The Name of the Game

Chapter 1: Leading To Jason's First Fight

Jason's fat-to-fit transformation led him to explore a sport he didn't expect to have interest before - boxing. Before that, he was just occasionally watching some professional boxing matches, and he couldn't help but be amazed by how the boxers maintain their body shape.

But now, he thought of trying the sport himself.

After Jason had consulted with Marvin about the former's plan, the latter readily contacted one of his maternal uncles who was a boxing coach.

However, the uncle was in Naga, far south, so Marvin acted as Jason's coach until the latter would graduate and be able to travel hundreds of kilometers south.

Jason proved to be a disciplined trainee. Marvin didn't have a hard time in training his bigger buddy; in fact, Jason was even the more zealous one in boxing training.

At home, Jason would often do shadow boxing and other workout routines to keep himself in shape. Every now and then, he would do jogging and brisk walking to improve his agility and footwork.

Until April of 1994 came. Jason graduated from the university with a bachelor's degree in political science. But after graduation, instead of preparing for law school as his parents originally wanted, he travelled with his friend Marvin to Naga to meet Marvin's uncle who would train Jason.

Marvin's uncle, Arturo Gerona, was a professional boxer. After Arturo retired in 1991, he applied for license as a boxing trainer. Using part of the proceeds from his matches, he built a boxing gym in downtown Naga to help other boxing aspirants.

Jason was immediately enrolled in the boxing gym. There he was assessed, after which he stared training.

Jason was naturally right-handed, but in the training, he preferred fighting with a southpaw stance. This baffled Jason's trainer, Arturo.

"Why do you fight in southpaw when you're right-handed?" Arturo asked.

"I prefer throwing punches with my right hand first," Jason answered.

However, after further experimenting, Jason found out that he could also do an orthodox stance.

And so, Jason tried to switch stances occasionally during training. This further startled his trainer.

"Oh, you would confuse your opponent," Arturo remarked.

"Well, would that not be nice, uncle?" Jason asked in response.

"I guess so," Artruro answered.

Months passed and soon the annual amateur tournament in Cebu drew close. Arturo and his assistants tried to register Jason for the tournament. After two weeks, Jason was admitted into the tournament.

Now, Jason had a few weeks ahead of him to train for his first amateur match.