Fight Card: Barefoot Bones (Fight Card Series)

by Jack Tunney

  “Yes, sir,” I said, my smile giving away my eagerness to step back in the ring. “Wild horses couldn’t keep me away.”

  “I was afraid that this ordeal might have sworn you off boxing.”

  I smiled. “No, sir. Quite the opposite, in fact.”

  “Good to hear, corporal. I’ll have Pinball set it up.”

  “Yes, sir. I’m ready,” I said. “Besides, I had fifty bucks riding on that fight. You know what that kind of money can get me in Seoul on my next leave, Colonel?”

  “Yes I do, Bones,” he said, jokingly. “Nothing but trouble.”

  “Maybe I like trouble,” I said, smiling.

  “Get some rest. We’ll talk later,” he said, and left me at the door to the tent I shared with three other enlisted men. I started to go inside, but stopped. Laying around in my tent was no different than laying around post-op. Bed rest was still bed rest and I wanted no part of it.

  I thought about tracking down Jimbo Mack or Pinball Mitchell, but they would have been on duty and I didn’t want to interrupt. I was sure I would see them later in the Mess Hall. We usually ate dinner together.

  Doing an about face, I headed for the gym tent that had been set up for training. Boxing had always been therapeutic for me. I stepped inside and took in the smell of the leather punching bags. No matter where I went, that fragrant mix of sweat and leather relaxed me and reminded me of the best days of my life. I was home.

  As I wrapped my hands I could swear I heard Old Man Winters cackling with glee. I knew he would have been proud of the man I became. I’d like to think Father Tim would also be proud. I decided I would have to make a trip back to Chicago when the war was over. I owed that much to Father Tim.

  Who knows, maybe from there I would head back to Claytonville and try to reclaim the family homestead. It wouldn’t be easy, especially if Henry Jackson, or even his son, Bobby, were still there. It was a good bet they would be none to happy to see me again.

  If anyone would put up a fight to keep me from taking back what is rightfully mine, it would be the Jackson family.

  Not that it mattered.

  I wasn’t the scrawny little Barefoot Bones they used to taunt as a kid. I was a man now, a soldier, and a fighter.

  If they wanted a fight, I’d be happy to give it to them.

  Like an old friend once taught me, I’d never stop fighting.

  THE END

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  FIGHT CARD: FELONY FISTS

  Los Angeles, 1954

  Patrick “Felony” Flynn has been fighting all his life. Learning the “sweet science” from Father Tim the fighting priest at St. Vincent’s, the Chicago orphanage where Pat and his older brother Mickey were raised, Pat has battled his way around the world – first with the Navy and now with the Los Angeles Police Department.

  Legendary LAPD chief William Parker is on a rampage to clean up both the department and the city. His elite crew of detectives known as The Hat Squad is his blunt instrument – dedicated, honest, and fearless. Promotion from patrol to detective is Pat’s goal, but he also yearns to be one of the elite.

  And his fists are going to give him the chance.

  Gangster Mickey Cohen runs L.A.’s rackets, and murderous heavyweight Solomon King is Cohen’s key to taking over the fight game. Chief Parker wants Patrick “Felony” Flynn to stop him – a tall order for middleweight ship’s champion with no professional record.

  Leading with his chin, and with his partner, L.A.’s first black detective Tombstone Jones, covering his back, Patrick Flynn and his Felony Fists are about to fight for his future, the future of the department, and the future of Los Angeles.

  http://tinyurl.com/bwob3qz

  FIGHT CARD: THE CUTMAN

  Havana, Cuba, 1954

  Mickey Flynn is an ex-Korean War vet turned merchant marine. He was born in the ghettos of Chicago and raised in an orphanage with his younger brother, Patrick. He was one of several young men who received an education from the nuns at St. Vincent's.

