Tre’yan didn’t move his gaze never left Dyayun, stoic and unflinching he merely stared at the once great champion with dispassionate eyes. This fight would be memorable, perhaps even legendary in some circles. 

For Tre’yan it would be merely a test.  Their last fight was a sadistic affair. Neither fighter gave quarter. Powerful blow answered with powerful blow. Broken and battered, neither side asked for mercy and none was expected. What had started as a prize fight had turned into a personal hell, a war of attrition that Tre’yan won. 

Dyayun stepped back, his stance brutish, coarse and decidedly that of a brawler, not a boxer.  Even now the fight had been fought and a winner decided. All that remained was the painful process of blows, a whittling down of will, until the final blow crashed down. 

Dyayun prided himself on being a fighter, the reality was he was far from it; he was simply a bull in a china shop. He had heavy punches, and an ability to absorb punishment. These traits led him to a championship, one fraught with fearful fighters who crumbled under the withering, relentless Dyayun. Until he faced a true boxer, until he faced Tre’yan. 

Sliding back into his unorthodox style, Tre’yan’s right hand slipped up in front of his face with the elbow drawn in, parallel with his torso. His right foot edging forward, as the left slid back. Knees bending as the weight settled evenly on the balls of his feet. The power hand, his dreaded left pulled in close to his body, elbow vertical with the fist. 

The fight would of course be the classic mismatch of orthodox against unorthodox styles. But while Dyayun burned with vengeance for a loss many years ago, Tre’yan knew the sting of a recent loss. He had learned much in that fight, short as it was. He realized that he had given a tell to the man who beat him. Just as Dyayun gave a tell to Tre’yan.  That was really all it was in a fight. One side giving away a tell they desperately tried to hide. The other side reading that tell and taking advantage of it.   Time would tell if Dyayun actually learned anything in the many years since his death. If he didn’t he would suffer the same fate.  He would lose to a fighter, not a brawler.