Sevs darted upstairs as Markus went to find Lily and get set up. As he was going up, he ran into Henry. Henry had a couple guys following him with a camera and a mic. Looking a bit lost, Henry asked. “Yo Sevs, where is Jerome’s room?”

Sevs pointed it out. “Keep the interview down to only a few minutes max. See if you can get a couple of clips of him hitting pads or a bag or two. We can play that before we introduce each one. So make sure you send it down to get it cut before going over to Hank.”

“You got it, boss.” Henry and his helpers went into the room Sevs had indicated, and Sevs went into the room across the room.

Unlike Jerome, Hank hadn’t brought any friends. Sevs found him warming up on a heavy bag. Hank didn’t stop as he came in, and Sevs didn’t interrupt him. The bag shuddered a few more times as Hank finished his combo. Sevs nodded. Hank looked loose but concentrated. “I’m glad to see you taking this seriously.”

“How could I not? You set up the perfect stage to humiliate him again.” Hank replied.

“Well, that’s not all. I don’t want you getting hurt.”

Hank looked insulted. “You think that he’s going to land a shot? Come on, you know I am better than that.”

“You know anyone can get lucky. But that’s not the point. How often have you seen someone get injured in training? It's almost always because they didn’t warm up properly or slipped.”

Hank gestured to the bag. “Why do you think I’m doing all this?”

Sevs just nodded. That’s what he was trying to say, but he just let it slide. “I wanted to run down the plan a little with you. You are up here staying warm but don't push it too hard. Someone will come to lead you downstairs when it is time. You will come out second. We’ll introduce you as you are coming out, and then once you get in the cage, Markus will take over and start the show. He is also the ref, so listen to him.”

Hank nodded. But, Sevs wasn’t done. “A few things are going to happen. First, Henry will come to get a short pre-fight interview with you. He should be here in about ten minutes. Also, he will get a few shots of you hitting the bag we’ll play as part of your introduction. After that, Markus will come and go over the rules with you.”

Hank nodded again. “I feel like I’m a pro fighter. It was really cool of you to set this all up.”

“Hey, it has been fun. I wanted to keep it small, but it kinda snowballed. I got a lot of people doing things. Lily, Morgan, Henry, and a couple others are working with a couple people. Overall, we got like fifteen people helping this go smoothly. So don’t let us down.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to give you a show.”

That was not really what Sevs meant, but he would take it. “One more thing, you set on not having cornermen?”

“Yeah, don’t need them.” Hank just waved him off.

“Now, you want me to hold pads?”

“Yeah, that would be great.”

***

When Sevs made it back downstairs, everything was ready to go. Markus was standing in the ring, pacing back and forth as he muttered to himself. Sevs figured he was practicing what he was going to say. Looking around, it seems packed. All the chairs were filled, including the seats placed in the other rings. The people still trickling in were having to stand in the back already. A lot of them came in holding some food from out front too. Right as he was coming off the stairs, Lily intercepted him.

“Good, you’re here. A couple of last-minute things. We got Jerome's tape all cut. It’s about 2 minutes. Henry has his audio queued, so he’ll be the one leading him down. He'll do the same with Hank. Also, Jackson, Jerome’s friend, wants to join us on commentary. He’s actually not half bad, so I just figured it would be fine.”

“Sure, it will be better if we are not totally biased. I see our booth. I presume that he's the one already sitting over there?” Sevs nodded at the tall young man sitting by the mics ringside.

“Yeah, that’s him. We should go say hi.”

Sevs went over, and Jackson stood up and introduced himself. Sevs took his much darker hand in his as they shook hands.

“A pleasure. This is quite the event you have set up. I was a bit hesitant at first. After I got here and saw what you were putting together, I think we can have a lot of fun.” Jackson said in greeting. Sevs looked him up and down. Seems like a good guy from first impressions. He wondered if Hank’s grudge might be overblown. “Welcome to the commentary team. We need to start soon, are you all situated?”

“Sure thing, we just finished mic checks. Ready when you are.”

Sevs nodded. Before he could speak, Lily cut him off. “You need to change. Like right now. You got 2 minutes.”

Lily shoved a bundle in his chest and pushed him to the locker rooms. Sevs looked at her and Jackson. They both were wearing black dress shirts. Looking down at his bundle as he walked into the changing room, he found it was a dress shirt wrapped around a lapel mic. Wiping the sweat from his face from hitting pads with Hank, Sevs quickly changed. After he set up the mic, he quickly checked his hair in the mirror. Everything was in place.

He stepped out just in time to see Markus hop down from the ring. He waved at Sevs before picking up the mic. “LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, PLEASE TAKE YOUR SEATS AS THE SHOW WILL BEGIN SHORTLY. THANK YOU!”