98: Throwing the First Punch
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Pierre is tan and it practices and matches of the Stateway Park gladiators, his community boxing team. At the end of a fight, if Pierre needs that extra boost, he has a special technique. He says he got it thinking about the cartoon "The Incredible Hulk". Because I'll think about it, "The Hulk" on the box of the team. It's an incredible Hulk. Though you're down and still, you go wild and it's done. When he spires, here's what happens. His buddies and the team, go back coach Frank Smith, start chanting. [Crowd chanting] And then Pierre, in the middle of the ring, starts to shake. His whole body vibrates. His head lowers, his eyes get glassy. He transforms from a loser into somebody who dominates with punches. The crazy flurry of hitting. He started hitting me so hard, and I get mad, taking us loose, and I'm turning the Hulk. [Crowd chanting] Yeah, I look out wild, silly. But when I get to punching, I ain't gonna be no, I ain't gonna be no traps. It's gonna be hard. Like, uh, we don't find people. And they win in bells and stuff. [Crowd chanting] A guy named Max Kellerman, who does his public access TV show called Max unboxing, told me this story. He said that in Muhammad Ali's biography, I always said that when he was hit really hard in the ring, he would enter this room in his mind. A room he says that all boxers enter when they beat hard enough. And on the wall of the room, were these masks. And at some point, Ali had a fight where he took a real pounding, and he entered the room, and he looked around at the masks. And he realized that he could put one of the masks on. So he did. And he says that's how he was able to last the round. [Crowd chanting] It's the most natural thing in the world to punch someone in the face. And it's also the most unnatural. You have to psych up. You have to transform yourself. You have to do something. To become the person who could put himself or herself straight into danger. And throw the punch. And then, once you become that person, once you become that, then who are you? Well, for WBEC Chicago and Public Radio International, it's this American life on our glass. Today on our program, throwing the first punch. And who you become when you're able to throw the first punch. And how hard it is to stop being the person who throws the first punch. Round one, I would probably slug Jesus, a nice guy from Brooklyn explains why he loved to fight in bars. And how hard it is to stop. Round two, deboldly go where no woman has gone before. The story of someone who finds the thing that means more to her than anything in the world is boxing. And why she has to give it up. Round three, fighting his work. A man who, at 2.30 in the morning, in a club in Chicago, takes on all comers. And beats him. And well. And why for him it's just a job. Stay with us. Round one, meaning Howard grew up in Brooklyn in a working class Irish enclave. He learned to fight with the other kids there. And he loved fighting, saw himself as a bully. Such a committed fighter that when he got older, he became the first person to get suspended from Vassar College for fighting. And now he's trying to stop. He's trying to stop being the one who always throws a punch. But moving from that world, into the world that most of us inhabit, isn't easy. He spoke with Paul Taft. Heidi takes the cap at home every night, which is $8.50. And we took this ride that ended up being $11. Clearly the meter was fast. And I said to the guy, give me the receipt. I'm not going to pay for the ride. And he said, you know, oh, I knew the meter was fast. I meant to get that fixed. One thing went to another and I basically snapped and grabbed him and pulled him up. He was outside of the cab and I was outside of the cab. And I threw him inside the cab and slammed the doors on his legs. And he drove away. So was it like a stand-up sort of thing where the two of you were standing outside the cab, sort of shoving each other? Yeah, you pay me up. You pay me. No, I won't pay you. You pay me. No, I won't pay you. And then he said that I was an enemy of the people. Which, since he was ripping me up, seemed like a pretty outrageous client. But I snapped and I, you know, just charged him. That's a failing on my part. I mean, I should be able to, I should be able to take his number and complain to the types of enemies in the commission. And take him to court the right way. You know, there's always a way out of a fight.
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