Martin folded the cloth.
"Why are you apologizing now?"
"Because I was wrong."
"About what?"
Tyler stared at him.
"Do you need me to list everything?"
"No. I need to know whether you understand what you did."
Tyler felt irritation rise instinctively. He wanted to say that he had already apologized, that Martin was making the situation unnecessarily difficult, that everyone made mistakes.
But he remembered Raymond's words.
"I treated you like you were less important because you clean the gym. I thought that because I'm a boxer and people pay attention to me, I had the right to embarrass you. I wanted everyone to laugh at you so I could feel bigger."
Martin listened without interrupting.
Tyler looked down at his hands.
"And when you avoided the punch, I was angry because you made me look foolish. Instead of admitting that, I called it luck."
Martin set the cloth aside.
"That is a better apology."
Tyler looked up.
"Does that mean you accept it?"
"It means I heard you."
The answer was not what Tyler wanted.
Martin picked up his bucket and moved toward the equipment rack.
Tyler remained beside the bench.
"Can I ask you something?"
"You can ask."
"Would you teach me how you moved?"
Martin stopped.
Tyler continued quickly.
"I'm not asking you to fight me. I just want to understand the timing. I've watched the video a hundred times, and I still can't figure out how you did it."
Martin considered him.
"Why do you want to learn?"
"Because I'm a boxer."
"That explains what you do. It doesn't explain why."
Tyler exhaled.
"Because I want to become better."
"Better at what?"
"Boxing."
Martin shook his head.
"That answer is too easy."
Tyler looked frustrated.
"What do you want me to say?"
"Something you have actually thought about."
Martin returned to his work.
Tyler stood there for a moment, then followed him.
"I want to win my next fight."
"Of course."
"I want to become a champion."
"Naturally."
"I want people to respect me."
Martin stopped wiping the rack.
"Now we're getting somewhere."
Tyler looked at him.
Martin rested his hands on the handle of the cleaning cart.
"You want people to respect you, but you keep behaving in ways that make respect difficult. You want to become a champion, but you treat discipline as something that applies only when it suits you. You want to win, but you have trouble accepting that someone else might know something you don't."
Tyler's face tightened.
"I came here to apologize, not get lectured."
Martin nodded.
"Then perhaps you should think carefully before asking me to teach you."
Tyler remained where he was.
Then he noticed the way Martin moved around the equipment.
Tyler suddenly understood that Martin was not simply avoiding punches.
"Martin?"
"Yes?"
"Would you at least tell me what I'm doing wrong?"
Martin studied him for a moment.
"Your biggest problem is that you think speed will solve everything."
Tyler crossed his arms.
"Speed wins fights."
"Speed helps win fights. So do balance, timing, patience, judgment, and the ability to recognize when not to throw a punch."
Tyler glanced at the ring.
"I have all those things."
"Then why did you miss?"
Tyler opened his mouth, then closed it.
Martin continued.
"You saw a man standing in front of you. You decided he was slow because he was old. You decided he was frightened because he didn't raise his hands. You decided you knew what would happen before you had even begun."
"You didn't miss because you lacked speed. You missed because you stopped paying attention."
Tyler looked toward the mirror.
His reflection stared back at him, wearing the expression of someone who had just discovered that the problem might be closer than he had imagined.
Martin lifted his bucket.
"Work on that first."
Tyler stayed in front of the mirror long after the gym began filling with fighters.
Whenever a younger fighter made a mistake, he had a habit of smirking.
He did not ask Martin another question.
"Thank you."
Martin looked at him.
"For what?"
"The advice."
Martin nodded once.
"Put it to use."
Tyler walked outside.
Tyler's next opponent was Marcus Reed, a disciplined thirty-one-year-old boxer known for making aggressive fighters look foolish.
Their fight was scheduled for six weeks later.
Tyler had already described it as the easiest victory of his career.
After watching the video of Martin avoiding the punch, Marcus's trainer had made a joke during an interview.
"If Tyler wants to practice hitting something that doesn't move, he should start with a wall."
Tyler watched the interview alone in his apartment.
He wanted to call Marcus, demand that he repeat the insult face-to-face, and remind everyone why he was considered one of the most dangerous young fighters in the region.
He remembered Martin's advice.
Tyler looked at the screen again.
Marcus had not insulted his punching power. He had questioned his judgment.
The following morning, Tyler arrived at Champions Den and asked Raymond for a technical review.