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Working with Mufasa Ali had only spurred Martin on to train even harder than he had been. The young wolf didn't even take a single day off for rest, he was so concerned about getting into top physical condition. Though his friend Josh was still in school up until a week before the fight, the tiger had volunteered to accompany Martin on his morning road work, and help him with training in the afternoon. Martin had been completely single-minded in his task of doing everything possible to defeat the giant Bruno "The Creole Destroyer" Calypso. It would be the greatest challenge in life thus far.

When the night of June 5th finally came around, Martin was ready; completely confident in his ability to beat Bruno, perhaps not by knockout, but by beating him on points. He thought about the first time he'd laid eyes on his opponent's NABF heavyweight championship belt. The thought of having the belt in his home, hanging on the wall above his bed, it made him hungry, hungry for victory. He'd started boxing as a way to support his family, but after his share of the purse tonight, he wouldn't have to worry as much about those financial responsibilities. If he won tonight, he would be seen as a legitimate contender for the heavyweight crown, and that meant way more money than he would have ever thought possible in his life, and way more glory too.

That night was Martin's first venture into Madison Square Garden. Stepping foot into that arena in midtown Manhattan. The young wolf felt goosebumps all over his fur as he entered the building, thinking back to all the film reels he'd watched in Sully's gym where famous boxers of old had fought some of the greatest fights in the history of the sport. He quickly let that thought vanish from his head. He couldn't be worried about that right now. He had to be completely focused on defeating Bruno, that was all that mattered right now.

Both the under card fights had already taken place and Martin already had his paws wrapped up. The referee, athletic commission and members of Team Calypso had come in earlier to inspect that the wolf's paws were properly wrapped and that they had not been dipped in plaster of Paris, a trick used in the earlier days of boxing before all the rules and regulations had been instituted to prevent dirty fighting. Once the inspection was out of the way, Sully put on Martin's robe and gloves and watched his charge shadow box to work himself into a sweat. The old bulldog saw the steely look of termination on Martin's face, as though nothing in the world could possibly stop him.

"Proud of you, pup," said Sully. "You trained harder than anyone I've ever seen in my life, and I mean that."

"Thanks, Sully," said the now robed Martin. "But I really had to or I would have been kissing the canvas after getting in the ring with that guy."

"Probably right," said Sully.

One of the officials of the Garden came in and told them they were ready for Martin to come down the aisle. Taking a deep breath, the wolf walked out of the dressing room, and with his team walking beside him and the crowd cheering on a hometown fighter, he strutted down the aisle and up into the blue corner of the ring. The young wolf paced back and forth, waiting for Bruno to enter, but he didn't have long. He looked over and saw a group of lions entering the ring and noticed Pierre Calypso, Bruno's father, had his son's NABF championship belt held up for all to see as Bruno's entry music played.

"Now, when I was just a little boy, Standin' to my Daddy's knee, My poppa said, "Son, don't let the man get you Do what he done to me." 'Cause he'll get you, 'Cause he'll get you now, now. And I can remember the fourth of July, Runnin' through the backwood, bare. And I can still hear my old hound dog barkin', Chasin' down a hoodoo there. Chasin' down a hoodoo there.

Born on the Bayou; Born on the Bayou; Born on the Bayou."

Bruno's entrance into the ring was greeted with a fair amount of booing, but it didn't appear to phase the big lion at all. He stepped inside the ring with his arms raised high, staring across the ring, still attempting to intimidate Martin, but the wolf remained stoic, ready for the fight of his life. The ringside bell rung and the announcer stepped into the ring to address the crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen, good evening and welcome to Madison Square Garden. This is the main event of the evening; ten rounds of boxing for the North American Boxing Federation heavyweight championship. This bout is sanctioned by the the New York State Athletic Commission and the World Boxing Council, with scoring on the Ten Point Must System. The rules for this evening: No three knockdown rule, no mandatory eight count, only the referee can stop the fight and neither fighter can be saved by the bell, even in the last round. So now, for the thousand attending here at the Garden and the crowds watching at home . . .LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!

"Ladies and gentleman, before the main event, it is our pleasure to present to you the honored guest of the evening. His is a name known the world over and really needs no introduction. In 1960 he won an Olympic Gold Medal. In 1964, he became the heavyweight champion. In 1974 he became only the second man to regain the heavyweight title, and in 1977 he became the only fighter in history to become heavyweight champion three times. Last year, he ended his career with a record of 56 wins, 5 losses, with 37 of his wins coming by way of knockout. Ladies and gentleman, here is the one, the only, "The Greatest", Mufasa Ali!!!

