#punchoutfanfiction

[anotherwvba]

Inside My Head(canon): A Family Tradition

Some of you may have noticed in some of my recent story posts, parts 4 and 5 of "Challenge Accepted" to be precise, that the WVBA's Irish bad boy Aran Ryan mentions that he has a fight upcoming with The Sandman and that he's going to hand him his first loss. But if you check out my "History of the WVBA," you'll see that in my story Mr. Sandman was the first WVBA Champion over 25 years ago and has lost before. So what gives? Simply put, in my story, the Sands are a WVBA legacy.

Tyrell “The Razor” Sands started his boxing career more than 40 years ago, first as an amateur, then going pro. His flamboyant style and knockout artistry earned him the nickname "The Sandman" in the press. He would soon capture the North American and Continental Heavyweight Titles, but promoters refused to sign the loudmouthed and opinionated Sands to a World Title fight. Their fear was that Sands wouldn't play ball with the boxing establishment and that fear was well-founded.

The founding of the WVBA saw many of the world's best boxers, many of whom had been shunned by the establishment, signing exclusive deals. Sands, now in the prime of his career, knew he had to be part of this groundbreaking league. A press conference was held to announce the WVBA Championship Tournament and Sands was brought out as the final participant. When he came on stage, a brash young Turkish fighter going by Bald Bull called him out in a most disrespectful manner, yelling for "The Sandman." What Sands said in response is one of the WVBA's most famous moments...

"Look here, kid. I'm gonna do what somebody shoulda done to you a long time ago. I'm gonna beat some respect into you, son. By the time I'm done, you gonna call me MISTER Sandman."

The rest, as they say, was history.

From that day forward, the WVBA was the domain of Mr. Sandman and he was its undisputed champion and star. He would be the most popular fighter in the league, appearing on talk shows, having cameos in TV and movies, and signing multiple endorsement deals. But, through all of it, Sands was humble behind the scenes. Behind the flamboyant Mr. Sandman was now a hard working family man, a dedicated boxer, and a loyal friend. After multiple reigns as WVBA Heavyweight and, later, World Circuit Champion, Mr. Sandman decided it was time to hang up the gloves. 

The first of his four children, his son Andre, was born during his first reign as World Circuit Champion. After he lost the title to Super Macho Man and his next child, his daughter Nanshe, was born, Sands dedicated himself to his family. He still made appearances for the WVBA until its closing, often serving as a color commentator on WVBA pay-per-views, but his focus was now at home.

Being born into the Sands family meant that fighting was often forced upon you. Not by their father, mind you, but by those kids who wanted to prove how tough they were by beating up the Champ's kids. The first time Andre came home with a black eye, Tyrell made the decision that all of his children would know how to defend themselves. And so began Andre's introduction to boxing.

While Tyrell Sands is largely based on the Mr. Sandman of the Punch-Out!! video games, just with a less threatening and more fleshed out persona, his son Andre is based on the character Sandman from an old Punch-Out!! fan film by Team Awesome. It was an entry in the Nintendo Short Cuts contest and can be found here. 

In that fan film, Little Mac beat Mister Sandman for the title, but then was brutally beaten in the return match and retired. When Mac sees Mr. Sandman’s son, simply called The Sandman, is the new champ and that he says if his father hadn’t beaten Mac into retirement, he would have, Mac makes a comeback for a dramatic showdown with the new champ. It’s this braggadocious, arrogant character that inspired Andre.

Andre Sands learned the sweet science at his father’s knee. Gifted with natural athletic skills and with his father’s incredible ring knowledge to learn from, Andre was soon a standout amateur, winning multiple local and regional Silver and Golden Gloves competitions. When Andre decided to go pro instead of going to college, he and his dad had a falling out.

As a professional, Andre quickly became a star, but was carefully protected and groomed by promoters without his knowledge. This led to Andre’s ego growing and him becoming more arrogant and cocky. These traits bled into all aspects of his life and career. He began to play with opponents, openly mocking them and showboating en route to his victories, often by knockout.

When the WVBA relaunched, Andre initially turned down their invitation to join on the advice of his team of agents and promoters. But when fans started to say that the son couldn’t measure up to the father, that he wasn’t joining the WVBA because deep down Andre knew he couldn’t live up to Mr. Sandman’s legacy, the blow to Andre’s ego was more than he could handle.

Now, Andre is in the WVBA, still undefeated, still racking up knockout after knockout. His goal is simple, to capture the WVBA World Circuit Championship and not just eclipse his father’s legacy, but to supplant it entirely. Taking the ring name The Sandman, Andre Sands plans to win the title undefeated and make the boxing world forget the Mister.