In the dressing quarters downstairs from the action, boxers nervously wait their turn. The walls are papered with newspaper clippings from Golden Gloves bouts of years gone by. A boxing ring is set up with a heavy bag off to the side. A chalkboard lists the evening's lineup. Those with time to kill either sit silently or shadow box.
Eye contact is avoided until show time.
They change in separate quarters, listening to rap music by Jay Z and D'Brat. It gets 'em into the rhythm. I never turn it off, but I've got sore ears when I go home at night. You're fighting Saturday. Untested and unnerved, and with only three days to prepare, Provost won that night and then went on to win three straight Western Mass. titles.