The entire crowd was on its feet, standing and cheering Ali's presence as he smiled and waved to the crowd. Martin felt his knees getting weak, not from the fear of fighting Bruno, but because his hero, "The Greatest", was coming towards him. Before the lion could introduce himself to Martin, he went over and shook Sully's paw.

"Hey, Sully, Martin," said Ali. "Good seeing you again."

"You too, champ," said Martin. "I'm hoping to put that jab of yours to good use tonight."

"I'm sure you will," said Ali pointing across the ring at Bruno. "You see that big, ugly lion across the ring, Martin?"

"I sure do," said Martin, looking at Bruno.

"After that bell rings, do me a favor, would you?" asked Ali.

"Anything, champ," said Martin.

Ali leaned in, whispering into the wolf's ear. "Kick his ass."

"Yes, sir," said Martin, his tone steely and determined. The ring announcer continued with the rest of the introduction.

"Introducing first, in the blue corner, wearing the green trunks with gold trim. He weighed in at 223 pounds and enters the ring with a professional record of 13 wins, 0 losses, with eight of those wins coming by way of knockout. From The Bronx in New York City, here is "Mighty Martin McGregor!"

Martin hopped up and down, still glaring across the ring at Bruno as the crowd cheered him on. Though he couldn't let himself get distracted by their approval, it was still nice to hear. The ring announcer continued with the introduction of the young wolf's opponent.

"Introducing in the red corner, wearing the red trunks with blue trim, he weighed in at 495 pounds and enters the ring with an impressive record of 33 wins, 0 losses, all of his wins coming by way of knockout and 18 of those knockouts have come in one round or less. He is North American Boxing Federation heavyweight champion. From New Orleans, Louisiana, ladies and gentlemen, here is Bruno "The Creole Destroyer" Calypso!"

Again, many in the crowd booed, but Bruno didn't react to any of it, he just glared menacingly as the referee brought them together for the pre fight instructions.

"Okay, we both went over the rules in the dressing room. I expect a tough, clean fight from both of you. You see where that is on the belt, Martin? That's good. You belt looks good too, Bruno. If you get tied up, stop punching when I tell you and step back clean. Now, any questions from Team McGregor? Any from Team Calypso. No? Then touch gloves and good luck to both of you and go back to your corners until the bell rings.

The two fighters touched up their gloves and went back to their respective corners, just waiting for the bell to ring. The referee waited until all the handlers were out of the ring before ordering the time keeper to start the round. The bell rang. After all the weeks of training, all the sacrifice and hard work. It was finally time to get it on.

Just as Martin had expected, Bruno wasted no time getting out into the center of the ring to start a war. The Louisiana lion was big, but moved very well for a fighter his size. Martin had been in the ring with a few guys who were noticeably bigger than him, but none of them had the speed and agility Bruno was displaying. The big lion was throwing, long, wide shots at Martin, but Martin was nice and loose, making it easier for him to move out of harm's way and stay on the outside. He bobbed and weaved, dodging the lion's power shots and came up countering with the secret jab Ali had shown him, though he had made an adjustment in his tactic. With Bruno being six inches taller than him, punching Bruno in the face was a difficult task, given that punches going up lost some of their force. Martin opted to go for the lion's breadbasket, sending the loose, whipping, knuckle-digging left into his breadbasket. The lightning fast left of Martin stunned the lion, who moved his elbows down, trying to block the blows. He reached his arms up wrapping his arms around the wolf, but Martin refused to push back, knowing that would only drain his strength, which is what his opponent wanted. The referee broke them, allowing Martin to keep dancing around the ring, forcing Bruno to chase after him. The lion moved in, throwing power shots, and like before, Martin bobbed and weaved out of harm's way, coming back to counter with his jab. He popped the lion several times with his left, making Bruno grunt from the body blow. Martin moved on the inside and pummeled Bruno's midsection, sending the crowd to its feet cheering. The round ended with Martin taking a hard right to the chest, the only clean shot he'd been hit with so far.

"Beautiful, pup, beautiful," said Sully, wiping the wolf's face off and giving him water. "You keep doing that. No way anyone thinks that lion won that round. Just let him wear himself out and keep pumping the jab. If you know you can do it, move in and give him some power shots, okay?" Sully put fresh grease on the wolf's face for round two.

Pierre Calypso, Bruno's father was aghast at what he'd just witnessed. He had fully anticipated seeing his, who towered over the wolf, send Martin to the canvas in the first round. "What you doing out there, boy? You letting that wolf control the fight. You go out there and show him who in charge. You hear me? You get that left hook of yours and bust him in the muzzle."

