AUTHENTICITY AND ART

In the insane new world of Artificial Intelligence and everything fake, we at New Pop Lit believe the proper response to tech insanity is to embrace the natural and real– including real-world experience, and writing based on real-world experience. As exemplified by our new feature,“The Big Time” by Bob Bozic, a chapter from Bob’s memoir, Still On My Feet. Few people have had as varied and tumultuous a life as Bob– including homelessness, hospital stays, world travels, bartending, and as the featured chapter describes, boxing. Tough, atmospheric reality. We know you’ll enjoy reading it.

By 6:45, Bev returned. After ensuring I had all my fight gear—boxing shoes, sweat socks, shorts, jockstrap, protective cup for the groin, and two mouthpieces (in case one got lost)—we made our way to the Garden. At the back entrance on Eighth Avenue, the bookies’ betting line on Chuvalo remained at 3-1, but the line on my fight had tightened slightly to 8-5. This led me to wonder if Bertie had placed a bet on me through a connection, possibly shortening the odds. I mentioned this to Bev while changing into my fight gear, to which he responded typically, furrowing his brow as he admonished, “This has got nothing to do with us.”

(Featured painting: “Dempsey and Firpo” by American “Ashcan” painter George Bellows.)