NO SPARRING WITHOUT PERMISSION

‘You don’t have permission,’ Fred said.

Fred was the smallest man in the gym. But in that place of assorted hard nuts – where policemen came to keep fit, and rough boys from sink estates came to learn the sweet science of bruising, and young women came to learn self-defence, and white-collar City types came to push themselves to the limit – nobody argued with him.

The weightlifter got out of the ring.

‘There are many bad things about steroid abuse,’ observed Fred, who was the kind of boxer who is also a philosopher. ‘Shrunken balls. Acne. Hair loss. But the worst thing is that it wipes out the part of the brain that inhibits aggression. In the end they want to kill someone. ‘

There was a heavy bag near the exit door. Just before the weightlifter walked out of Smithfield ABC, he hit the bag as hard as he could.