Oliver and I ran into Raphael at the gym last night. He was irritated about something recent in his personal life. As always it was not difficult to draw the incident out of him.
"I'm at the barber shop last night—where I watch the fights with my Dominican friends and we shoot the breeze. For some reason—either because I'm the only Puerto Rican there, or the oldest, or the smallest, this one dumbass drunk Dominican starts with me.
"Juan is saying, 'Oh Poppy he wants some!'
"The other guys are like, 'Do not mess with him,' meaning for this fool not to mess with me.
"The one thing I can't stand about Dominicans is the way they approach you when they want to start something, like this [half squats, leans, and hangs head down while pawing with the open hand]. This fool keeps on saying, in Spanish, 'Don't you understand me?'
"Well, I had enough. This guy was stuck on stupid. So I stepped away and he steps after me and—Bam! I kicked him in the groin, heel kicked his balls in. He grabbed himself and leaned forward so I slapped him across the face and he went down.
"The guys in the barber shop are all laughing, pointing to my [Wing Chun instructor] card, and saying, 'Hey Raphy, can you teach me some of that?'
"I was like, 'That was no martial art—that was nothing. This fool was stuck on stupid so I just got him off that stupid spot.'
"Then Juan comes up to kick this guy—because he hates this guy—and I say, 'No. it's done. Take him to the bathroom in case he shits himself,' and he dragged him away.
"It's getting crazy out there brother—the wild west. The cops don't come when you call anymore. They show up at the ER where I work to collect the bodies, but don't expect to see them on the street."
Combat Notes
Raphael was certain of successfully dropping his antagonist when he stepped away and the man followed. As in boxing, walking your man into something is a good finishing gambit.
On a more technical note, although he claimed the kick was not 'art' it was clearly an inside stomp kick of the Wing Chun variety [Benson Henderson has used this in the octagon to the body.] with the heel delivery causing the testicles more pain as they were smashed against the leg or pelvis. The thing with groin strikes is to drive the balls into the pelvis.
The slap instead of a punch, and the preventing of Juan from 'piling on,' increased Raphael's odds of defending against any criminal or civil case that might be brought against him, and will also limit his antagonist's thirst for revenge, which is something to consider, particularly in an open city.
