[legendsport]

Atlanta, GA: March 8, 1912:

Joe Barrell was now 3-0 as a professional fighter. His second fight, which occurred back in January, was with a fellow newcomer by the name of Albert Adams. Adams was from Savannah, and the fight was held in his hometown. This theoretically put Joe at a disadvantage. "The hometown folks'll be rootin' for their boy," Cooter had told Joe before the fight began. And yes, there were some hoots and boos when he climbed into the ring. But once the action started, Joe turned those boos into cheers.

Cooter later told him he had counted how many times Joe had been hit by Adams. "Just twenty-one times, son! Over nearly five rounds!" he exclaimed. Joe had already learned that Cooter measured success more by how well Joe avoided being hit as he did with how well Joe himself did with his own punches. "Shoot, son, I know you can hit hard. Good fighters avoid getting hit back!" This scored some points for Cooter with Joe's mother who told him she died a little every time he took a punch. He replied that he had yet to take one that did anything more than wake him up. "Save your bluster for the ring, buster!" was what she fired back at him.

Joe had dominated the fight from the opening bell. He knocked Adams down twice in the fourth and twice more in the fifth before referee Martin Cochran had seen the vacancy sign in Adams' eyes and stopped the fight. Joe was impressed that Adams had gotten himself off the canvas four times and told him so, though Adams was clearly out on his feet and it was unclear whether he understood what Joe had said to him.

Cooter had determined that he wanted Joe to fight once every six weeks. "Enough time to take the shine off your apple, but not long enough for the worms to start moving in," is how he explained it in his typically Daniels-esque manner.

So the third fight had just taken place the night before. This time, Cooter had lined up a fighter with more experience - and a winning record.

His name was Steven MacIntosh and he was 33 years old. Because the American Boxing Federation itself was only five years old, his official pro record was 10-9-0 with four knockouts. But according to Cooter, MacIntosh had been fighting since back in the bare-knuckle days and he had a "head as hard as a knot in a hickory tree." Rube later explained that what Cooter really meant was that Joe probably wouldn't be able to knock MacIntosh out. Which was both advice and a challenge, the way Joe saw things.

The fight was at Auburn Sweet's, a large and often raucous club, sometimes called a honky tonk, on the outskirts of Atlanta. Because of the nature of the venue Joe had convinced Edna not to attend, though he smartly used the risk of her father seeing her there as the reason.

This would essentially be a hometown fight for Joe - MacIntosh fought out of a gym in Birmingham, but was originally from Boston.

Cooter was quickly proven right about one thing - MacIntosh could take a punch. In the first round, Joe came out as he had in his previous fights - fast and hard - and he walked right into MacIntosh's jab. Thirty seconds later, Joe had taken several shots to the ribs and for the first time, was on the defensive in the ring. Rufus, watching with Possum at ringside (Alice had stayed home this time), leaned over to his friend and said, "This is where that stubborn streak of his Reid side comes out, you watch."

And sure enough, Joe quickly readjusted his tactics - he backpedaled away from another straight, took a step to the side and hooked a strong right hook into MacIntosh's midsection and then followed that up with a barrage that had the older fighter backpedaling himself. As the seconds ticked down in round one, Joe unleashed a vicious shot that landed flush on MacIntosh's jaw, rocking him back. And that was when Joe knew that Cooter had been right: both Adams and Wilson would likely have dropped after taking a shot like that one.

Back in the corner, Cooter grinned as Joe took deep breaths on his stool. "I told you that boy had a hard head. Hit him in the breadbasket, let's tenderize us some ribs, son!"

Joe wasn't fast enough to employ Cooter's new tactics and the result was the first lost round of his pro career. Cooter shook his head, and remained quiet. Rube cocked an eyebrow at his partner and then told Joe, "Stick to the plan. Hit him in the body and go to the head only when he leaves it open."

Both fighters earned rebukes from referee Clarence Barron over the next couple of rounds. Joe got a warning for hitting after the bell at the end of round three (which he dominated) and MacIntosh got two in round four - once for rabbit punching and once for hitting below the belt. "Good thing Alice isn't here," Rufus muttered to Possum after seeing his son's reaction to the low blow. The fight developed an ebb and flow - round four had the two fouls handed out by Barron and not much action and the crowd began to get restless. But round five had both fighters trading leather with regularity, going toe-to-toe with abandon - and the alcohol-fueled crowd loved that. Cooter began to relax a bit - Joe was winning and seemed to be pacing himself better than MacIntosh. With five of the eight rounds in the books, the older fighter was already starting to look tired.

Joe dominated the sixth round, but there was a lot of clinching going on - forcing Barron to separate the fighters and the crowd to crank up the booing again. Back in the corner after the sixth, Cooter poured water on Joe's head. "Stop dancing with him, son. Time to start creaming his corn!" Joe figured this meant it was time to go all out.

He came out quick at the bell, dipped a shoulder to get MacIntosh thinking a body shot was coming and then quick as a snake, he went upstairs and drilled a hook to the side of the head that rocked MacIntosh. But rocked or not, the veteran fighter would not go down. His defensive abilities also frustrated Joe as he fired off flurries that MacIntosh either slipped or took on the arms. By the end of the round Joe was winded and impressed by how tough his opponent really was.

"OK, one more round. No need to go for the kill, this fight is yours," Rube told him. Cooter remained quiet until near the end of the break when he said simply, "Go finish it."

Joe tried to get the knockout, but MacIntosh wasn't having it. He leaned on Joe's neck, earning a point deduction because Barron had already warned him about just that the round before. Joe missed more than he landed and took a few good shots from his opponent as well. Both fighters were visibly exhausted as the seconds ticked away. Joe, a natural southpaw, switched to orthodox briefly just to see if he could get MacIntosh off balance, but it didn't work.

After the bell rang, Joe tapped gloves with MacIntosh and the older fighter grinned and said, "Kid, you've got a helluva punch. I'd say you're going to be a good one. Keep up the good work."

Flattered, Joe smiled and said, "I've never hit anyone as hard as I hit you in the first round. You must have iron in your backbone, Steve."

MacIntosh nodded to him, said hello to Cooter and Rube and then joined his cornermen as the announcer stepped into the ring with the judges' cards.

Joe won by unanimous decision, 78 to 76 on all three cards. A win, but a close one. And a win that most importantly included some lessons learned as well.