Jack's Relevant Fighting Career

Andrew was ringing Jack's phone- he picked up right off the bat; Andrew's telling him it's not good for him any more. *Like, I'm not his fighter.* Jack thinks; "Listen, I can make you more money Jack- I know you're gonna make a good showing, but this kid from Thai is gonna mess up your day. I don't know what kind of duck they're putting in the whateva-Pho out there but this kids muscles are gonna shred everyone's plans up and turn them into this kids Prize shiney medal, and only 7% of the fruit sucking world is going to be betting on him."

"Yeah yeah, I hear ya." Jack told him. "You're not betting on me- but I am."


I started a short writing practice awhile ago that I titled "Jack's Relevant Fighting Career". The relevancy of his career is that he was going to use any prize earnings to do something good for the world. I've been coming up with ideas to make it into a more complete story that could theoretically be turned into a novel. I've since become vegan- the inspiration behind Jack was always that he was a moral person, and as I'd been working on becoming a more moral and disciplined person over time, Jack has become a sort of alternate fantasy of myself.

So far, Jack is a really mellow, modest guy who works with his lifelong mentor Mark, who owns a hemp farm and produces hemp ethanol. Mark's been teaching him how to train and fight, and Jack decides to try his hand at the largest most prestigious fighting competition in the world. I'm thinking of using kick-boxing as an inspiration. I don't know how much I can learn about wresting, which is a part of MMA. Maybe I'll change my mind, but I do like the idea of a stand up fight.

I've got a couple of other characters so far; one of Jack's 'friends' is into betting on sports and plans on betting on Jack, but learns about some Korean kid and changes his bet, telling Jack to bet against himself too. Another is like, a junior high school kid that Jack is like a mentor to, who has issues with going vegan and is taunted by kids for being vegan in school- so I've been thinking about including a scene where Jack talks with the principle and organizes a field trip for the kids to a slaughterhouse. All the kids hear is that they get to skip school and they're ready to go along with the plan.

Here's a part of that practice:


"Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack." Mark shouted, at each of Jacks punches flinging violently against the big punching bag. "You're going'a be fighting a real man, Jack, look at me."

Jack bounced around, with Mark out of his line of sight for awhile before turning towards him. Mark was patiently stripping down and got his gloves on when he suddenly charged at Jack. Jack wasn't expecting to get a read on the guy, hesitated before Mark picked which arm he was gonna throw his punch with, just enough to find the initiative to dodge the left to his head while throwing that uppercut, jab. Mark was out of it though; fancy, he'd be able to back out of that without a bruise.

Mark waited around, but you know it, he was soon back in it -- no waiting around, he really wanted to fight. He started throwing some half-hearted punches at Jack -- real good offense too, Jack wasn't punching back no way, no how. Mark backed off because Jacks knees were starting to look pretty dangerous -- guys legs were like springs. Started circling, throwing punches at Jack. He could see it in Marks' eyes, "I'm no punching bag, man."

Jack started laughing; he stepped into threat range quickly and started on the aggression, aiming for Marks arms, attacking right into his blocks. Mark threw Jacks fists back at him, pushing him back, but Jack wanted in, he hopped with a haymaker out of nowhere.
Marks ribs were taking this, but he took it as an opportunity to get arm control -- he threw himself back, took the blow to the rib and secured Jacks wrist and elbow; Jack came in with a fist swerving in towards Marks' chin, with it connecting ineffectively.
Mark had a helluva time pulling on Jacks arm, hesitated before preparing to block another jab from Jack, but held Jacks arm firmly as Jack went to slip his grappled arm through to connect with Marks' ribs.
Using this initiative, Mark went in for the leg kick, and jabbed his leg right into Jacks shin.

Not too hard, though; Jack backed off, shook around in his body armor, then settled into the gravity of the floor. Jack spoke up, "I see what you mean. The way you shift your momentum. There's no predicting that."

Jack stayed around for awhile, shadowboxing invisible opponents- hoping to deal some real damage in without taking any damage himself. When you're fighting another guy you gotta think about his well being sometimes too, ya know?
When Jack went home he stopped off at the Level grocer and started picking out beans rice and spices when he thought back to his dog Black and circled back around the store to the deli and picked out a slab of raw cow. Saw a couple of dames walkin' around too- looked good. Not very colorful, but fit for sure.