The ex-boxer then discusses his home life, the fact that his elderly mother still has to work to support herself and that he had to leave home at seventeen. Fragoso then tells the story of his immediate family, his loyal wife to whom he claims devotion, his first daughter who he had to give up for adoption and his second who almost went blind through meningitis. Belarmino goes on to recount how he started to box. In his account he was a natural champion from the start, though he does touch upon the hardships that kept him boxing when he was reluctant to do so. Here snippets of an interview with Albano Martins, the ex-boxer's former manager, are cross-cut with Belarmino's account. This is the only outside view of the ex-boxer we are given, aside from a few rumours that Baptista-Bastos relates as part of a question about the ex-boxer's current habits. Martins paints a more prosaic picture of the start to Belarmino's career, suggesting it did not have such a glorious beginning and that the main quality that impressed him in Belarmino was his capacity to take punishment in the ring.