The weeks that followed, Thomas threw himself headfirst into a routine. He made sure he was up early for work and made sure he was at his desk on time. He worked hard at his job, meeting his deadlines, which more than made his boss and a few of his co-workers suspicious, having known Thomas as a bit of a layabout. During his training sessions, he pushed himself, sometimes going the extra mile which surprised his trainer, Douglas Drieber. He took to light jogging around Burslem Park, and pumped weights at his gym in Tunstall, the DW Sports Centre. He tried hard to stay off the booze and late night partying and on some occasions he even had to refuse invites from Hugo and Grant for a night out in Hanley. Thomas was determined to show the world what he had, that nothing was going to stop him.
He kept up to date with the news on the British economy, and sure enough things were looking quite gloomy, with certain high street chains, and small businesses going into administration. The worry about the security of his own job was still there at the forefront of his mind, but he did not let it distract him on his next upcoming fight. His trainer had given him some fight footage of his next opponent, a Jon Portland. He was a new upcoming fighter on the kickboxing heavyweight circuit, a former criminal and bareknuckle street fighter from the streets of London. Tall, broad and muscular with a clean shaven head that had several scars running down it, he looked like some psychotic soldier to Thomas that the military had warped and messed up. His story read just like Mark Tudors, yet there was something about this guy that had Thomas a little spooked. Remo had dug up information from sources that told him that Portland had once killed a man during an illegal underground fight in Bangkok. He had never been charged for it because the incident had been covered up, but it was enough to send chills down Thomas's spine.
"Another thing you should know is that Portland has been known to take drugs during his training," mentioned Dreiber . "I don't know what Portlands camp were thinking, pumping this guy up with steroids and other training enhancers, but they created a real Frankenstein monster there".
"He fights dirty," noticed Thomas, watching footage from an old professional bout of Portland in action.
"Jeez, did you see him bite that guy on the ear?" said Travis, clearly shocked by what he was seeing. "He's butted the poor guy several times as well. If this fight had no rules, Portland would have killed the guy!"
"Maybe we should find you another guy to fight," Douglas suggested to Thomas. "This Portland guy looked a good idea at the time. But he's an animal and I don't want to risk you getting hurt".
"It says here that he's never been physically beaten or bested," mentioned Travis, reading an article on Portland on the internet. "He's fought twenty six fights, knocked fifteen of them out, and been disqualified more than eleven times. Jeez, this guys a modern day Clubber Lang. Think Remo's right. You should reconsider this fight".
"I'm not backing out of this one," Thomas said defiantly. "He's obviously under the same roster of people that manage Tudor. They clearly put this Portland guy in front of me to spook me out, scare me away. But I'm gonna show them and Tudors camp that Thomas Brady ain't no pushover. Beating Portland will send a message to Tudor and his cronies that I'm coming for him and that his title is mine".
No argument was going to sway Thomas out of his upcoming fight. While he was still peeved that he had not got his title shot at Tudors belt, this next fight against Portland was the opportunity he wanted to establish himself as a force to be reckoned with in the British Kickboxing division. Jon Portland was clearly a monster of a fighter with criminal connections and it did not surprise Thomas that he was so feared by other fighters. But Thomas was never one to back out of a fight. Even if Portland was taking drugs secretly to enhance his performance, it would not sway Thomas's resolve in proving to himself and to others that he was the one destined to be champion and king of the world. He had one big advantage over Portland and that was his speed and experience. Portland was just too slow and sluggish and despite his dirty tactics and agression, Thomas figured that Portland had not gone the distance in a fight. Beyond three rounds, he would be easy pickings.
I'm gonna be bigger than Ali, Fraiser, Foreman, Lewis, Lee and all these legendary fighters put together. He kept telling himself. He also kept convincing himself that he was on course to bigger and better things, and that he had nothing to worry about regarding the recession, because he believed that when he takes the title from Tudor, he will have enough money to live off and splash out lucratively for the rest of his life. Money, women, yachts, sports cars, lounging on the beach. It will all be mine. He said smugly to himself.
