But it wasn't over yet. Later that day, I happened to be wandering through the HarperCollins booths when I was stopped by a sales rep named Kristin Bowers. By the time I slunk off to get another Diet Coke, I realized that I'd found, if not the book everybody else was looking for, at least the one that I wanted. Toole went on to become a licensed corner man, specializing as the cut man, the guy who stops the bleeding. I stop it between rounds for fighters so they can can stay in the fight.
Blood ruins some boys.
It was that way with Sonny Liston, God rest his soul. Bad as he was, he'd see his own blood and fall apart. I'm not the one who decides when to stop the fight, and I don't stitch up cuts once the fight's over. And it's not my job to hospitalize a boy for brain damage. My job is to stop blood so that the fighter can see enough to keep on fighting.