Chapter 9
Zion ‘Steel’ Perkins
TEN TOES BEHIND HER
“All month long, we’ve been celebrating men around the world, who redefines what it means to just all around be good men.
Whether it’s them being good fathers. Good spouses.
Good in their jobs. Just good men. Today’s guest is someone that has been trending lately.
Not only is this guest dominant in the profession that he was once in, but he’s dominant in his personal life.
If you don’t know who I’m talking about, I’m referring to the undefeated heavy weight champ.
A fiancé that stands ten toes down for the beautiful woman that he has in his life.
A father that does a phenomenal job at raising his children.
Ladies and gentlemen, please help me welcome Zion Perkins, but many of you may know him as Steel,” Lonique James stood from her couch, facing the audience, as she introduced me to come on stage.
Lonique James was a big deal. This was a woman that was nationally respected, but we loved her in Maimi because this is where she was born and raised, and we fucked with the positivity that she was out here doing with her morning show.
She had a weekday talk show, called The Lonique James show, and it was the most popular talk show on air right now.
What I liked about her was that she didn’t use her time on air to sit there and gossip the entire two hours that she was on air, and tear people down.
Instead, she used her platform for positivity, and to celebrate people in the world that were doing great things.
That’s why when she hit my team up a couple of months ago, asking if she could have me come on in February, when she would be shining a light on male public figures that have done good in the world, I made sure that I cleared my schedule, so that I could be here.
The music started playing, the audience were out of their seats, while the camera cut to me, showing me walking from the back.
I did that cocky ass walk, doing that shit like my dick was too heavy to keep up.
I could hear the women in the crowd screaming from the top of their lungs, as I swaggered out front, knowing that I looked damn good.
It was the month of love, so I decided that I wanted to come out in a nice, tailored pink suit.
The pink wasn’t too loud. It was enough for me to be confidant in it and still feel like a man while I was wearing this color.
The suit jacket was open, so you could see the pink, silk button-up shirt that was underneath.
Nice, beige dress shoes were on my feet, and I could tell by the way the women were screaming that they were in love with this look.
I made it to Lonique, who was a beautiful black woman, and she stood there with the cards in her hands that she was going to use to question me, and she waved it at me, while shaking her head, knowing that I was a bad nigga.
She laughed, and like we were long lost cousins, she hugged me for a few seconds and then let me go.
The crowd was still going crazy for me, as I picked my hand up, waved at them, and then I took a seat.
They didn’t quiet down until about another thirty seconds.
“Whew. Steel, I don’t think my crowd has ever been this loud for anyone on this show. How do you handle that? No, let me rephrase that… how does your fiancé handle that?” Lonique asked me, as she took her seat, and she crossed her legs.
I noticed that the crowd started cooing, and that’s when I turned around, and I looked at the screen behind me, and they placed the camera on Toni, and our daughter Lani.
Toni was sitting backstage, and Lani was in her lap, bouncing up and down, happy to be seeing her daddy on the screen.
Toni was there, looking at me in awe with a smile on her face too.
Just the two of them came with me. Zayne, and Brook had testing this week at school, that they couldn’t miss to be here.
I laughed at the question that Lonique asked me, picking my hand up, scratching my head, trying to see how I wanted to answer it.
“Aww man. Lonique, Ima be real, she hate it,” I joked, and when I said it, Lonique and the crowd erupted in laughter.
“Let me clear that up because I don’t want to make my lady out to be insecure, and like she don’t have thick skin.
My baby tough, but even the toughest person going to fold a couple of times.
Lonique, I don’t know if you see some of the stuff these women be on the internet doing.
This AI stuff getting out of hand, man. You got women putting photo collages together of me, and them, having it look like we married and stuff.
That’s the kind of stuff she hate,” I said it in a joking kind of way, so the crowd was laughing, as Lonique sat here with a smile on her face, taking in my every word.
“My girl not wrong, Steel. It’s some crazies out there for sure.
