DING, DING, DING!

That's the sound of fame and fortune my friends. Welcome back to Race Street, welcome back to the boxing scene.

So last week we saw four of our fine community members hitting each other right where it hurts (the face, mostly) to promote the opening night at Purgatory Gym, Philadelphia.

There was gambling, suggestive outfits and Godmothers, and we had Godfathers, blood and much, much drinking. The night was a rousing success and triggered the wheels in motion to bring you this, the Seven Deadly Cities tournament. 

What's happening?

Using our tried and testing system, we're going to pit seven fighters against each other in a league table-esque showdown. I know what you want to see, you want short, digestible sentences. Well let's rattle these off then.

• 7 fighters have 6 fights each, giving them a potential of 6 points to score
• The top four fighters after all 21 fights will move into two semi final bouts
• The two winners will face each other in a grand final

Who?

Our fighters have been assembled and blessed by each of their city heads from across the country. In no particular order, our line up is:

• Seattle - Artie_Bucco
• Detroit - Draven
• Chicago - JasonLeeScott
• Los Angeles - Eleonora_Luciano
• Las Vegas - NicodemoMangana
• New York - Space-pole
• Philadelphia - Heston

To kick off this whole event, we are thrilled to bring you an exhibition match between two of the underworlds top dogs. Godfather Chair's @Sal_Luciano and Spaceman have agreed to open the doors with the inaugural fight of the tournament.

Commentators, referee, judge and jury overseeing the fights will be myself and @Isabella_Luciano.

Where?

Now we understand that the Purgatory Gym being in Philly isn't the easiest to reach, that's why we're opening two new gyms across the country. Deals have been struck with the respective city heads for these two new locations, so we're happy to announce that coming soon we'll have:

Arcadia Gym

Cherry Street, Seattle, WA 98104, USA

and

Limbo Gym

 E Randolph St, Chicago, IL 60601, USA

Every attempt has been made to keep fighters close to home when taking part in a match up, however some away games were inevitable. You're mostly going to be able to see your local champion battling it out on home turf, with the home crowd around him or her. If the fight does take you across country, try and support, as they may be outnumbered by the opponents home crowd!

What For?

Significant gains!

Through local funding, generous donations and divine intervention, we have secured a favorable prize pot which is being broken down into the below placing allocations.

First Place

$50,000,000 and 50 Credits

Second Place

$35,000,000 and 35 Credits

Third Place

$15,000,000 and 15 Credits

Fourth - Seventh

Assorted Perks

There will also be gambling odds provided, and support offered to the city heads of the gym locations to set up their own ring. Available bets will be at both fight level and tournament. So you can bet on pretty much whatever you want.

Have I forgotten anything?

Entirely likely! However I understand that this is an extremely ambitious project however it will be carefully orchestrated and has gone through fierce testing. None of this could have been possible without the support of the greater community. If I could mention you all, I would. However I want to thank in particular for the sponsorship received from Godmother Marie_Lucania, Don Joseph_Ligambi, Space-pole, Spaceman and the gods above.

As always, if you have any questions, please ask.

Artie sat in the corner of the ring he had been training at in LA. The building of the Arcadia Gym in Seattle would mean less travelling to train. What had started as a way to keep trim now had a serious edge to it. He had not been paying 100% attention when Coltrane had been goofing about in the Blushing Eagle. 

Simon says hands up who wants to fight for Seattle in the nationwide boxing contest.

Artie had been thinking of pasta recipes and instinctively raised his hand. It took a second or two to realise he was the only one with his hand in the air and a feeling of impending doom crept over him. He hadn’t really been to the gym in years so this was going to hurt; and dear god it had. Over the days and weeks he felt muscles he’d never felt before, collected bruise upon bruise to the point that the yellowing skin had people worried he may have jaundice and more small cuts on his face than if he’d drunkenly shaved for a month with a rusty razor. 

And now his name was part of the Seven Deadly Cities. 

The trepidation was building already. It was time to get back to work...he slapped his fists together and took aim at the punchbag. 

Heston had been a little drunk when spaceman had asked who wanted to fight for Philadelphia in the boxing tournament and was ready to fight there and then spaceman had calmed him down and let him know that there was a time and a place for the fighting and that he had better get his act together and actually learn to box 

Heston walked down the pier and stepped into the gym yes he was ready and eager to learn the technique and etiquette of the ring 

Draven walks in the announcement room after doing her own little press release earlier, and points at the names on the billboard announcement, and then over at Artie_Bucco and Heston. 

"Well.. well... well... I see you finally showed up? Heston I so look forward to starting my career to the top on your face." Draven winks at him as she then walks over to Heston. Seeing him standing by what appears to be a winners belt she cracks her knuckles and eyes it. 

"Heston.." She sauntered over to him and then leaned forward towards him as she grabbed the belt. Blowing him a kiss she stood back up and held the belt up. 

"There's two things I like to do.. Whoop ass and look good. I'm doing one of them right now and I'll be doing the other when the fight kicks off." 

What was she thinking...  Boxing?  Her?  For goodness sakes!  She had about jumped out of her skin when she watched Gavin do it!  But there was something intriguing...  Something interesting...  Something alluring about this whole thing!  Excitement had flooded her when she had put herself forward after hearing about the competition.  She had been excited to take part in this, to do something new, to do something crazy...  

