It was not long after Joe started working out that his left arm was seriously damaged because of the Fraziers' ornery 300 pound hog. The hog was very nasty from time to time, but sometimes Joe could not resist teasing it. One day Joe poked the hog with a stick and ran away, but someone had left the gate to the pigpen open and the hog ran through the gate, chasing Joe. In his hurry, Joe fell and hit his left arm on a brick. The arm was torn badly, but as the Frazier family was unable to pay for a doctor, the arm had to heal on its own. The arm eventually did heal, but Joe was never able to keep it fully straight again. It was crooked and lacking a full range of motion. But as it existed, it was as though it was cocked for the left hook — permanently cocked.

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