#Nine Passengers

[H2O Man]

55. On the other hand,

while both of our parents sought to discourage my brothers & I from boxing, our mother did so because she considered it brutal, while our father thought the mob owned the sport. When a former world champion offered my oldest brother an exclusive, ten year contract, my brothers & I were excited. It was sight unseen, as the guy had never watched my brother fight. Dad and his brother met with the guy, and came back saying no way, the guy is a mobster. (My brother was too young to signa contract.)

We thought our father a stick in the mud, and our uncle a red neck. That uncle even warned us about a promoter we often fought for. My middle brother and I saw him ringside at MSG at Ali vs Frazier 2. He always treated us well. A few years later, our uncle awarded the guy a vacation in federal prison for mob activities.

Decades later, someone I trusted 100%, who had been a union leader, told me that when he had talked to that promter/ construction company owner, the guy said he wanted my brother for two reasons: first, he was a vicious fighter who could beat up union activists, and second, so he would have my uncle's "balls in his hand."