"Seconds out," said the referee with ten seconds remaining in the rest period.

Martin came out into the ring like before, dancing around, trying to keep his distance from Bruno. The lion pinned Martin against the ropes, thinking this would be the end of the fight, but the wolf managed to pop the lion with his left jab to the body, driving him back. Martin crouched down and came back up, hitting Bruno on the jaw with a solid right uppercut that made the lion's head bounce around, momentarily wobbling him. Just like in round one, the crowd was on its feet again, cheering on the Bronx pugilist. Bruno rushed forward, tying up Martin again, managing to get a right shot into the wolf's body. Martin felt the power of Bruno and knew he could keep taking hard shots like that and hope to survive the fight. The referee broke them apart and Martin moved, crouching down and throwing his left into Bruno's body. Bruno covered up his midsection with his elbow, not sending any counter punches. The lion's defense of his body cost him protection to his face, which Martin exploited, sending a straight right to the lion's face and left hook to his jaw. The crowd was going wild, seeing that the smaller fighter was the won dictating the pace of the fight. Bruno came back, sending a straight right at the wolf, but Martin moved into a defensive position and the punch landed on his shoulder. It still hurt, but was no where near as devastating as getting hit in the face or midsection. Martin got a series of jabs in right as the bell rang.

"Your giving this guy a boxing lesson, pup," said Sully as Martin sat on his stool. "Don't get to cocky though. You can never be too sure if he's playing possum. Like I said before, hit him with the jab, but this time, try to get him with the right uppercut. That one you threw at him really made him wobble."

Pierre was even more furious at the end of the second than he was at the end of the first. "Why you keep letting him knock you around like that, boy?"

"Sorry, Daddy," said Bruno, breathing heavily. "But he real fast."

"You better get in the game, Bruno, or this little wolf, he gonna beat you," said Pierre. "Won't be no going for the world title if he do that."

"Seconds out,"

The bell rang for the third and Bruno moved into the center of the ring, but made a greater effort than ever before to pressure Martin against the ropes where he could do some real damage. Martin staid loose, relaxed, not burning up too much energy. He watched Bruno throw a flurry of punches in his direction as the lion pinned him into one of the neutral corners. Martin crept down as he was squashed and sent a right uppercut into Bruno's stomach, followed by a left hook that the wolf turned his whole body into , landing just below the lion's ribcage on the liver. For the first time in his career, Bruno had his knees on the canvas. The referee directed Martin to the other neutral corner and came back to the count.

"One, two, three, four, five, six . . ."

Bruno got up at six. The referee grabbed hold of his paws and looked into his eyes, making sure the lion was able to continue. Bruno nodded, saying he was, and Martin came out of the neutral corner, ready to finish the lion off if possible. At this point, Bruno was getting angry at himself for letting the wolf get the better of him. He decided to get Martin in the middle of the ring, having been sent to the canvas when he'd pressed the wolf into the corner. Bruno managed a couple of shots, sending a straight right at the wolf, but Martin had his glove up, blocking the punch. Bruno, really for the first time in the fight, decided to get in a jabbing contest with Martin. Being a power puncher, the lion didn't often use a left jab, choosing instead to finish off most of his opponents with straight rights or left hooks to the muzzle. Martin felt a few of Bruno's jabs connect on his face, but he moved back in time to take much of the force out of the blows. The bell rang for the end of the third round, and with both fighters facing the opposite direction of the corner they needed to go to, were forced to walk by each other. Martin felt Bruno elbow him in the stomach, which sent the crowd into a series of boos, the referee pulled the lion to the side, telling him that if he did that again, he wouldn't bother with taking a point away. He would stop the fight, ruling it a disqualification for Bruno. That would mean Team Calypso would not get their share of the prize money. It was enough to straighten up the lion's behavior.

The next six rounds went very well for Martin McGregor. He'd managed to send Bruno to the canvas again with another hard left hook to the liver. Bruno barely got up before being counted out and told the referee he wanted to go on. Martin knew he was ahead on all the scorecards, but now it was the tenth round and that's when things would get really dangerous.