  But he was also taught the "sweet science" by Father Tim, a Golden Gloves boxer and retired police officer who only knew one way to bring a troubled boy to manhood. Father Tim worked with his young charges, taught them how to jab and punch and throw a hook that seemed to come out of nowhere. When the young men left St. Vincent's (Our Lady of the Glass Jaw), they were changed, fit and ready to take on the troubles the encountered around the world, no matter where they found them.

  Now Mick's in Havana, working on WIDE BERTHA, his ship. After surviving a fierce storm at sea, the last thing Mick and the crew need to do is get crossways with the Italian organized crime flooding Havana, but it doesn't take much to put him in the cross hairs of a vengeful mob boss working for Lucky Luciano.

  Unable to get free of bad luck and unfortunate circumstance, Mick ends up in the ring in an illegal boxing match fighting a human killing machine.

  http://tinyurl.com/cjm3s45

  FIGHT CARD: SPLIT DECISION

  Kansas City, 1954

  Jimmy Wyler is a fighter punching his way straight to the middle. All he wants is to make enough dough to buy his girl, Lola, a ring. And maybe make the gang back at St. Vincent’s orphanage proud.

  A slick mobster named Cardone has an offer for Jimmy – money, and lots of it – for a fix. Jimmy takes the fight. The ring is almost on Lola’s finger, until Jimmy collides with Whit – another mobster with another up-and-coming fighter.

  Whit has an offer of his own. Same fight, different fix. Now Jimmy is caught between two warring factions of the Kansas City underworld. He can’t make a move without someone getting mad, getting even, or getting dead.

  From sweat-soaked fight halls to darkened alleyways, the countdown has begun. With his girl and his manager in the crossfire, everything Jimmy ever learned about fancy footwork and keeping his defenses up may not be enough …

  Fight night is approaching and nobody is going to be saved by the bell.

  http://tinyurl.com/co4elvj

  FIGHT CARD: COUNTERPUNCH

  Milwaukee, 1954

  Danny Dugronski has been a fighter all his life.

  As an orphan at St. Vincent's Asylum for Boys, he first learned the "sweet science" of boxing from Father Tim, the battling priest. Then the Marine Corps taught him far more lethal fighting tactics before shipping him off to do battle in the hell of the South Pacific.

  Now, with World War II over, Danny "The Duke" has returned home and earned a respectable ranking as a regional heavyweight in the Milwaukee area. But his record, free of KO losses, is jeopardized by a mob front man who tries to push him into a series of rigged fights.

  When Danny refuses, hard push comes to deadly shove, and he must call upon all his fighting skills to stand his ground. And when Danny comes out swinging, he’s determined to put the mob down for the count.

  http://tinyurl.com/brmbwwm

  FIGHT CARD: HARD ROAD

  Atlantic City, 1957

  Professional boxers Roberto Varga and Michael Boyle were once pals growing up at St. Vincent’s Asylum for Boys in Chicago. Under the guidance of Father Tim, the fighting priest, they learned values, respect, responsibility, and how to fight fair.

  But those lessons didn’t stick with Boyle. Two years after leaving St. Vincent’s, Boyle and Varga face-off in the ring with Boyle pounding out a bloody, lopsided decision, Varga swore wasn’t on the up and up.

  In the seven years since, their careers have taken different paths. Guided by unscrupulous manager Tommy Domino, Boyle is positioned for a title shot against Sugar Ray Robinson. Varga, however, has struggled in a career still haunted by the bloody loss to Boyle.

  When the boxer scheduled to fight Boyle in Atlantic City breaks his hand two weeks before the fight, Domino scrambles for a
replacement. He finds Varga toiling in a Philadelphia gym and offers him the rematch Varga has been waiting years to get. For Varga, it’s a chance to finally even the score, a chance to get the title shot he’s always dreamed about. But Boyle is not the only formidable foe aligned against Varga.

