Rivera holds his own against Ward and manages to knock him down several times, despite the crowd's dislike of Rivera and the referee's active intercession on Ward's behalf. During the fight, Rivera learns that Kelly has bet heavily against him and refuses to take a dive even after Kelly offers to help advance his boxing career. In the seventeenth round, spurred by visions of vengeance against his parents' killers, he knocks Ward out and wins the money needed to pay for the guns and keep the revolution going.