When the boy was in school he would stand against a wall and let the other boys hit him in the stomach for ten Lira a punch. One day the biggest boy in the school, a real man-child, handed him a hundred. Man-hands beat and pummeled as the boy braced himself against the wall with his own hands so that he didn't hurt his head.
He grew.
He left Turkey for the United States of America to study at Business School. He supported himself by boxing. A six-foot-three featherweight. He would run twenty miles a day. Before fight night he would jump rope in the sauna till he lost those last two aching kilograms. He fought in 370 fights. 29 actual bouts. Undefeated.
He was the skeletal conqueror of the western rings.