“My pops nicknamed me Steel when I was a baby. He said that even as a little boy, I was always cocky, so the name just stuck. I liked to fight growing up. My mama will tell you that I’ve always been rough, and very mannish. I got boxing gloves on my 4thbirthday, and I used to wear those gloves around the house all day. I used to go to sleep with them too. My pops saw the love that I had for boxing, so he took me to my first boxing class not long after my 4thbirthday. From the day I walked in the ring, I felt like I was where I was supposed to be,” I started and on the screen, the picture changed to one of my first fights at 5-year-old, and you could see my pops standing up close, with his hands on his hips, watching me. My mom was the one that took that picture.
I shared with the crowd a little bit about my boxing journey over the years, the wins, some of my favorite fights, and then I had to get to the part where I decided to stop fighting. I wanted to breeze past that part a little bit. It was something that I didn’t like talking about, and I didn’t want it to make me emotional.
“If I had it my way, I would have still been boxing, but things didn’t work out that way. You all know that my late wife was ran off the road, when she was nine months pregnant with our son,and we ultimately lost her that way. I went through a hard time mentally after that, and the love that I once had for boxing was no longer there, so I decided to walk away from it,” was all that I had on that, and you could hear the sad sound effects that the crowd made, and Lonique even offered me a sympathetic smile, as she looked over at me. She offered me her condolences, and then we switched gears.
“Your still around boxing though. I don’t know Steel. That left hook on Zayne kind of looks like how yours use to,” she said, speaking on my boy, and I smiled, showing all 32 teeth as I thought about my baby.
A picture of Zayne and I showed on the screen, and my heart truly melted because it was one of my favorite pictures of us. He was four years old on this picture, and we were down at my boxing ring that I had in Maimi. His shirt was off, and all he had on was gym shorts. I was kneeled before him, so that our foreheads could touch. You could hear the crowd loving this picture.
“Aww man. That’s my boy right there. Everything that he sees me do, he wants to do it, and that’s why I have to continue being a positive role model in his life. My son just might be the first person in the world to box and play football because he’s good at both. So determined too. That boy don’t miss an opportunity to get a workout in, he’s disciplined when it comes to always wanting to go to practice, and he’s hungry for success. That’s my boy,” I spoke highly of him, and Lonique smiled at my words.
“How is that for him? Having an undefeated heavy weight champ as a father?” she asked me, and I chuckled.
“My son looks up to me, but he doesn’t see me as that all the time. To him, I’m just daddy. I still embarrass him when I’m at his football games, and I kiss him on his forehead in front of his friends. He still thinks I’m lame when I play old school music inthe car, and I sing off key. The way the world views me, my son don’t view me in that manner. I’m just daddy, and I love that title,” I shared.
We then switched gears, and I talked about my daughter, and I even spoke on Brooklyn, saying how Toni’s niece was living with us, and speaking on the role that I played in her life. We spoke about a lot, and now she was gearing up to talk about Toni.
“Alright, the moment that we’ve all been waiting for. Toni. Let’s talk about it. It’s Valentines month. The month of love. You have that nice wedding coming up. Take us back to the beginning. How did you two meet? Who shot their shot?” she asked me, and I laughed at her question.
When I heard the crowd going crazy, I turned around to see the screen, and sure enough, one of our engagement portraits came up. I loved that picture. I loved us in the color ivory. I put my lips together to make a whistling noise at my fiancé on the picture.
“That’s a beautiful woman right there, Steel,” Lonique let me know, and the crowd screamed, agreeing with her.
“She is. I tell her that all the time, to the point that I know I gotta sound like a broken record by now,” I started.
“Our love story is funny though. Before we officially met, we ran into each other at Chic-fil-a. I was there, getting dinner with my son, and she was there with her niece. She so fine, that of course I saw her when she walked in, but I was in a bad place mentally when I saw her, so I didn’t say anything. Weeks later, my son had a youth football training camp at her school. She was there helping at one of the stations, passing out Gatorades. My son got a Gatorade from her, and the two of them instantly kicked it off. To know my son is to know that he is every bit of me. That little boy not friendly at all. He keeps his guard up, and he’s hesitant about who he allows to get close to him. He knew her all of five minutes, and when I approached them, he wasasking me if Toni could come with us to lunch,” I shared, and they all started laughing because this was my first time telling this story.
“I tried to shut it down, telling my son that Toni probably had something to do, but she ended up coming, meeting us at Hooters. Ya’ll, the two of them didn’t pay me any attention the entire time that we were at lunch. They talked amongst themselves. That was their date. I was just there, taking up space,” I voiced, and they laughed again.
