Famous and Beloved (for Unlife)

After twenty-four fights as a professional boxer, Lorenza Saldano left that world at the top of her game, and over the last decade had returned to it only sporadically, only for exhibition matches, and almost exclusively in the company of her former title-challenger-turned-life-partner Carmen Rodriguez. She was in her late thirties now, older and wiser and more respected than she had ever been in her hotheaded younger days. Her focus now was not on getting into the ring herself, but on giving back to her communities, in Tijuana and Lubbock, among Latina and queer women and female boxers. She had been a coach for several years now, with several promising students on the amateur circuit.

It was those students who had pushed her to take on another match. Samantha Oakley had been a potential challenger during her championship reign, with some impressive wins under her belt, but their promoters had never been able to finalize a fight between them. Her students had latched onto some old media coverage of the potential encounter and had discovered that Samantha Oakley was, apparently, still on the professional circuit, and even held a couple of title belts, including one which Lorenza had vacated years ago. They begged Lorenza to get in the ring with the Briton and settle an "age-old question"—one which Lorenza could only foggily remember being tossed around almost two decades ago, and even then usually by pundits aligned with the British fighter. Younger Lorenza, the older version recalled, had not been overly impressed.

After a week of pestering, Lorenza had given in and begun the gears turning that, months later, led to her sitting in a studio with Samantha, dressed up in a pale green ruffled blouse and a navy pencil skirt, trading one-liners, mild brags, and some genuinely confident assertions of victory. Lorenza might not have fought in the professional ring as recently as her soon-to-be opponent, but she spent hours every day sparring with women half her age and breaking down the finer points of technique, and she had the opportunity to hone her physique on a level which she had never been able to when she was fighting three to four times a year.

She liked her chances. That being said, this British boxer was obviously accomplished and worthy of her respect. Lorenza had heard of her amateur career from Carmen. It had piqued her curiosity enough to want to learn more.

She also wanted to prove to herself that she could handle the buildup to a fight with maturity. She cringed when she thought back to some of the pre-match shouting matches she had been a part of during her younger years.

As she walked out of the studio, already receiving messages from her students about the live broadcast, she fell almost subconsciously into step beside Samantha, their long legs matching each other stride for stride. Lorenza took a few seconds to let her eyes draw up from the Briton's feet all the way to her face. When the woman looked at her, Lorenza would give her a thin but sincere smile. "Good show in there," she offered. "Maybe too optimistic about your chances in the ring, but very good."