I finished eating, cleaned up the mess, and decided to sit on the sofa and read a chapter of Colm’s nonfiction book about boxing, Against the Mat. Colm’s chapter detailed a twenty-seven-year-old Xavier Downs, a heavyweight division boxing champion for the last two years. Downs could have been considered a master in the ring and on the mat. Forceful uppercuts were his specialty.
Colm did a Q&A with the athlete, wanting to know what Downs’s weaknesses and strengths were. He also wanted to know about the boxer’s family life, as well as his personal life. The chapter struck me as informative and interesting. Colm seemed intelligent, strong-willed, and very much conditioned in his athletic field. Colm wrote with a cutting edge that wasn’t frilly or wispy. It showed that he could ask some tough
