Shadow boxing - a technical term that, in the training of boxers, means facing an imaginary opponent, avoiding invisible blows and hitting the void. Joaquim Silveira, 38, ex-boxer, is the trainer at the Lisboa's Rio de Janeiro boxing club. In this popular neighbourhood club he coaches several amateur young boxers. Silveira is also a man of the night, working as a bouncer at a rock club in Lisbon. The tatoos on his body are like scars of a shadowy past. Boxing has given him discipline and an almost mystical commitment as a trainer.
—The authors