"This is the story of a fight Walter Cartier." "Today is the fight." "Tonight at10:00 will be one of the moments which justify his difficult life." "At 6:00 on the morning of the fight, begins the toughest part of being a boxer - the waiting." "Walter is on the right of Vincent, his identical twin." "He doesn't mind the hard training, the four miles of road work every day, as much as the waiting." "Walter knows that each bout is more important than the one before, because he's rapidly climbing to the middleweight championship of the world and he must keep winning." "It's a long way until night." "Walter, wearing the bowtie, is 24." "He's a native of New York, and a fighter as far back as he can remember." "His father is away, and when he was a little boy he lost his mother." "Walter began to do exhibition boxing with his brother Vincent when they were three years old." "During the war, they fought exhibitions in the Navy where they were in the same outfit together." "Now, through the quiet morning streets of New York, the two boys walk to morning mass." "It's important for Walter to get holy communion in case something should go wrong tonight." "At Walter's three-room apartment where he lives with his aunt," "Vince is serving him breakfast." "He's a lawyer and Walter's manager." "Vince lives in New Jersey, but, in the slow hours before the fight, he's staying with his brother." "Now they live as they used to, years ago, the two boys and Walter's dog." "At noon, Walter gets a complete examination from the Commission doctor." "If he's not in perfect condition, the doctor can call off the fight." "But this doesn't trouble Walter." "What bothers him is the whole day's waiting, of which this is a part." "Sometimes he thinks of the men who don't pass, and he knows that he must." "And he does." "Meat is vital to Walter, it gives him the raw energy needed for fighting." "Dan Stampler owns the restaurant where Walter comes to eat every day." "He often sits proudly like this, with the boy he thinks will be champion." "This is Walter's second and final meal before the match." "Walter has a knockout punch in either hand, and he's one of the hardest-hitting middleweights in the ring." "He moves around his opponent, jabbing, shifting, looking for an opening, and then finishing the fight with one exploding punch." "He's won almost half of his 35 victories by these sudden KOs." "And now at 4:00, it'll be six hours until he enters the ring to try for his 36th." "No one ever told Walter to be a fighter." "His family was against it, but he just had the feeling for it." "On this day, the people around him feel the pain and fear." "But for Walter, the bad part is the waiting for the thing to happen." "Soon it's coming, he'll be glad when it's finally here." "His boxing gear has been carefully laid out for the ride to the arena, and is ready to be packed." "The time draws near and Walter prepares to go." "Above everything else in the world, Walter Cartier wants to be champion." "Unlike a lot of people, he's got something to move towards all the time, and that thing's the championship." "Nothing is going to keep him back from it." "He goes ahead and he never stops." "The fight Walter's riding to now in a friend's car may bring him nearer to the middleweight crown." "When it's over, there'll be another coming along and another one after that." "Always it's fighting and training and fighting again." "But always there's the goal." "At 8:00, in the small, hot dressing room behind the arena," "Walter moves into the last two hours of preparation." "In this hours, he can feel his body tightening, but it's a tightness that does not come from lack of confidence, it's the pressure of the last waiting here in a place where the walls are so close" "a man can barely move his body around." "If only the fight would come, then everything else will not be so bad." "Not really bad at all." "Bobby James is the man he's going to be fighting in one hour." "Walter has never seen him before, but when the fight's over, they'll both know a lot about each other." "Bobby has been in the ring with many of the top middleweights and has never been counted out." "That's something to think about." "At a time like this, it's almost as if the brothers were going into the ring together." "Time is a strange thing." "When you have a little of it and you want it to last, it scatters away in all directions and you never know where it's gone." "Twenty-four years are a long time, but, in a way, that's gone pretty quickly for a couple of boys." "It's only when you want the hours to go, like now, that time has a way of staring you in the face as it barely moves along." "But there isn't much of it left now, before the main event goes on, and everything's here at last." "As he gets ready to walk out to the arena and the 3,000 people who are there," "Walter is slowly becoming another man." "This is the man who cannot lose, who must not lose." "The hard movements of his arms and fists are different from what they were an hour ago." "They belong to a fierce, new person." "They're part of the arena man, the Walter Cartier that the crowd outside is going to see in 15 minutes." "A few moments are left." "He can almost hear the commissioner coming down the hall to call him." "'This is the feature contest." "Ten rounds." "'In this corner, from Greenwich Village, New York, 'weighing160 and a half," "'Walter Cartier!" "'" "'In the corner, from Jamaica, Long Island, 'weighing161," "'Bobby James!" "'" "Come on, Wally!" "Come on, dynamite!" "Come on, dynamite!" "Come on!" "Come on, Wally!" "Come on, dynamite!" "Come on, dynamite!" "Come on!" "Come on, Wally, come on, man!" "Nice and easy, Walt!" "Nice and easy!" "Come on, Walt, nice and easy!" "Go on, Wally, work him!" "He's done it." "He's KO'd Bobby James." "This is a fighter, Walter Cartier." "He's just moved up one more place in a line that may end with a championship." "It's a hard life, but to him it's worth all the hardship and the risk." "To him, it's worth everything."