Sucker Punch

January 24th 2004. Atlantic City NJ, That day changed my life forever. Most people remember it for Arturo Gatti courageously defending his WBC title. Me? I remember what happened to me afterwards. I was just a normal fan walking out of Boardwalk Hall. I was one in a Million, or at least I thought so. Then IT happened. As I was walking down the street late at night in New Jersey, See there's the first mistake, I was confronted by a man. His appearance was scruffy, he was 5'7 shorter then me, but judging from his round middle and big arms was about 230-250 pounds. He was wearing a brown trench coat, nothing unusual it is late January. Then He said " You, Nike shirt, Come here" He was referring to me. I got within arms length of him. He reeked of Booz and it looks as if he hadn't shaved in a week, giving him a rough appearance in the New Jersey street lights. I asked him what he wanted politely. He answered " Give me all of your money and you don't get to hear sparky here, talk" He indicated the pistol in his belt. I stood there frozen for a minute, in sheer shock of what I just heard. Apparently I took a little too long, he took the pistol from his belt and jammed it in my ribs, bringing me back into a frightening reality. He cocked the hammer on the gun, " Make your move, or I will " He said. Then I reached into my back pocket and say "Mister, just hold on, I'm grabbing my wallet". He starts counting. " 1...... 2". "Hold on Mister I almost have all of it ". "3", then without even thinking about it, I grab the pistol away from the man and he stumbles off balance. Sensing my opportunity I drew my right hand and I punched him right on the edge of his jaw. He fell to the ground. Desparate to regain control the man tries to grab his gun, that's when out of pure instinct, I leap onto the man and throw a flying elbow to the back of his head. The man quit moving for a moment. Then seeing my chance I took the gun and held it and I didn't know what to do. That's when someone made a decision for me. "Atlantic City Police, drop your weapon or I will shoot"! I placed the gun on the ground and surrendered myself.