The picture on the screen changed, and it was one of Toni, and Zayne. They were on the football field together. Toni was athletic, and she was learning more about football now that she’s in Zayne’s life, so she would get out there, and train with him. I took that picture of them a couple of months ago.
“After Hooters, we went next door to this arcade spot. While my son ran around, Toni and I had a moment to ourselves. My personality wasn’t anything like my son’s. I was quiet, cold, and not approachable. That’s because of the mental problems that I had at the time. I’ll never forget she stormed out of the arcade, telling me that I needed to find some personality, or some crazy mess she told me. Lonique, I liked that,” I said, and the crowd laughed, along with Lonique.
“So, I popped up on her at her school. Mind you, I didn’t know where her classroom was, what time her lectures started, none of that. I just showed up. I eventually found her, and I talked with her for a little bit, apologized for being cold to her at the arcade. There was a seafood festival near her school, and that’s where we went. I had fun with her that night. Did the romantic thing, took my jacket off, let her wrap it around her, all that. We spoke on marriage, and children that night. She wanted those things, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted them, so we left it right there that night. So, when I say that I love, and respect this woman, you gotta know that I’m telling the truth. No matter howgood the physical looked on me, she wasn’t going to allow me to sit there and play in her face. If I couldn’t give her what she wanted, then she just simply didn’t want it. I respected her for that,” I said, and like I was up here preaching, Lonique clapped, and so did the members in the audience.
“Lonique, that woman was sent here to be my wife, so I went and I got her. I know us getting together was intentional, and Toni was personally sent to me by God. My mama goes to God in prayer, thanking Him for sending Toni into my life because she likes to say that Toni helped her get her son back. My son used to beg me to have a mother figure in his life, and Toni is that. From the moment Toni came into his life, she’s never played about Zayne. I remember that afternoon at Hooters. She wouldn’t even order shrimp before checking in with Zayne, asking him if he was allergic. If I pick him up a second later from football practice, she be ready to go to war with me. Let him be around me all day, and he go to her, and say that he’s hungry, oh she going to want to crash out on me,” I went on, and they were clapping in the audience, as I sat here, and I bragged on my lady.
Lonique was rocking in her seat, as if she was in church, listening to the things that I was saying.
“I’m only getting so passionate about it because of certain stuff that my fiancé shows me that people around the world are saying about her on the internet. They speaking on a woman that they don’t know anything about. You got women around the world, mad at Toni because she’s accepting of my son, and has welcomed him with open arms from day one. She don’t love my son the way that she does because she wants brownie points from me. She maxed out on her brownie points from the moment I saw her, even when I wasn’t ready to love her yet. My son knows what it feels like to have a mothers love in the house now. Before her, I was living in what felt like a storm. Toni is my calm spot, and I can’t wait to marry her,” I finished, going toleave it at that because if you allow me to, I’ll sit here, and brag on my lady for hours.
One more picture from our engagement portraits appeared on the screen, and that one really made me smile because of the meaning behind it. It was a fist pump that we were doing, and as silent as the photo was, that fist pump signified that I had her, and she had me.
The crowd was up on their feet, erupting in applause for me.
“Wow, Steel. Wow. You are a phenomenal man. You are giving your niece, and your kids something to look up to. I appreciate you for coming down here and talking with me. I know with all the wedding planning that you have, your schedule is tight, but I appreciate you for squeezing me in,” Lonique stated, as she stood, and I stood as well, letting her know that it was no big deal, and I gave her a quick hug.
I was glad that I was able to use this platform and speak on the crazy shit that some of the women were on social media saying. I knew the head, and the pussy that I was going to get tonight from Toni was going to be through the damn roof. I took my ass on national TV, and I sat there, and bragged about her for over ten minutes. I knew she was going to go out of her way tonight to show me her appreciation.
Chapter 10
Zion ‘Steel’ Perkins
CERTIFIED HANDS
“Steel, it’s this crazy ass white man at the door asking for you. Big Rod at the door, ready to put that nigga on his head because he’s been telling him to leave the premises for the past five minutes, but he won’t let up. You want to go see what the dude wants before Rod handle it?” Anthony, one of the trainers here at my gym asked me.
I was in the back, in my office, just going over a few things. Life has been so busy for me that I haven’t had the time to pop in at my gym in a while, but today, I had a few moments to breathe, so I pulled up about an hour ago, talked with some of the kids that were here training, and then I made my way to the back. I was about to head out anyways, so I didn’t mind going to the front, and seeing who was here to see me.
