gesture when he gets to the post. All of this while the first guy watches. Difficult to figure out the expression. Is it apathy or cool jealousy? It does look like the second kid is the previous champion. What else would justify all this routine?
The referee is young, mid to late twenties. He gets them together, and the fight begins. You look at your partner to see the same wish, hope this not too serious.

It is.

At first punching and then ducking. There is both determination and innocence in their faces. No matter how many punches they throw at each other, they cannot shake the innocence off. The occasional kick to the kidneys. "SLAP". Skin against skin. These are kids damn it, they could hardly be over eight years old.

There is something in your stomach now. Some kind of a knot. You look at your partner and you can guess they have the same knot, but you move your face quickly to see what's happening. You're not enjoying this, there is something sick about it. You're still drawn to it though. Drawn like someone who is just about to intervene with an argument that is getting too heavy. But this argument is not yours to stop. Getting up and walking out is not a demonstration, this is what they do. And then you hear the screaming of the adults getting louder. There is encouragement, there is betting, there is sickness choking the air. There's the first bell. You look to see your partner looking at one of the boys. He's surrounded by people. One guy shouting instructions, one guy putting water to his head, one looking concerned but encouraging. Same for the other kid. And then you have the bell again. More of the same. You look at your partner and your eyes meet the knots in your stomachs. You hardly need to say anything, so you don't. You watch some more. You watch the fight get slightly more serious. The bells again.