  Redemption comes at a bloody price – a price perhaps too high for Varga to pay …

  http://tinyurl.com/c77cmdk

  FIGHT CARD: KING OF THE OUTBACK

  Outback Australia, 1954

  Two rival tent boxing troupes clash over a territorial dispute in the Outback town of Birdsville. In the sweltering heat, tensions simmer, tempers flare, and as things reach boiling point, a boxing tent is burned to the ground.

  Fighting men know only one way to solve their disputes, and that’s in the ring. The solution, a show-down, smack-down, winner take all bout between the two rival outfits.

  In the blue corner, representing ‘Walter Wheeler’s Boxing Sideshow’ is Tommy King, a young aboriginal boxer with a big heart and iron fists.

  In the red corner, representing ‘Arnold Sanderson’s Boxing Show’, is ‘Jumpin’ Jack Douglas, a monstrous wrecking machine from the city – a man who’ll do anything to win.

  The fight – brutal. In the world of Tent Boxing, in the harsh Australian Outback, weight divisions and rules don’t count for much. It’s a fight to decide, who is indeed, King of the Outback!

  http://tinyurl.com/d9xrfq3

  FIGHT CARD: A MOUTH FULL OF BLOOD

  (SEQUEL TO FIGHT CARD: SPLIT DECISION)

  Chicago, 1955

  A year after the pulse-pounding action of Split Decision, Jimmy Wyler is back in Chicago trying to put his life back together. Working a job washing dishes in a late night diner, Jimmy vows to never get into a boxing ring again.

  But then, someone needs him. Leo, a teenage boy who fights hard against the city every day, could use a man like Jimmy. To help save him from his alcoholic father, and to save his only sister from a pimp bent on turning her out.

  Jimmy must fight again. Fight for the ones who can’t fight for themselves. It will take him from fistfights in back alleys to no rules bouts with crowds screaming for blood and all the way back to the orphanage where he grew up. Along the way, blood will be spilled and knuckles will be bruised.

  More white-knuckle action and epic fights from the Fight Card series.

  http://tinyurl.com/bvgs9vv

  FIGHT CARD: TOMATO CAN COMEBACK

  Detroit, 1956

  Tom Garrick had a heart of gold, a jaw of iron, and heavy artillery in both fists. This orphan from the Windy City returned from the Korean War to battle his way up the welterweight ranks, inspiring speculation about a title bid. Then he slugged it out with a top contender who humiliated him over eleven rounds and cut short his victory march.

  Popular opinion was he had been exposed as a lucky pretender. The newspapers dubbed him "Tomato Can" after watching the blood splatter around the ring like tomato juice from a tin can being battered by a tire iron.

  Now, for some mysterious reason, 'Tomato Can' Garrick is lacing on the gloves again, hoping for a shot at redemption. He has no promoter, no manager, not even a sparring partner. The only one in his corner is a buddy from the war who has never been inside the boxing game before.

  There's a punch-drunk pantheon of bums, brawlers and cutthroat contenders just waiting to pound him into Palookaville ... a lonely war widow with her claws in his heart ... and a regimen of dubious training methods which may do more harm than good to his chances. But Garrick isn't going to go down in history as "the Tomato Can" without a fight.

  http://tinyurl.com/chg7pxg

  FIGHT CARD: BLUFF CITY BRAWLER

  Memphis, 1954

  Tom Riley makes a meager living in the ring in Detroit, but it’s good enough for him. He ain’t ambitious. A few bucks and a rather high opinion of himself are all he needs.

  But when he accidentally kills a connected mobster, he’s forced on the lam and winds up in Memphis—the Bluff City. He struggles to make a new life for himself there. But his past mistakes are about to catch up to him, in spades.

