Fight Night in Chicago
4:10
Chris Booker
Fans and fighters from Chicago's United Center.
Broadcast: Jul 6 2006 on NPR Day to Day Subjects: Business, Sports
Getting Ready for Fight Night in Chicago
July 6, 2006 from Day to Day
ALEX CHADWICK, host: Okay, from tennis in urban areas to boxing and the fights at Chicago's United Center. Here is an audio postcard - Fight Night - sent in by producer Chris Booker.
(Soundbite of punching bag being hit)
Unidentified Man #1: When I start training boxing, when I start boxing, you know (unintelligible) in my life, you know? I was addicted. It was addiction.
Unidentified Man #2: I like it. It's my life.
Unidentified Man #3: This is a sport that very few men can aspire to. You know, fighting's not for everyone. It takes a big man just to be able to harness the fear of being able to climb through the ropes and take on another man's will with his own two hands.
(Soundbite of punching bag being hit)
Unidentified Man #3: Even though there's nothing I'm afraid of, no man that I'm afraid of. I love fighting; I'm a warrior.
(Soundbite of sparring match)
(Soundbite of bell ringing)
Unidentified Announcer: Ladies and gentlemen, from Chicago Illinois, let's get ready to rumble!
(Soundbite of cheering)
Unidentified Man #4: That's what everybody comes to boxing for, to see a knockout. I mean, I like the sweet science of boxing, too, but I mean just to get the climax and see somebody (unintelligible) it's top notch, top notch.
Unidentified Man #5: I mean, you don't get no help. You either have to be there, or you don't be there. If you don't come to fight, you've got a problem.
(Soundbite of crowd chanting)
Unidentified Man #6: I think, clearly, because it's so elementary, I think you see a lot of rawness that gets down to a very elemental aspect – a very essential aspect of what we are as humans.
(Soundbite of crowd cheering)
Unidentified Man #6: It's a sample, if you like, an imperative situation, where you've got to prevail against being preyed on.
(Soundbite of crowd cheering)
Unidentified Man #7: The intensity, you know, the training for the build up, you know, the violence, of course.
(Soundbite of crowd cheering)
Unidentified Man #8: It's truly been a spectacle, man. I really didn't expect to see what I saw tonight. It's been great. When you see it right in front of your eyes like that, you don't know what to think, but you're glad you say it.
Unidentified Man #9: It's the action, you know, it's unpredictability. Tonight, more than ever, it's the unpredictability.
Mr. LAMON BREWSTER (Boxer): I like taking care of my family, so sometimes it's necessary to knock a guy out, sometimes its necessary to box a guy, and I know at the end of the fight, win, lose, or draw, that it was just business, and that's all it is to me.
CHADWICK: That's heavyweight contender Lamon Brewster. We also heard from heavyweight Andrew Golota and Australian light heavyweight contender Paul Griggs(ph). Our story on Fight Night at Chicago's United Center was produced by Chris Booker, of Hearing Voices and The Chicago Tribune.
