Uppercut

Tension is rising, the crowd is going nuts while the two giants collide with one another to survive.

As the bell rings for the last round of their fight, they sit on the ring side while the crowd is excited for the next round. This is the longest minute for the crowd and shortest one for the boxers.

Vicky, the underdog who made it to the mainstream boxing surprised the crowd just by surviving this long against the beast Rony. Vicky’s got a black eye, a dislocated shoulder and a fractured wrist. The blood kept oozing out of his forehead for the blows he took during the previous rounds. On the other hand, Rony’s got a fractured elbow and a swollen hand. Time's out.

Vicky’s coach takes out the jaw clips and puts a bucket in front of him. Vicky coughs out blood into the bucket; he realizes that he coughed out not only his blood but also his confidence and desire to win. He looks at himself for a second through the water and starts to worry about his composure. 20 seconds hit on the clock. Vicky’s coach slaps him on the cheek and squeezes the supplement into his mouth. He cleans the forehead wound with cotton and puts an ice bag on the black eye. His friend tries to massage him on the shoulder but Vicky gasps out with pain. He never felt this before - the adrenaline, the fear and dizziness in the head. Everything around him looks like a stuttering movie, slowly he starts to loose focus. 40 seconds hit on the clock.

“You can do this champ! You were born to win the belt! You waited for this round your entire life, remember the training, focus! Forget about your wounds, forget about your life, forget about the crowd, it's only a lion and a deer standing on this ring. Choose who you want to be! He’s your prey and knock him out before you starve to death! Every jab and uppercut you took should be worth it! Now go hunt that deer to survive!” Said the coach.

60 seconds hit on the clock.

The bell indicates the time to enter hell as Vicky stands up and clamps his fists over his jaws. The sweat spills out like water onto his gloves. They both look into each other’s eyes with a desperation to win. As the referee backs out, both the boxers are now free to break their bones. Everything around Vicky slows down a notch and he can sense that his power level is completely depleted.

Rony lands a jab with ease and Vicky can't even move his head; his instincts are completely dead. With a single jab, Rony gains the upper hand in the fight. Rony changes into his signature stance and starts landing jab after jab while Vicky stands there defenseless. Every jab takes away the functioning elements from his brain. Vicky can't take the blows and to start a counterattack, he goes for a blind punch to his ribs and misses deliberately, Rony gets into defense by covering his lower body with his shoulder. As Vicky loses his balance over the counterattack, Rony takes this to his advantage and moves his left leg diagonally and lands a powerful right uppercut to his chin.

The crowd is shocked with the blow they never saw coming. Rony put every bit of his energy into this uppercut and for the first time in the match Vicky was down.

Vicky’s system collapses; he can neither hear nor see. Everything around him starts fading away. It's like he has gone into a completely different world. Blood spills out from his mouth and the referee starts counting.

His body is numb, his brain isn’t functioning, he is ready to give up. Suddenly he hears a voice - a voice not from his brain but his heart. The voice is his heart beat. Vicky’s body starts resonating to his heart beat. In his childhood his heart chose boxing, his heart chose this as his passion, his heart couldn’t see him fail. It’s like there was a fight between his mind and his heart. His mind says to him to give up but his heart still wants to fight. Now every jolt of pain reminds him of his rigorous training sessions. Every jab he took in insulted him saying that he was weak, he couldn’t take it. He is frustrated that he is down and thinks that he doesn't belong here on the ground before his opponent’s legs. His dream is right in front of him; at this moment he is willing to die to fulfill it. With every count from referee, a small sparkle ignites in his heart that turns into flame and slowly becomes a fire - a fire that he never saw coming. This time he doesn't feel anything, he is calm, he is looking dangerous, he feels all his desire to win, he imagines a deer in front of him that is ready to become his meal. He pushes his body up with his fists and gets back on his knees. He looks at his prey like he would hunt it with ease and get back on the ring.

He looks dangerous as a lion and calm as a wolf; he doesn't see anything but a deer in front of his eyes.

Rony is startled by Vicky’s composure; to test his status, Rony moves forward and lands a punch only this time missing it even though he thought he landed perfectly.

Vicky ducks down, pushes his left hand into his ribs, moves back to counterattack Rony’s jab with a punch, bends sideways to land a clean right uppercut. Every punch is a comeback from Vicky. This ruthless attack breaks Rony’s rib, jaw and chin. The beast is down for the first time. Vicky stands there with silence; he waits for his prey to move but there is no sign of movement. He doesn't know where that fire came from, but it came at the right place and right time. Those few seconds where he refused to give up made him the undisputed champ showcasing one of the best matches of all time. Vicky achieved his dreams the moment he thought they were worth dying for.