Time passed by almost in the blinking of an eye. He began to notice that the woman he had been dating from his gym was no longer attending. Sarah Mannings had always been a devoted fitness fanatic who never missed a single gym workout since he met her. But when he asked the fitness instructor where she was, he was told that she had cancelled her gym membership, and one of the reasons was because she did not want to see Thomas again.
"What did you expect?" said his brother Travis, when he came over for a steak and beer meal one night. "You never called her for weeks because of your obsession with that woman in dark dress and your heavy drinking".
"She was a nice girl though," pointed out Thomas. "Shame, we could have had something going. Still plenty more where she came from".
"Same old Thomas," was Travis's reply to this.
Thomas did not let his breakup with Sarah Mannings get to him. He had more important things to think about and that was winning. He knew he had to treat this fight as if it was the biggest fight of his life. His trainer, Douglas had always told Thomas to approach all his fights in this way. That way, he would not lose that focus and determination to be the best that he wanted to become.
Douglas's advice over the years had always proven invaluable and his guidance and his younger brothers support had been the guiding force behind his unstoppable success in the ring. But during the last few nights before the big fight, Thomas began to experience more vivid dreams, the scenario always being the same - running in thick fog from something he was afraid of. In one of his dreams he found himself back in that same familiar courtyard face to face with Tamara, the mysterious woman in the dark dress.
"Change is coming Thomas," she told him. "I hope you are ready because you will be tested now like you have never been tested before".
Thomas never could reply or ask what she meant by this because the dream ended with him waking up again in a hot sweat. It bothered Thomas and what became more worrying to him was that his focus and attention was no longer there for his fight. It had been replaced by something he had never felt in a long time - fear. He always kept it buried to the back of his mind and was determined not to let it sway him.
When the big night eventually came, Thomas felt pumped up and ready for action. The venue was the Queens Theatre in his hometown of Burslem, a place where he had fought many of his best fights. It was not quite packed out and to Thomas's dismay, not many of his loyal troupe of fight fans were present. He figured it was down to the fact that there was a recession in full swing and people were being careful with their money.
Just concentrate on the fight. He said to himself.
He knew his title was on the line and during the last three weeks he had trained hard to get himself back in shape. It was such a short time as it had not been long since he fought that fighter from Thailand that Paulson had brought over.
His manager, Angus, was not present which surprised Thomas. According to his trainer, Douglas, Angus was having some relationship difficulties and it was mostly to do with finance.
"It's not going to be easy to get you fights," Douglas Thomas, as he fastened up his boxing gloves. "You gotta make sure you win this fight or its right back to the drawing board".
"Relax, I'll be fine," he assured Douglas. He looked at his reflection in the mirror, still remembering his meeting with the mysterious woman called Tamara and wondering whether she was real or just a figment of his imagination. It was not so much her beauty and her mysterious nature that enticed him, but her words which had clearly left a mark within his mind.
He felt a slap from his trainer Douglas. "Hey, stay with it kiddo!" he said to Thomas. He looked deep into Thomas's eye's and saw something he did not like. "You sure you are focused on this fight?" he asked Thomas.
Thomas hesitated for a second, his mind drifting off to his dreams which seemed to be always the same, running in thick fog from something that was chasing him. He almost thought he was dreaming for a second until Douglas slapped him again. "Hey, I'm talking to ya kiddo!" shouted Douglas. "If you are not with it, I am calling off this fight!"
"It's not necessary," said Thomas, shaking the cobwebs out of his head. "I am ready, honestly".
"You don't look ready," said Remo. "You ain't got that look in your eye's, that fire you had before. What's wrong Thomas? You afraid?"
At this point, Thomas's younger brother, Travis entered. "Not much of a turnout tonight, but Tudors here, and he's boasting to the crowd that you are going to lose," he said to them both. He noticed the silence between both trainer and fighter, his gut instinct telling him something was wrong. "Did I miss something?"
"I'm ready," Thomas said to Douglas and Travis. "Let's just get this over and done with".