All of you here know that in this world are born with a natural affinity to something. Elves are in tune with nature, Dwarves are small but strong making them one of the best miners in the land. Orcs used to be ancient warriors because of their strength and natural resistance to the elements, but in this peaceful day and age, they have turned to martial arts or boxing in order to make a living. I was unfortunate enough to be born a Golem, slow and ugly people that can only do basic labouring jobs.

I was named Golem. Yup, my Master named me after my race. I have always admired Martial Arts. I loved seeing Orcs trying to use intricate strategy to fake out the opponent or orcs trying to use flashy finishing moves in order to take the opponent down. I always thought that I could make a great fighter. I'm big, bulky and strong. I have a very intimidating face with scars scattered everywhere, I can scare off so many opponents. Years of doing hard labour on the farm would do that to you. I'm also viciously passionate towards the sport, so why not?

There was a fighting gym looking for new recruits. I asked my master if I could leave for the day and try to join. He was furious at this proposal. He got out his whip and start hitting my head with it.

*smack* *smack*

"You want to join the ring? And what makes you think that I will let you become injured to the point where you cannot serve me anymore?"

"Master, you're hitting me righ~"

*smack**smack*

"Then all of the money I used to purchase you would be wasted you fool!"

"I'm sorry, Master."

"Good. Now go plow out the fields for the day."

I didn't plow the fields that day. When my master was inside the barn, I started running through the fields. I must have crushed hundreds of pounds worth of crops and livestock with my heavy weight. My heart was pounding so fast, if I was found out, I'd surely be put down. I felt my legs cracking from the pressure and weight I was putting on it with each step, but I was not about to stop. Miraculously, despite me rampaging on his fields with sounds that made cattle run, he did not find me.

I kept running until I reached the local town. As I was walking, trying to locate the gym, people were giving me strange looks. Some children playing some game with a ball bumped into me. They ran immediately after seeing me. I felt Orcish police officers closely watching my every move. I concluded that Golems are not very popular in this particular area.

When I finally located the gym, I was thinking there was going to be some sort of confrontation or words hurled at me. But absolutely nothing. I look to my left and see a dark green figure with squinted eyes, a large bumpy nose and teeth that look like horns sticking out of his mouth.

"Hey, big guy, come and sit down!"

I'm surprised. No one is giving me any strange looks or comments. I even see a few elven and dwarven recruits in this gym.

"Martial Arts is a sport, that can be enjoyed by anyone regardless of your race or culture. As long as you are willing to learn, I am willing to teach."

Our coach immediately started to train us with a basic running exercise. A few people stared at me, and some did call me names like "Freak" and "Monster" but when I started to run I almost forgot about the whole world and just daydreamed. About being in the ring and the thrill of victory. In the ring, as long as you win, people will respect you. I was the last person who came back from the running, but I didn't mind.

After we ran, we headed back to the gym. Our group started another exercise with a punching bag. Everyone had to hit the bag with their strongest punch. You have to wind back your fist and do a straight thrusting motion towards the bag and depending on how hard you hit it you will be put in a bracket where you will fight similarly strong opponents. Winners of the one on ones will join the dojo.

Some people complained. This all happened a bit too fast, there weren't even any breaks in between before we got started.

*pant* *pant*

"Coach, we just finished running."

*pant**pant*

"We can't do the punching exercise yet..."

Another prospective fighter interjects.

*pant**pant*

"Let alone fight each other right now."

Sensei starts speaking~

"Then you can all leave this Dojo. We don't need wimps like you representing my Dojo in the ring anyways"

I, of course, wasn't about to leave. I was completely ecstatic about the thought of actually fighting someone this early. Everyone started to punch the bag. I was a little bit intimidated, but still completely stoked about the thought of being able to fight. I'm the last person to go. I scan the room, everyone seems to be exhausted. Noone paid attention to me except the coach.

"Hurry up kid! Once you go we will start the fights!"

