Excerpt from Chapter 10 – “Mr. Gray”

Slowly, the reels began to turn and, moments later,
as we stopped reminiscing, again we heard the
voice of fight announcer Jack Drees on the tape recorder.
“…and there’s the bell ending round nine here at the
Miami Beach Auditorium, and if you’re just tuning in on your
radio, you’ve been missing one action-filled bout between two
raging bulls at opposite stages of their careers. It’s been a slambam
affair all the way between the Bronx Bull, former middleweight
champ Jake LaMotta, veteran of one-hundred five
fights entering tonight, with eighty-three wins, thirty by knockout,
versus young Bobby Stitch from Middletown, Connecticut,
just outside of Hartford, with a record of sixteen wins and no
defeats, all of those wins by way of knockout. I’d say it’s either
man’s fight going into the tenth and final round. Stitch had the
better of the going early on in the bout, hammering Jake with
solid shots to the head and body, even staggering him in the second
round. But then LaMotta rallied in the middle rounds, using
his vast experience to rattle the youngster with some clubbing
rights, especially in rounds five and six. But as I just reported to
you, Stitch stormed back in the ninth, staggering LaMotta with
a pair of vicious left hooks that had Jake hanging on for dear life.