Abel

Chapter 4 - Part 2

Still mulling through the bothersome thoughts of Nellie having breakfast with another guy, even if it was only business, Abel was grateful for the much-needed interruption to his thoughts. It was all he'd thought about all the way home and even as he showered then had breakfast with his mom and brother. Now Andy, his publicist, was talking his ear off as Abel drove to the gym. Abel had an idea of what it would be like going into this fight as far as the appearances and interviews he'd be required to do to make it big out of 5th Street. Felix had filled him in on some of it. In fact, Felix had even hooked him up with his publicist. He said if anyone could get the buzz going, Andy could because he was the best. Abel just hadn't realized how overwhelming this would be. Felix seemed to thrive in the spotlight. Abel hated it, especially when the media aired stories that had little to do with the fight itself and were nothing more than what Andy called sensationalized journalism.

This was what Andy was going on about again today. The press had gotten wind that his opponent, who was now the heavyweight champ, had once trained at 5th Street. This wasn't news to Abel. 5th Street had always been the place to train in East L.A. even back before the gym had become what it was now. Boxers from out of town like this guy were known to come in and not only check out 5th Street but work out there. While Abel had heard about "Hammerhead" McKinley having trained at 5th Street once upon a time, the guy was ten years older than he was. The media was trying to turn this into some kind of grudge match between one of the owners of 5th Street and a former patron of the gym who'd had a falling out. Abel had never even met the dude. It was so stupid.

The problem was that Andy loved the sensationalism. It made the fight a bigger draw for advertisers wanting to sponsor the fight. The bigger the draw, the bigger the sponsors that would come calling for Abel to represent their products. So Andy said no publicity was bad publicity, except for when they crossed the line and could possibly tarnish his image; then sponsors might drop him.

"The media does it for obvious reasons—ratings," Andy explained. "The juicier the story, the more viewers, listeners, and traffic they get to their shows, magazines, and websites. It's all good. Let them make up as much harmless crap as they want, and you neither confirm nor deny that any of it is true, so you don't kill the momentum. But you also have to be mindful of one thing: the other side is watching, listening, and taking notes too. They wanna see what gets to you, and the moment they do, they'll run with it, telling their side of the story, truth or not. They're doing it for other reasons: to get in your head and anything to throw you off your game. So whatever you do, don't give them anything to feed on. If you're cornered into making a statement, keep it vague. This close to the big day, the media starts grasping for anything. They know everyone's watching, and their story has to be better and juicier than their competition's."

"All right, I got it," Abel said as he drove into the gym's driveway.

They'd been through this before. Abel hardly even watched TV, nor did he ever get caught up in the tabloids. Felix had been the first to tell him that it was better if he just didn't read them, especially when he was in training. This, by far, was the biggest fight Abel had ever trained for.

"I'm very serious about this, Ayala. Prepare yourself for not only the media to stop at nothing as the big day approaches but McKinley's camp to pull some kind of stunt just to rattle you. They're getting nervous, and they know this is all new to you. McKinley's been through the whole thing with his alcoholic dad and his younger brother's domestic abuse allegations, but you . . . You haven't had to deal with any of that, and even though you may think it's no big deal now, it is once you start hearing the bullshit over and over. Let me tell you this is why I was calling. It's already starting."

Abel turned off his car but didn't get out. Suddenly Andy had his undivided attention. "What do you mean? What's starting?"

Andy sighed heavily. "I got the call this morning. It could go nowhere, but apparently some bloggers based in Mexico have started some noise about your dad's connection to the Mexican mafia."