I wind back my hard, rugged stone arm. I tightened my fist so hard that cracks formed and pebbles fell from my fist. I widened my stance. As I delivered the punch towards the bag I heard the punch pierce the air, it's like the air made an Orcrist slashing sound. I punched the bag with the full weight of my body behind it. The punching bag looked completely totalled, there is a huge hole in the center of it and some fluffy substance keeps falling out of it. The bag is now on the floor since the chain holding it up was broken. I thought that the punch couldn't have been from me.

I scanned the room once again. Everyone looked stunned, even the coach.

"I'm sorry but you will not be fighting anyone here."

I felt my heart sink. All my life I have wanted to become a become a fighter. But now I'm told that I can't become a fighter. Did I think that running away from my Master wasn't worth it? What could have possibly been the reason? I thought my punch was amazing.

"But why?"

"Your punch might actually kill some of these new recruits. You will begin your provisional exam immediately"

"The only thing I learned was just how to throw a punch..."

"Look at you! You clearly cannot work on your speed, your enormous! No fancy techniques for you, your way too slow. Don't worry, some people use speed and technique to make up for the lack of their strength, but the people who will succeed in the savage world of martial arts are only the traditional hard-hitting fighters So we will ignore your weaknesses and focus on your only strength. Your gargantuan strength. You need to knock out the opponent before they wear you down. Get on the ring, let's do some punching pad exercises."

There I was, first time on the ring. All I had to do was to punch the pads that were on his hand, but I felt exhilarated.

"Come on kid! A one-two!"

I threw a weak, slow left punch to his right pad, I then stepped forward and put all my weight on the second punch coming from my right punch. I heard the satisfying impact land on the pad, and it nearly threw my coach off his balance.

"Nice! Another one! One, two!"

*bash**bash*

"One two!"

*bash**bash*

"One two!"

*bash**BASH*

Before I knew it, I was already finished. That felt like hours of just punching the pads, but I loved every second of it.

"That's enough for today. Tomorrow, you will start your first fight. Try not to mess this up, if you win you are an official boxer."

Before I knew it, I was already here in the ring. A panel of judges just outside the ring watched our match. Very few people were here. Not exactly the glamorous ring I expected.

"Don't worry about knocking the other person out, just show us you have a degree of mastery with the basics"

The thing is, the only thing I learned was how to throw a punch. No footwork, no blocking, no techniques or how to counterpunch. I'm like a glass cannon, except the cannon, was made out of stone and couldn't fire most of the time because it was way too old. No way I will hit a punch, or at least I thought. I looked at my opponent. He was a light-skinned elf, he has skinny but long arms and has his right arm extended and his legs widened. He is probably extremely fast and agile. I had to wait for him to strike first and hope for an opening to punch. One good punch is all I needed.

The bell rang.

He immediately burst out of his corner and came straight to my chest. I tried to throw a right, but he expertly ducked and uppercut my chin. I didn't feel much pain, but it dazed me. While I tried to regain my balance from the hit, he started to rush me with a flurry of punches to the gut and chest. Again, I don't feel anything from the individual punches but the damage accumulated. I swung my arm in a full 360 degrees to try and peel him off, he just ducked over my wailing arm.

I heard one of the judges mark something down. I knew that was an extremely unprofessional move, but I didn't know what else to do.

The elf just stood there... could he be waiting for me? I don't have time to wait. I clumsily run towards him try to punch. My fist is flying over to his face, it looks like it's about to hit! Suddenly, I felt a burning sensation in my stomach. I realize he had hit me with a hard right to the abdomen. I stagger back and try to punch back.

*ding*

I can't keep fighting like this. If I let this fight drag on, I'll lose! Where is my coach when I need him the most...

