A hackney cab driver picks up a fare to a fight at Madison Square Gardens. It gets him reminiscing about Billy Reardon who held the middle weight title five years ago and he never thinks of Billy without remembering Swede Larkin who was a fighter too who he made friends with. Swede wasn't a great fighter or anything and his mother really wanted him to stop fighting. She was coming to watch him fight and he really wanted to impress her. Without telling him the Hackie organises a private fight with Billy Reardon who agrees to take the hit if no one can find out.