NOIR WEEK: OH DANNY BOY ...

During NOIR WEEK, I’m posting a daily poem written in the style of the genre, featuring hard-boiled, cynical individuals in bleak, sleazy settings.
A couple of years ago I hit on the idea of writing a sequence of "noir poems" as a remedy for writer’s block and found the experience of creating a series of shady protagonists, enormous fun. 
Most of the characters that populate these poems are stereotypes drawn from pulp fiction and noir cinema. You may recognise some of them.
Danny, here, looks set to take a fall. But will he, or will pride overcome fear?

THE FIX

Young Danny’s cool and mean and fast:
he’s fought his way up through the ranks.
It’s trainer, Maxie, that he thanks:
an ex-pug whose own time is past.
Together they’re a winning team
so Danny’s got a title shot.
Big bets are on him: Danny’s hot.
A shame to crush the poor kid’s dream,
he’s gonna have to take a fall.
There’s fellows waiting in the stands:
if he dares win they’ll break his hands
Ok, the writing’s on the wall:
the fix is for the other guy
The fight is rigged. You don’t ask why.