And crazy was exactly what this was.  There were fighters much stronger than she in that ring.  But strength didn't account for all of it...  Ellie had speed, she had an eye for where to throw a punch, she had a discretion and dexterity, not to mention a tiny form.  One could only hope that these things would be enough.  She had been training hard to learn as much as she could just as fast as she could.  She didn't know the depth of the knowledge of her potential opponents, but one could bet that little miss Sunshine would be putting all she had into this.

Glancing up from her own deep thought process, she heard Draven's voice and couldn't help the light that filled her eyes and the smile that bolstered it.  She liked Draven...  She also knew that she would meet Draven in the ring and that she was currently taunting the two men, and potential opponents.  Her smile softened into a good natured grin as her eyes danced.  Draven would be a rough opponent, as would all of them most likely, but hey...  Ellie was in it to win and she would do her very best to do so...

If she had anything to say about this, she would make her father proud.

Good-day ladies and gents!

After a turbulent week of house cleaning in South Philly and the added complexity of the meeting of mafioso, we're looking to launch the first of our fights ahead of the headline bout between Spaceman and Salvatore.

To follow the proceedings, view the upcoming bouts and view betting odds, please allow me to refer you to this document portfolio. 

This document will be constantly updated by myself and with coordination from the city heads involved in gym sponsorship, so stick a pin in it to keep track.

This Sunday we will kick off the tournament in Purgatory, Philadelphia with a match up between Seattle's Artie_Bucco and Detroit's Draven.

Both are expected to bring their home crowd to the event, so we should see quite a kick off in Philly.

Please leave me any questions here and I'll be happy to support.

Ladies and Gents following Draven's win against Artie Bucco, the leader board has taken it's first score.

The next fight has been scheduled and will take place later today. Please find the document updated here.

Don't forget you can place bets on the overall winners, too!

Got a special one for you all today! Following their debuts, both of these fighters are looking to score their first win. It's the chef showdown, Heston from Philly vs Artie Bucco from Seattle. 

Check the bookmaker document for updated odds and join us for our first tournament fight in Limbo, Chicago. 

Hello all,

We have some new events posted, namely:

• Headlining Fight - Spaceman vs Sal Luciano
• Chicago vs New York
• Las Vegas vs Los Angeles
• Detroit vs Philadelphia

And also tonight's event, New York's Space-pole makes his debut against Philadelphia's Heston, at Purgatory Gym, Philly.

As usual, you can find the odds at this location. 

Greetings fight fans.

I'm here with an update as to the status of the tournament, following some changes.

1. New York has been forced to withdraw, as their fighter could not commit due to other worldly responsibilities. The city has not been able to produce a fighter to replace him.
2. All fighters left to match up with the NY corner have been awarded a win due to forfeit. Any bets placed on NY will be returned
3. This increases the risk of a tie break to reach the Knock Out stages, so the following conditions will be used in the event we have joint 4th and 5th, for example.

• Fighter with the most rounds won will progress to Knock Out stages
• If still unresolved, Damage points will be added up over successful rounds

Finally, status update. 

We have four fights left until Knock Out stages! currently, leaderboard looks like this:

With the number of potential points between the fighters, there is still everything to play for in the remaining bouts.

Coming soon!

Artie knew within himself that his occasional reticence and risk aversion had cost him the opportunity to progress in JackMezzo’s tournament.  In fine Scottish tradition, Artie had subjected his followers and fans to the concept of glorious failure.  So near, yet so far. 

Close but no banana.

Bang!

The gym door swung open and battered off the wall.  In the doorway stood the imposing figure of the head of the betting organisations back lit by the ring lights and casting a menacing shadow.  Artie was lying on a bench in the changing room with Long_Island_Lolita holding a couple of cloths against the bleeding cuts.  The fights over the weeks had been hard and fair but Artie’s body had suffered a lot.
Artie sat up in surprise at the intrusion.  The bookie looked drunk, he was certainly angry.  Artie moved LiLoL out of the way and stood up.  Eddie appeared from the storage room.

Twenty seven million payout Artie you bastard.  Why couldn’t you just lay down and take it?

Get the hell out of here.  If you want your money back then get yourself a patsy to take the fall for you somewhere else.  Don’t disrespect me or this tournament again.

Suddenly the shadow the bookie cast disappeared as several of Artie’s bodyguards appeared behind him.

Get him out of my sight.  Make sure he never works here again.  I will ask Jack to bring his own guys here if any more fights are here.

The bodyguards dragged the bookie out, banging him off every doorway between the changing room and the back exit and threw him into the alleyway each giving him a swift kick before slamming the door behind them.

We have reached a close on this event, this foolishly ambitious endeavor that has hopefully been worth the effort.

Some numbers attached to the tournament for you all:

5 Weeks Long

21 Fights

$350,000,000 Taken In Bets

$321,000,000 In Bets Paid Out

120 Credits Given Out & as Prizes

$100,000,000 Prize Money Given Out

18 Perks Gifted

In response to the questions regarding the future of Boxing, well let's see how we go. I'm happy to share all of the insight I have on running the events and there might be sessions available at the gyms to learn how to host them in the weeks to come.

Right now, I'm going to take a rest. 

Thanks to the city heads, the fighters, the gamblers and my district for being so patient with me while this ran.

Amore e rispetto.

Good show JackMezzo!

I've no doubt the fighters themselves had a good time, but by your numbers and the overall interactions, I think it is clear that this ambitious project of yours was a good that was shared by the community as a whole.

Truly a great piece of work, one that you should be proud of and remembered for.

Thank you for your efforts.