|
(continuation)
"It's been a tough last month," said Stribling's father William afterwards. "But we feel that we've put it behind us now and tonight was a great step forward for the family and for Young, in particular. Mr. LaStarza hasn't been shy about running his mouth and I think that Young did a good job of keeping him quiet tonight."
ESPN's Bill Farris persisted on the matter of the Los Angeles incident, bringing a somewhat irritated reply from "Pa" Stribling.
"Well, if you can stand here and tell me that your family's never had a bad day, you're a better man than me," he said. "We just happened to have one of those days where the entire public saw it but like I said, we've put that behind us."
Young Stribling had stayed silent to that point, standing beside his father. But he spoke up in reinforcement of William's words.
"It's you media types that put us up on that pedestal," he said, glaring at Farris. "We didn't ask to be looked upon as a perfect family, because we know we aren't and it was pretty silly to make us feel like we should be. I hope that you all see that now."
There was a brief, awkward silence, Farris's face showing a sour expression which Stribling clearly enjoyed. But the ESPN correspondent composed himself and moved on to his next question.
"We've had some talk recently about the possibility of you competing at Junior-Heavyweight after the World Championship tournament is over," said Farris. "You've weighed in closer to 180 than 190 in all of your fights so the rumours are understandable."
Stribling released an exasperated sigh and shook his head.
"Truly, I haven't given it a moment's thought," he said. "I'm trying to win the World Heavyweight Championship, you know? Until I'm eliminated from the possibility of achieving that, nothing else matters."
The Stribling family left the ring soon after, the audience giving them something of a lukewarm response, something they gave little notice to.
Surprisingly, LaStarza had waited around to speak to Farris.
"I guess I have a lot of egg on my face," said the New Yorker. "But I'm man enough to admit I was wrong about the kid. He's a great fighter and I can see him going really far in the tournament. As for myself, it's disappointing. If I'd performed to my best ability in my other fights, tonight would have been my first loss and I'd still be in contention. But now the focus changes, I guess. I can still play the role of spoiler next month against Bruno but beyond that I'll be trying my hardest to claim that American Championship once the tournament gets underway."
(to be continued)
|