The circo Price is the Madrid boxing venue where Adrián Gallardo wins the provincial heavyweight title in mid-May 1940. The bout marks a decisive turn in his career: after accepting a punishing training regimen and a move up from light heavyweight, he defeats the previous champion in a fight he realizes has not been fixed.

Setting and Event

Gallardo’s championship bout takes place at the circo Price, with Don Antonio Ochoa and his friends applauding from the front row. The venue is thus more than a backdrop: it is the public setting for Gallardo’s first described Madrid victory and for the recognition his regimen has earned him.

Gallardo’s Victory

By the time of the bout, Gallardo has followed his trainer Pirulo’s instructions without wavering. He rises before dawn, runs, trains at the gym, rests, returns to training, eats sparingly, and goes to bed at nine. Pirulo has moved him from light heavyweight to heavyweight, a change that requires extra effort and a rapid adjustment to his routine, partly to make use of Gallardo’s strength while compensating for his lack of agility.

Gallardo takes the gym’s teasing as readily as he takes blows, and does not abandon the program. Pirulo tells him to rely on his strength rather than spend time thinking: go straight at his opponents and knock them out in the first round. At the circo Price, Gallardo knocks out the previous champion in the second minute. When the referee raises his right arm, Gallardo understands that this contest, unlike the earlier Bilbao victory, was not arranged. That recognition helps make the Madrid win taste sweeter to him.

Aftermath and Significance

The victory brings limited public attention. Gallardo gives only two interviews; nobody recognizes him or applauds him in the street. Pirulo offers brief congratulations, then invites him to eat before sending him to his village for the summer. He gives Gallardo a folder setting out a continuing diet and exercise program and orders him back to Madrid, fit and ready, on 25 August to prepare for the Castile championship. The circo Price therefore marks a real but provisional achievement: the title is won, while the next stage of training is already laid out.