BoxerTitle: Super Fly-Weight
Author: F.D. Pelzer
Category: Fiction

They call me Light-Weight Leonard. But really I’m super light-weight, I’m fly-weight, I’m super fly-weight. I can slip between the elastic bands without touching either. I’m in the ring with Kellen and he eyes me with his one twisted eye but it doesn't do anything to me. I punch my gloves together and duck my feet around.

     The ring of the bell. He comes on heavy, since he outclasses me. I came into the gym and queued up next to Kellen, never mind his crazy eye that peers at you from the future. It’s practice so nobody cares that he’s got thirty pounds on me, towers over me in the ring. Even I don’t care. It doesn’t matter that I’m taking the hits on my arms, my chest, my head. And for Kellen, well for Kellen I’m a punching bag that can move. I’m a guy he can pound without worrying about it.

     But when you're my weight and you still keep fighting in the ring you learn a few things. You learn how to slip a knee at the balls without the ref or coaches catching it. You learn how to pack the padding of your gloves without making them clunky or heavy despite the new stiffness. You learn to track down a motherfucker who's been seeing your girl behind your back.

     Stacy probably called Kellen, let him know what was coming for him in the ring today. But he thinks checking his phone before lacing up was bad luck. He hasn't heard about Stacy in the hospital or the sirens heading our way. He just sees my slim shoulders, and nothing about my oversized fists coming for his head like justice.

F.D. Pelzer is a recent graduate from the University of Pittsburgh and new arrival to Chicago. He writes for the webcomic Bananas for Breakfast, and has had plays produced by Pitt Rep and Redeye Theatre Project.