The Sweet Science

“That man is no piece of candy, he as savage as they come”-Colonel Rushmore (spectator to the Bear-Claw Wright vs. Sweet Judas fight).

The Sweet Science, by Hersey Wagner jr

On Judas’s death bed, he said there were ten people who he knew that if trouble went down and he had to have someone watch his back that these men were the people to call. One of those men is Bear-Claw Wright, though he and Judas didn’t start out as friends at all, but has opponents in the squared circle. Judas had been in the military for about 3 months at this point, it was still about a half a year in tell the second war for Europe started. Judas hadn’t learned much English at that point and often found himself questioning others around him. He found his time spent at the gym, and many of the other solders at this point weren’t sure what to make of him. He was by far the best athlete in his patrol, but they wondered were he came from or how he even managed to join the army in the first place. Since many Indians never joined the military or even were allowed to at this point in history. Judas had never heard of boxing or had even seen a boxing match take place.

In the tribe of two rivers they had similar activates, but nothing as skilled as boxing. Judas would watch as others would jump in what was called the ring and spar with each other. He started to pick up on the sport rather quickly and enjoyed hitting the punching bag. Sgt. Jamie May had taken a liking to Judas and watched him for one whole day just throw punches at the bag. Stg. May was astonished at how Judas had picked up the sport so quickly. Stg. May then ordered one of the other solders to jump in the ring and spar with Judas. After three punches were thrown the other solder lied flat on his back knocked completely out by Judas. Sgt. May jumped to his feet as quick as he ever did and smiled at Judas. Judas was visually shaken and decided to help up his fallen comrade. Stg. May said that was right nice of yeah big fella and decided that day to call him Sweet Judas.

Stg. May become Sweet Judas’s first friend in the military and they grew close over the next few weeks and often were seen with each other in the gym working out. Then Stg. May heard that the military was holding its annual boxing tournament. Once he heard the news he quickly told Judas that he should enter the tournament. Judas said that he didn’t care ether way on it, so he let Stg. May sign him up for the boxing tournament. The first couple of fights were easy and Judas quickly smashed his opponents. Then it came time for the finals and one last opponent the most feared man in the military at that point Bear-Claw Wright. Really the whole point of this story is to tell you the origin of the man Bear-Claw Wright.

Bear-Claw was born Dan Wright and he was from the big city of Atlanta. His dad an unstrung hero of the south opened a traveling carnival and Dan grew up around some of the strangest characters ever in the American south. He grew up with men that would play roles in Savage Judas’s life down the road such the crazy tattooed woman named Bonnie and Squirrel tailed Jones. These are tales though for anther day as Dan grew up he gained strength training few enjoyed. He was so strong at the age of 12 he was called the marvel kid of iron and his main attraction bending an iron rod with his bare hands.

When Dan got to be the age of 16 a bear got loose in the carnival camp, it had knocked out its inexperienced trainer. The bear started to go after the spectators and it was left to Dan to deal with the crazy brute. He first started to circle it and throw hard leg kicks and suddenly was able to wrastle the bear to the grown, but before he subdued the mighty beast its claws ripped his skin with ferrous anger. After that night he was never called anything, but Bear-Claw Wright. It was said that suicide was a better choice then fighting Bear-Claw.

The rumor in camp at the time was that he was a feared street fighter with at least six kills to his name. When Judas first heard that story he chuckled a little bit in the tribe of two rivers, bear attacks were frequent and he thought to himself about how he had fought off several bears in his time. Stg. May wasn’t as assured Judas was on that, he thought that Judas was going to be killed and told him it might be better to fake injury or some such nonsense. Judas laughed and said he would meet Bear-Claw dead center in the ring for the prize of military champion. It’s important to note that in attendance for the fight between Bear-Claw and Judas was several important people. Colonel Rushmore, was one of those men and he was there looking for special recruits for his new black ops team. Colonel Rushmore had met with Stg. May earlier in the day to talk about weather he thought that Judas or Bear-claw would make good men for his team. Stg. May unsure what to make of the colonel’s advances, so he just shrugged his shoulders and said he thought that he would enjoy the fight.

Once both Judas and Bear-Claw had entered the ring, they first stopped and looked into each others eyes for a whole minute. In that minute both new this would be just no ordinary battle. The referee said this was a 12 round fight each consisting of two minutes, he wonted a good clean fight and no hitting below the belt. The fighters then returned to the corner and the bell rang the fight was on. Bear-claw came out first with hard right to Judas’s temple and Judas showed no signs of affect and he answered with a counter left hook straight to Bear-Claw’s jaw. Bear-Claw for the first time in his life felt what it was like to be hit hard and he knew that he might die before the day was out and he thought in the back of his mind that if he died that this punk Indian kid named Sweet Judas would die along with him.The fight raged on and when Sweet Judas unleashed a ferrous combo. Colonel Rushmore jumped to his feet and made the know famous quote “that man is no piece of candy, he as savage as they come” Stg May from that day fourth would never call Judas sweet again. In the final tenth round the fifty or so people who attended this fight have said that it was like Judas was throwing thunder and Bear-Claw was answering with lighting. Though the finial punch was thrown and to this day Bear-Claw can’t say why his legs tightened or his head went into a spin. All Bear-Claw knew was that with the last punched thrown by Judas and he was on the mat. Bear-Claw said later on that he never heard anything past the count of six. The crowed rushed the ring as Judas fell back in the ropes and ambulances were quickly called and all that, was how Savage Judas meet one of his best friends to this day Bear-Claw Wright.