Washed Up Boxer

(Been watching/reading a lot of Ippo, a boxing manga/anime)

Cole McKay. A name that once sent people cheering, now was met with confused looks, groans, and sneers.

Cole was born to an Irish-American family, living on the east coast. From a young age, his folks had taught him the value of hard work. His dad worked in the coal mines of his small town, his mom the local store. Free time didn't exist for him much as he had to help out around the store, usually moving stuff. As he grew, Cole helped out more and more, taking on bigger jobs for not just his mom but his father too. They weren't poor but he wanted to take any chance he could to help out.

When not helping his parents or running odd jobs around town for some change, Cole took solace in comics and the local gym owned by his uncle. Well, the gym's boxing program. Inspired by some hero shows and comics, Cole wanted to become strong and heroic. The kind of guy who could always beat the odds regardless. With his heavy work from a young age helped prime his body for the type of heavy stamina hard hitting sport that boxing was.

However by the time he was old enough for high-school, the mine had closed due to reasons beyond his understanding, forcing the family to move into the city for work and school. It was something his parents had planned for as a worst case option, but Cole felt weird leaving to a new school where he had no friends. There, Cole was mocked and teased by classmates for his name and 'hillbilly' up-bringing. This led him to getting into fight with the city kids..., a lot of fights. Enough that he would have, and should have been expelled. Given his rougher attitude and uncompromising stance that he was in the right, people thought he was a thug in the making.

It was due to some..., heavy influence by a concerned party that kept him in school. At least long enough to get out of high-school. With poor prospects for college due to his record and average grades, Cole wasn't sure what to do next. As fate would have it, well known local boxing gym approached him to offer a deal. Come fight and train under their banner, and he'd get money for college. The local colleges in the city, not anything grand like Harvard. The deal was..., too good to pass up if a bit iffy. The treatment at the gym wasn't much better than his high-school days, at times even worse, if only with more vices supplied to numb the feeling.

After a few years of boxing for the gym, and butting heads with the owner; came THE fight. A fight that would go down just plan wrong and cost the boxer everything.

An investigation was launched, and while Cole was cleared of any wrong doing, he was dropped from the doc. The gym kicked him out citing poor behavior behind the scenes, and his license was revoked. The deal of higher education was pulled out from under him. Even if he had the money to keep going to college, whatever school that took him probably would have dropped him to dodge the fallout. The public opinion on him was sour and bitter; no one had liked that fight. His family still supported him but it was hard finding work as a washed up boxer. Either Cole didn't have the skills needed for more technical work, or no one wanted that sort of controversy around their place of business.

So here he was, at 26, with poor prospects. A retired boxing coach who remained friends with his uncle had him working at the old gym as a trainer and janitor. Even offered him a cot on the second floor while he got back on his feet. Honestly that was gonna be the best he was going to get. It wasn't much but it was better than being on the streets or moving back in with his folks. That was the last thing Cole wanted to do was bring the shame back to his parents. Focusing on improving his current life should have been the focus, when he came across a couple guys talking about this "Cupid" site. Looking into it, it sold the fantasy of 'perfect' match. Something his mom had kinda been hinting at before everything went south. Signing up, Cole was skeptical.

"Am I really doing this?" Cole thought as he tapped away at his mobile at the info sheets.

He was of course. Maybe he just wanted someone in his corner. Maybe he wanted attention again..., maybe he just wanted what amounted to a quick lay. Cole didn't know, he just wanted... some out of this dead in he'd worked himself into.

But the site seemed to die the second he was done filling everything out. Or maybe it was his battery, or something else. The gym did have spotty wifi. Grumbling, he tossed his device off to the side table and rolled over in the cot. Least the service was free. Not that he had much left to be scammed out of.

As he drifted off to sleep, the Cupid's Wish site opened back up on his mobile. Unseen, it started to flip through it's internal folders as a progress bar filled up.