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Bradley honored his father's wishes that his funeral be a small, private matter only attended by family. It wasn't easy for the wolf, trying to comfort his family members as they grieved for the loss of the McGregor family patriarch. He and Tori's five cubs had been what he had lived for ever since little Martin entered their lives. The cubs all loved their grandfather, who always made time for them. Bradley was most worried about his mother, who had spent the last five years taking care of his father when he was first diagnosed with dementia.

"Mom," said Bradley after the funeral. "Tori and I want you to come live with us."

"I don't want to be a bother to you, sweetie," said Julia, wiping the tears away from her face with a handkerchief.

"You wouldn't be a bother to us at all," reassured Tori. "Besides, the cubs want their grandmother around."

"I want you around too, Mom," said Bradley, putting his arm around his mother. "You need to be around your family; not in some big, empty house with no one to talk to."

Julia patted her son on the back. "Only if you really want me stay with you."

"Yes," said Tori. "We want you to stay with us."

"Alright then," said Julia, laughing slightly. "I guess it's only fair since we let you live with us years ago, dear."

Bradley gave his wife a wink as his mother got into their car to drive back home.

Even though Mighty Martin had only wanted a simple, private funeral with family members, Bradley decided to do something grandiose to honor his father's legacy, though he first asked his mother's blessing in the matter.

One month after his father's passing, Bradley had rented out an entire convention center in Las Vegas for the event. Sparing no expense, he had technicians hook up dozens of monitors that people could walk by and watch all of his father's professional fights play on an endless loop. The entire area was adorned with promotional posters from Mighty Martin's fights, and to make sure that everyone had a better idea of his fahter's character, Bradley gave away hardcover copies of his father's autobiography Martin McGregor: Mighty Memories, to everyone who attended that day. The entire convention center was a shrine to Mighty Martin McGregor.

An hour after the doors had opened and people had had the opportunity to roam around and see the displays, Bradley addressed everyone in attendance, urging them to find a seat as he spoke from the convention center's stage.

"I'd like to thank all of you for coming out here today to honor the memory of my father, whom the world affectionately new as Mighty Martin McGregor. I'm not sure if this is what Dad would have wanted, but speaking to my mother, she thought it an excellent idea."

Bradley could hear that the hundreds in attendance were now quieted down, so he started in with his father's origins.

"My father was born June 24, 1963 in a very rough part of the Bronx in New York City. He was the fourth and last son born to my grandparents, George and Lilly McGregor. Dad always used to talk about how lean things were growing up, as his father was never able to hold down a job for very long. He also spoke to me at length about seeing his mother beaten when he was a young cub during the many times his father would get drunk. I remember he joked with me one time about the reason he got into boxing. I asked him if it was to make money. He told me no, it was so he could learn how to beat the shit out of his old man so he'd leave his mother alone!"

Bradley's use of profanity caused much laughter among the crowd. He continued.

"My father was forced to quit school when he was fourteen to support the family, but he got into prize-fighting when he turned 17 and never looked back. He went on to have a professional record of 70 wins, 3 losses, 1 draw, and 1 no contest; 49 of his wins were by way of knockout, one of the highest in heavyweight history."

"One of the things that really amazed me about the time my Dad spent as a professional fighter was the amount of learning he did when he was getting ready for a fight. I don't just learning fighting techniques. My Dad read history, taught himself about business. He read science books, taught himself Spanish. He always loved to learn; not just then, but throughout his entire life he was always learning new things. I've always tried emulating his tremendous work ethic, and I hop I've done a good job passing it down to my cubs, just as he did."

"Dad use to tell me that if anyone ever called him great, it was only because he fought the greatest opponents of his time. He said a champion can't be great unless he fights great contenders, and that's just what these gentleman behind me are going to talk about."

Bradley pointed to the more than one dozen male beasts sitting behind him dressed in fine suits. "I've known many of these guys my entire life, and they all have one thing in common; they all fought my Dad in the ring, so I thought I'd let them come up here and say a few words about him, starting with Mr. "Grizzly" Greg Shavers!"

The audience applauded as an older grizzly bear in a black suit and wearing glasses approached the podium where Bradley was at. He gave Bradley a huge hug that was befitting of his species before addressing the audience.

"Thank you. I'd like to thank all of you for coming out here today to honor Marty's memory. I was privileged to have faced Marty in the ring when he was champion, but more importantly, I was honored to call him a friend and spend countless hours fishing with him over the years."