The two warriors came out of their corners, touching gloves, a tradition at the beginning of the final round of a bout. Martin could see that at this point, Bruno had been greatly worn down by the accumulation of body shots he'd taken. He still had great respect for the lion's power and ability to stay in the fight, despite having been dropped twice. The crowd watched the two fighters, focusing intently on what would happen in this, the final round. Martin kept up jabbing at Bruno's body with more liberty. With so much of his strength sapped, the bigger lion wasn't able to get his paws over to Martin nearly as quickly as he did before. Martin was even bold enough to move to the inside, crouching down to slip whatever punches Bruno might have thrown at him, and went to work throwing a double left hook into the lion's liver, followed by a right hook to his chin. Bruno wobbled about the ring , trying desperately to stay on his feet. The crowd by now was going nuts, wanting to see the local boy when the bout and move onto to the top heavyweight rankings. Martin moved to the outside. He was tired too, but not as much as his opponent. He moved about the ring, making Bruno chase after him. Bruno managed to catch the wolf and hit him with a straight right paw to face, the first punch that had really hurt Martin in the fight. Martin could feel blood trickling out of his nostrils, but he couldn't worry about that right now. He had to get through the fight and hear that the ring announcer inform everyone that he was the winner by unanimous decision. The straight right had stunned the wolf briefly, but he came back swinging, throwing punches in bunches as he and Bruno exchanged punches in the middle of the ring. The crowd was on its feet, knowing that there wasn't much time left on the clock. Though most still had Martin winning every round, the New York crowd still wanted to see the wolf knock the big Cajun, and they certainly didn't want to see him get knocked out himself, but with ten seconds left to go, something happened that no one would have ever expected.

Bruno managed to land a solid left hook on the wolf's muzzle right when Martin landed a left of his own, the hardest one he'd thrown in the fight, into the lion's liver. The crowd gasped as both boxers fell face forward, both of them lying flat on their backs. The referee, a veteran of the sport himself, was so shocked, he didn't even begin the count right away.

"One . . . two . . . three . . ."

Both Sully and Pierre were yelling at the top of their lungs to try and encourage their fighters to get to their feet, but the referee reached the count of ten and waved his arms. The ringside doctors rushed inside, needing to check on the condition of both fighters. Their corners entered the ring too, with Sully going to Martin and Pierre going to Bruno. The two fighters eventually got to their feet, and despite everything that had happened, gave each other a hug. The ring announcer stepped inside for the closing announcements.

"Ladies and gentlemen, in an extraordinary turn of events, both fighters were knocked down and counted out, making this bout a draw, meaning Bruno Calypso still retains his North American Boxing Federation heavyweight championship.

With Martin and Bruno now on their feet, one of the commentators, a bulldog like Sully named Larry Butler, stepped into the ring to interview both of them for the post fight interview.

"Guys, I was blown away but what I saw in there. Martin, you showed all of us that you can go in there and not be intimidated by a much larager opponent. Was that your objective?"

"Yes, it was, but more importantly, my objective was to win, which I think I was up until the moment Bruno and I were counted out."

"I certainly had you winning on my unofficial scorecard, Martin. I think we all did." The bulldog looked over to Bruno and held the microphone up to him. "Bruno, was Martin tougher than you expected?"

"Much tougher," said the lion. "He sure know his way around the ring and got a good jab. Never seen nothing like it. He a great fighter."

"So, I think what's on everybody's minds right now is, will there be a rematch?"

"That's up to Bruno, Larry," said Martin. "He's the champion."

"I give him a rematch," said the lion. "He earned it. After tonight, I bet we get an even bigger purse too."

Martin laughed at Bruno's words, not because they were absurd, but because he was probably right about more money. They hugged each other again and stepped out of the ring, going back to their dressing rooms.

Martin had his handlers cut his gloves off and unwrap his paws. Sully noticed right away that the wolf's countenance had changed when they had gotten back here.

"Hey," said Sully. "What's wrong, pup?"

"I let you down, Sully," said Martin, wiping his face off. "I was winning every round and I shouldn't have gotten in a brawl right there at the end. I should have just kept moving away from Bruno, knowing I had it in the bag."

"Are you kidding?" said Sully. "Marty, let me tell you something. I'm gonna be eighty years old next month and I ain't never seen a guy that much smaller than his opponent beat a guy like that for ten rounds. You think I'm upset? Hell no. I'm proud that you showed the world that you wouldn't let yourself get knocked out in the first round by a big slugger like Bruno. I'm proud of you, pup."

Sully gave the wolf a big hug, a rare gesture for the usually gruff old trainer. "Besides, everybody's gonna be talking about this fight; even guys who don't normally watch boxing. You'll see, pup. Your name's gonna be bigger than ever before after tonight."

The normally happy Martin allowed a smile to return to his face. Sully had enough experience to know how these things usually turned out and if he was right, that meant the rematch would only be that much bigger.