  The Detroit Mob is closing in, and Tom’s future is about to be decided in blood—and in the ring.

  http://tinyurl.com/cnfkpux

  FIGHT CARD: GOLDEN GATE GLOVES

  San Francisco, 1951

  Conall O’Quinn grew up at St. Vincent’s Asylum For Boys, a Chicago orphanage where he learned the sweet science of boxing from Father Tim, the battling priest. After a stint in the Army, Conall finds work on the docks of San Francisco – a place where his fists make him the dock champion. Soon, however, he gets on the bad side of a union boss and is set up for a dock side brawl designed to knockout his fighting career. When Conall comes out on top, things go from bad to worse when he is framed for the docks going up in flames.

  Along with Benson, his best friend and trainer, Conall heads for the hills in search of a lost treasure in the vicinity of a mine controlled by the union boss. However, where Conall goes trouble follows and he is quickly embroiled in a heated grudge match between fist-happy miners and lumberjacks.

  Championing the miners in an all out slugfest, Conall is about to find out there is more to fighting than just swinging fists … giant, hammer-fisted lumberjacks, the mine owner’s beautiful daughter, union flunkies, and mob thugs all want a piece of him … and when the opening bell rings, the entire world appears to be against him …

  http://tinyurl.com/bwtebdf

  FIGHT CARD: IRISH DUKES

  Dublin, Ireland, 1951

  After winning his latest bout in Berlin, US Army boxing champ Sergeant Kevin Crowley is on military leave in Ireland. Raised in St. Vincent's Asylum For Boys in Chicago, he has finally returned to the place of his birth, where he is sure he will find the family he never knew and lay claim to his dream of a royal fortune.

  What Crowley actually finds is the fight of his life... A near destitute grandmother, crippling debt left by a father he never knew, a feisty redhead with hatred in her heart, a villainous landlord and his gang who'll stop at nothing to settle a score going back a generation...

  Kevin Crowley has never backed down in the ring or out... The treasures and truth awaiting him in Dublin are not what he first imagined. But with his past, his family, and his future at stake, Crowley will put up his dukes and fight like never before...

  http://tinyurl.com/cjjn28a

  FIGHT CARD: THE KNOCKOUT

  Brooklyn, 1954

  Frankie ‘The Piston’ Corleone was an up-and-coming light heavyweight fighter until a broken hand took him out of contention. Now, Frankie works as a private eye, occasionally taking sparring work to stay in shape make ends meet.

  Cappy O’Brien has trained a lot of fighters, including Frankie. But Cappy has never had a real contender until now ... Candy Marquez is the real deal, and after being battered by Marquez during several rounds of sparring, Frankie has to agree. But the fight game is as crooked as a dog’s hind leg, and other trainers and the mob all want a piece of Cappy’s best prospect.

  When Cappy winds up dead, it’s time for Frankie to take off the gloves and take The Piston’s punching power to the street to knockout a killer ...

  http://tinyurl.com/btf52t8

  FIGHT CARD: RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE

  Hell’s Kitchen, 1953

  Brendan O’Toole is on a downward slide. When his wife dies in a freak car accident, he quits his job and hits the bottle hard. Half tanked in the ring, he allows himself to be knocked out, ending his boxing career.

  O’Toole, hits rock bottom. After a night of boozing, he is brutally mugged and left for dead. But O’Toole has friends, even if he can’t see it. One of them is Danny Reilly, a barman with a heart of gold. He arranges for O’Toole to join a construction crew set to work on a hotel being built in the Central African jungle nation of Sezanda. It’s O’Toole’s last shot at redemption.

  Sezanda, Central Africa, 1954

  As things begin to look up for O’To
ole, the Sezandan government is overthrown in a military coup. All foreigners are taken prisoner and locked in concentration camps. O’Toole is sent to the worst, HELL CAMP XXI, under the control of a brutal ex-Nazi, Kommandant Krieger. Krieger has a special way of keeping his prisoners under control. In the camp, he has erected a boxing ring. And anyone who steps out of line is forced to face off against his man-mountain, wrecking machine, Crator – a man whose sole purpose is to inflict pain.

  Fate has destined Brendan O’Toole to don the gloves one more time, in a fight not just for his life, but his very soul.