweight. He and Micky both weighed 139 pounds for this fight.

Micky was already winning the first round when he landed two chopping overhand rights. The second one stopped Phillips in his tracks. As he paused to absorb the blow, Micky smacked him with a left hook to the jaw. It was a defensive lapse by Phillips, and it cost him. He came out in the second round a bit more cautious. By the end of the second round, however, Phillips started to find his range. He threw a vicious straight right hand that Micky seemed to catch on his forearm, but the force of the intended blow pushed Micky back against the ropes. Phillips followed in pursuit and started banging Micky with a cascade of lefts and rights. Micky blocked some. Others found their mark. Micky countered with effective lefts, but he received worse than he gave.

“Keep the heat on!” trainer Kenny Adams yelled at Phillips between rounds. “Don’t let this guy rest. Keep the heat on! You’re looking beautiful, baby. Beautiful. Just go out there and keep the heat on!”

Phillips stayed on the attack. Micky turned southpaw. That was his customary move, but this time it had even greater purpose. One of Phillips’s losses was to a guy named Anthony “Baby” Jones out of Detroit who effectively switched to southpaw and managed to beat Phillips four years earlier. That was in Jones’s backyard of Auburn Hills, Michigan.

But Phillips wasn’t confused by the switch at all. Instead, he pounded Micky’s right ribcage with solid left hands, and continued to sneak in some powerful rights. Micky stood his ground, landing a few good countershots of his own, but the fight turned suddenly with about fifty seconds remaining in the third round.

“Oh, and there’s some blood over the left eye of Micky Ward,” fight play-by-play man Dan Dierdorf exclaimed.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.