Premonition of the Panther

Destination Freedom. Destination Freedom. Dramatization of the great democratic traditions of the Negro people is brought to you by Station WMAQ as a part of the pageant of history and of America's own destination freedom. In the field of sports, the toughest place to carve an enduring niche is in the granite face of a boxing profession.

the saga of master athletes in the squared circle reach like fairy tales and reveal the nature of the society which they entertain such as the young life of one of pugilisms modern immortals Ray Robinson world's walkerweight champion in a chapter entitled premonition of the panther we bring you the fighter story I had two days to kill and six pounds to lose before the fight that's how I'm

I'm cool and controlled, but the dream... I can't control. This one began like a thousand others. The bells sounded, the crowd growled. I've whirled out of my corner and over to my opponent. His face, cello-grafted, punches and I moved back. Slipped too fast, left hooks under the punch.

Having my right cross was hit. When he ducked, I shot a ballo blow that spun him around like a cobble out of pole. And he slammed into my arms and a clench. Before a second, I looked dead into his eyes and saw his soul.

Then he hit the canvas and the referee was counted. I watched the left arm rise and fall, and the lights and the stadium went up. The referee counted, tried to catch him, stopped at 13.

And I tried to yell out, no, no, don't stop there. Dad? Who killed him? I didn't warn an answer. My fist, body, feet, arms, legs felt guilty. But he turned his eyes and stared at the crumb.