We going to get to you and Toni in a second.
I want to give you your flowers first. Right here in front of everyone Steel, I need you to know that your still the man, even with you retiring, and no longer being in that ring.
The mark that you made in boxing is phenomenal.
You put Miami on the map when you were in the league, out there doing your thing.
It wasn’t easy though. You had some tough opponents over the years.
Talk to me a little bit about boxing. I want to know how you got into that, and how’s life been after retiring,” Lonique went on, and I could see that the image on the screen had changed, so I turned my head to look and see what image it was.
That picture made me smile. It was my last fight.
I was sitting back in my locker room, all battered and bruised, with my head up, and on that picture, you can see that I had what felt like the weight of the world on my shoulders.
That was a tough fight that night. For the first time, that win didn’t come easy to me, which is why you could see the defeat in my eyes.
I never knew that would be my last fight though.
I lost Sapphire the next week, and after that, I never had it in me to fight again.
“My pops nicknamed me Steel when I was a baby. He said that even as a little boy, I was always cocky, so the name just stuck. I liked to fight growing up. My mama will tell you that I’ve always been rough, and very mannish.
I got boxing gloves on my 4th birthday, and I used to wear those gloves around the house all day.
I used to go to sleep with them too. My pops saw the love that I had for boxing, so he took me to my first boxing class not long after my 4th birthday.
From the day I walked in the ring, I felt like I was where I was supposed to be,” I started and on the screen, the picture changed to one of my first fights at 5-year-old, and you could see my pops standing up close, with his hands on his hips, watching me.
My mom was the one that took that picture.
I shared with the crowd a little bit about my boxing journey over the years, the wins, some of my favorite fights, and then I had to get to the part where I decided to stop fighting.
I wanted to breeze past that part a little bit.
It was something that I didn’t like talking about, and I didn’t want it to make me emotional.
“If I had it my way, I would have still been boxing, but things didn’t work out that way.
You all know that my late wife was ran off the road, when she was nine months pregnant with our son, and we ultimately lost her that way.
I went through a hard time mentally after that, and the love that I once had for boxing was no longer there, so I decided to walk away from it,” was all that I had on that, and you could hear the sad sound effects that the crowd made, and Lonique even offered me a sympathetic smile, as she looked over at me.
She offered me her condolences, and then we switched gears.
“Your still around boxing though. I don’t know Steel. That left hook on Zayne kind of looks like how yours use to,” she said, speaking on my boy, and I smiled, showing all 32 teeth as I thought about my baby.
A picture of Zayne and I showed on the screen, and my heart truly melted because it was one of my favorite pictures of us.
He was four years old on this picture, and we were down at my boxing ring that I had in Maimi.
His shirt was off, and all he had on was gym shorts.
I was kneeled before him, so that our foreheads could touch.
You could hear the crowd loving this picture.
“Aww man. That’s my boy right there. Everything that he sees me do, he wants to do it, and that’s why I have to continue being a positive role model in his life.
My son just might be the first person in the world to box and play football because he’s good at both.
So determined too. That boy don’t miss an opportunity to get a workout in, he’s disciplined when it comes to always wanting to go to practice, and he’s hungry for success.
That’s my boy,” I spoke highly of him, and Lonique smiled at my words.
“How is that for him? Having an undefeated heavy weight champ as a father?” she asked me, and I chuckled.
“My son looks up to me, but he doesn’t see me as that all the time.
To him, I’m just daddy. I still embarrass him when I’m at his football games, and I kiss him on his forehead in front of his friends.
He still thinks I’m lame when I play old school music in the car, and I sing off key.
The way the world views me, my son don’t view me in that manner.
I’m just daddy, and I love that title,” I shared.
We then switched gears, and I talked about my daughter, and I even spoke on Brooklyn, saying how Toni’s niece was living with us, and speaking on the role that I played in her life. We spoke about a lot, and now she was gearing up to talk about Toni.