*ding*

Alright, I tried to wait for him to engage me, and once he did, lean back and hit him with an uppercut. Never done one before, but I had seen enough fighting to get the gist of it. I place my fist under my waist and extended my left arm outwards. Again, he zipped out of his corner and came straight to my chest. He tried for a straight jab at my face, I leaned back and narrowly dodged it. This is my chance, I thought. I stepped my left foot back and threw my right arm into an upward thrusting motion. It's going to hit! I feel the fist connect as I keep pushing it upwards into his chin. His mouthguard is thrown up into the air, along with a stream of blood from his mouth. He's stunned and is the head is still up in the air. I'm about to win, I can't believe it. I began charging towards him and stop right in front of him. I twist my torso, wind up my right fist and put all of my weight into my right punch. I nail him right on his face and bring his lifeless body down to the ground along with my fist.

It's already been a week, and today my coach gave me my boxing license. Before I can even react to how excited I am, my coach starts speaking about another boxing match coming up.

"Congratulations. Your one of the few Golems in the league. Don't get too excited though. One of the judges saw your match and challenged you against his fighter. If you win this match, it will give you a huge boost in the league standings."

"Your training begins now! Get your gear ready and come to the ring!"

There I was. So much information to process. First I got my license, now a judge thinks I was good enough to fight someone from his own gym... and now I think I'm learning a new technique. Can I really do this?

"You don't have much going for you, that counter-punch was a lucky gamble that you somehow pulled off. In a professional fight, your punch was way too slow. The only reason you got it off was that he was caught off-guard, and likely never learned how to deal with a counter-punch. So today we are going to focus on your defence so you can survive in extended fights."

I wasn't entirely sure what he was going to do in order to make my resilience to pain~

"Oof..."

He nailed me right in the stomach, I knelt down to grab my stomach. I'm sure he must have cracked my stone body a little bit from that punch.

"You will train differently from the rest of the gym recruits. Your training is going to consist of me hitting you in various places. Your strength and arm reach are already good enough, your defence is what we need to work on. I will teach you the cross-block."

"Rahhhhhh"

"Vatu!" "Vatu!"

Before I knew it, I was in the ring. There was a huge crowd surrounding us. It felt kind of strange. This was my debut match. I thought I would be excited to be here, but I'm extremely nervous. My opponent, however, seems psyched up from the crowd. I don't know if you can win this. It all feels like a daze... My coach snaps me back into reality.

"Don't worry about the crowd, big guy. Just ignore them and focus on your opponent!"

My coach was right. I just needed to focus on my opponent, Vatu and I.

*ring*

He comes out of his corner, slowly approaching me, both of his arms up. When he is closing in on me, he throws two quick right jabs. I take the full force of them to my chest, but I don't feel anything. He then pulls back and charges forward with his right fist. I place my right arm across from me and my left arm upright overlapping my right arm. His punch hits my right arm, and thanks to extra padding from my left arm he staggers back. From this opening, I bring my right arm back, grip my fist and strike him right in the face. His whole body leaves the ground before his lifeless body hits the ground.

The crowd goes silent.

The referee starts counting.

1

2

(Did I just win...?)

3

4

(But it was over so quickly..)

5

6

(Maybe I can take the world championships.)

7

8

(I'm getting ahead of myself, focus on the match.)

9

...

10!

"Rahhhh!"

The crowd starts roaring. I can't believe I really won the fight! It feels exhilarating, right now everyone in the crowd is paying attention to me and my win. They are not paying attention to my huge body, or my revolting face. Not even making comments on my dark skin or making fun of how I used to be a slave. The crowd loves me because of my boxing! Nothing but overwhelming joy overcomes me.

"Way to go, big guy!"

The victories kept coming in, with my hard, cold fists. I easily won the regional championship title with a knockout and was called Golem "Stone Fist" Golem. Every fight felt amazing, and even if I was being pounded on by some opponents, I still was having the time of my life. Everything was perfect until a certain Orc with an extremely similar build to me challenged me. During the fight, when I used my now signature cross block, he completely shattered my right arm. I could not fight again, ending my career in boxing.

So, why did I tell you all this lengthy story? Well, it was to tell you that as long as you have determination, you can achieve anything. I was constantly teased and laughed at by the people around me, sold to be a labourer to my master for the rest of my life. I never thought I would be here, being the first Golem to join the Orcish Fighting Hall of Fame.