She asked, ?Is this seat taken?? She sat beside me. She was a fox. She smelled like a bed of roses. She had tattoos on her feet?
I was first row ringside at the Alamodome. I wasn?t with the press. I was with Michael Schmidt. El Bastardo Magnifico travels first-class. Hence the good seat. Hence the good view. Hence the good company.
But we were crammed together like sardines in a can. Shoulder to shoulder, leg to leg, I was glad Broner?s father wasn?t beside me. Schmidty the Thin Man was to my right. For much of the undercard, the seat to my left was empty.
The televised portion of the card was about to begin when a goddess appeared. She was young. She wore six-inch heels. She was dressed to the nines. Black on black from the top her head to the tips of her toes, she was fecund like Dorothy Dandridge, a wide-eyed innocent like teenage Diana Ross.
She asked, ?Is this seat taken??
She sat beside me. She was a fox. She smelled like a bed of roses. She had tattoos on her feet.
I didn?t pay her much mind. A fight was a few yards away. She could have smelled like freshly baked bread or a hot house full of orchids. No matter. She was competing with the fights.
But she was gorgeous, too gorgeous to ignore. I glanced at her between rounds. She noticed but didn?t look up. She was staring at her smartphone.
I focused on the phone in her hand. I had to know what was so compelling.
It was herself. She was looking at photos of herself.
She didn?t see Shumenov starch Kovacs. She ignored the war between Santa Cruz and Cesar Seda. She missed the rise of Keith Thurman and fall of Soto Karass.
She was busy, staring at photos of herself, staring at photos of herself with Adrien Broner.
She caught me looking over her shoulder.
?I?m Adrien?s fianc?,? she said. Her voice was sweet like maple syrup, rich like blackstrap molasses.
I said nothing but thought ?Congratulations.?
When Broner approached the ring she put away her phone. She got to her feet and remained standing. It looked like she?d never been to a fight before.
At the opening bell she shouted, ?Let?s go babe.?
When Maidana floored Broner in round two, I heard her ask, ?What is he doing??
At some point during the fight, Broner glanced at his fianc?. He looked puzzled and shrugged his shoulders. It was endearing. It was almost philosophical.
