"Not too bad for a grandpa, I guess."
A grandpa?
"I'm 40," he said. "I was born in 1964, August 19."
Yul Witherspoon, a heavyweight boxer brought in to face young fighters on the rise, puts up with long journeys and hardships to stay in the sport.
(Jonathan Newton - The Washington Post)
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• More photos of Yul Witherspoon's journey from Louisiana to his bout against up-and-comer Chazz Witherspoon.
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His older stepchild has two sons.
"I want to say, this might be it, I really think so. Boxing has kept me feeling young, you know what I mean? I was fighting for my grandchildren; no, it was for me, I was fighting for me. But this was a different level. This is like going-to-the-hospital kind of pain. It's not worth it . . .
"My ear hurts and my feelings hurt. It's like a kid falls down and you say, 'Oh, you're all right.' Your feelings are hurt."
Witherspoon and Soileau took a long time getting changed and cramming all their stuff back into duffel bags. They could hear the crowd but whatever was happening was of no concern to them. Witherspoon began moving around, as if trying to walk off the experience. Not an hour had passed when he said: "The more time goes by, I'm thinking I want to get back in there. I'm a glutton for punishment."
Much later, the fights were done. He stood waiting at the front door, for the van.
He'd be back home in Louisiana the next afternoon, and that was good. There certainly was no promise in what was left of this day. It was approaching midnight and, as he looked around, almost everyone had gone.