"I fought Marty back in 1990 when he was still champion, and it was the toughest fight of my life! I remember no matter how hard I hit him, he kept coming back for more, and this was right after The Ring came out with an article naming me the hardest puncher in the heavyweight division! Why, I remember in the ninth round throwing such a hard punch--it didn't hit Marty--but the breeze from it knocked him down. After he got up, he danced around me and waited until the right moment, then he got me with that lefthook of his just exactly where my liver was! I remember feeling all the life go out of me as I fell face forward onto the canvas. But who was there to pick me up right after the referee counted me out? Mighty Martin McGregor! He helped me up, gave me a hug, and told me I was a tough opponent and that he loved me like a brother! Hell, here I was hoping for a rematch, but how could I agree to a rematch after the guy told me he loved me?"

The audience laughed heartily at the grizzly bear's colorful anecdote. "I'd just like to say that there was never anyone I thought was a nicer, more honest, decent creature than Marty was. I'm just glad that he let me get to know his family, especially Julia, Bradley and his grandcubs. I'm going to miss him for the rest of my life. I love you Marty, and I hope to see you again one day."

All of the other creatures on stage with Bradley got up and spoke about their fights with Martin, but more than anything else, all of them expressed what a decent person Martin was, and how even when he was champion, he never showed any signs of ego or arrogance. All of the speakers went to great lengths explaining how much respect and admiration they had for Martin, and that there would probably never be anyone like him in their lives again.

The memorial lasted into the evening, with Bradley ending the day unveiling a life sized bronze statue of his father in boxing trunks and gloves he had custom made to go over his grave. Everyone was in awe of how life like the statue was. It stood on a marble base with this inscription below it:

MIGHTY MARTIN MCGREGOR

1963-2038

UNDISPUTED HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD

LOVING HUSBAND, FATHER, DOTING GRANDFATHER AND FRIEND TO ALL WHO KNEW HIM

A few days after the memorial, Martin was back in his training camp, working harder than he ever had for the biggest fight of his life. He knew that O'Brien would be no pushover. Being a cheetah, his opponent was blessed with natural quickness and agility, but Martin intended to nullify the cat's advantage by developing his already powerful right arm to give O'Brien the biggest right hook of his career. He sat on the weight bench, curling a hand held weight to develop the muscles in that arm. He was so driven, so focused, that he didn't even notice that there was an unexpected guest in the gym with him.

"Hi, Martin," a voice called to him.

Looking up, he saw it was his girlfriend, Olivia standing directly in front of him. He put the weight down and got up to greet her.

"Hi, Olivia," said Martin, wiping the sweat away from his head with a towel.

"How's training camp going?" she asked.

"Good," he said with a chuckle. "But if your Dad caught me in here talking to you, he'd probably throw a fit saying I'm not giving my best."

Olivia giggled. "Sounds like my dad alright. I . . . I just wanted to ask you how you've been doing since your grandpa died."

"Busy," said Martin. "I keep pushing myself harder and harder, but I'm not sure if it's because I want to become undisputed champion or if it's just my way of trying to cope with the fact that no matter what I do, how much I pray, I won't have Grandpa cheering me on at the fight."

Olivia managed a slight smile. "Maybe I could help with that?"

Martin gave her a confused look. "What . . . what are you talking about?"

The she wolf fished through her purse, pulling out a package. "Here, I had these made for you."

Martin took the package, feeling it. Wanting to see what was inside, he tore off the wrapping paper and took off the top lid of the small box. Olivia had gotten him boxing trunks, but they were no ordinary trunks.

"Oh my god," said Martin, looking at the unfolded pair of trunks. They were turquoise, his favorite color, with the words "Marvelous Martin McGregor" written along the waistline in gold lettering. But what really caught the folf's eye was something located on the bottom right section of the leg. There, in the same gold coloring that his name had been written in, was a likeness of his late grandfather, Mighty Martin McGregor! The folf looked back at his girlfriend. He was lost for words.

"I just thought this way your grandfather could be right there in the ring with you when you're fighting O'Brien," said the she wolf.

"Olivia," said Martin in hushed awe. "This is the greatest present you could have given me!"

The couple embraced, with Martin giving Olivia a deep kiss. Martin wasn't a superstitious creature, but he took this as a sign that he was going to be the next undisputed middleweight champion of the world.