Across America, Starting with the Boxing Champion

Chapter 27 I report

“Hey, is this the Miami Herald News Department? I have a tip, a very important tip.”

  In a phone booth outside AmericanAirlines Arena, someone called the Miami Herald in a rough, weird voice and told them that he had an important news tip related to Southeastern Conference champion Link Baker.

“I have reliable information that he is making a private deal with the agent of his next opponent Andrzej, and they are going to fake punches.”

“Sir, are you telling the truth? Is there any physical evidence?”

 “The competition is proof!”

 Click! The phone was hung up, and the man walked out of the phone booth, looked at the Miami sky, his blue eyes flashed, and sneered: "Link, prepare to be a celebrity!"

  —

 Suck it! Suck it! Breathe in, sneeze!

 “What are you smelling?”

Link looked at Mario, who was sniffing around in the lounge with his big nose.

“Link, Mario said you were taking drugs in the lounge.” Reggie shrugged and smiled.

“Are you crazy? How could I do such a thing?”

Link shook his head and went to the medical examination room for examination. Under the supervision of the Amateur Boxing Association staff, he put on hand bandages and gloves.

 When wearing the gloves and hand bandages, the staff will supervise on-site. After confirming that they are correct, they will affix a sealing seal to the gloves.

Before the start of the match, the ring referee will carefully check whether there are any signs of damage to the seal. If damage occurs, the referee will ask the boxer to change the gloves or stop the match.

The reason for this is simple, to prevent someone from stuffing things in the gloves.

For example, if you put three screws on the joints on the back of your hand, wear an iron wrench, and wrap it with a bandage, the lethality of your fists will be doubled during competition.

This small move has appeared several times in regular competitions, and there have been **** incidents. It was later strictly prohibited by all boxing organizations, and only then did the glove seal appear.

In underground boxing arenas, this kind of trick is still common, and the referee doesn't care. Link has been tricked by this method many times, and it feels very sour.

The urine test procedure is very quick. It only checks whether the urine contains ingredients that do not contain stimulants, drugs, or analgesics. There is no need to check anything else.

Link had never taken any drugs, so his urine test was normal. Under Mario's confused gaze, he revealed his strong back, well-developed chest muscles, and strong chocolate abs. He held up his fists wrapped in red gloves, and his big Step out of the quiet passage.

　　Boom!

 The sound at the scene was suddenly released, and huge sound waves hit the eardrums, one after another.

 “Link!”

 “Link!”

 “Link!”

Tens of thousands of Miami spectators and Link fans shouted his name.

Link shook his fist three times in the sky and rushed into the boxing ring while running and jumping. His opponent Andrzej Fonfara stood on the ring early, wearing white gloves and his eyes full of fighting spirit.

 Andrzej Fonfara, 25 years old, is a Polish-American, with fair skin and a lean build.

 He ​​is 189cm tall and has 198cm arms, 6cm longer than Link. He has practiced boxing since he was a child and has superb skills and fast speed.

 In amateur boxing, the current record is 54 fights, 52 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw.

Before Link came along, he was ranked second among amateur boxers at super middleweight, behind only Andre Berto.

 This is a very powerful but not very powerful person. What's great about him is his technique and arm length advantage. It's easy to get points in the game.

 What is not great is his physical condition, but what is not great here is not that he is physically weak, but that compared to his skills, his physical condition is a shortcoming.

He once fought against the dreadlocked Morales. In the game, he used his superb skills to withstand Morales' strong attack and won by points.

This type of boxer often performs well in amateur competitions. If he takes off his sponge protective gear to fight professionally, he probably won't perform well.

This is also one of the reasons why many boxers can win gold medals in the Olympic Games and become unknown after turning into professional boxers.

 For this type of boxers, what they fear most are opponents like Link and Andre Berto who have both technical skills, strength, speed, physical strength and excellent fighting ability.

Andre Berto was already a headache, but now an even more terrifying Link Baker appears.

If Andrzej Fonfara wants to maintain his status in the amateur boxing circle, his agent has to think of other ways, such as fighting more rounds.

Fighting more rounds not only makes it look better in news reports, but also has a more important reason: it has less impact on the boxer’s self-confidence.

There are many people in the boxing circle. When they first enter the boxing circle, they can often maintain a winning streak of more than ten, twenty, thirty, or even forty fights until they are defeated or KOed once. Their self-confidence The heart will be greatly traumatized, causing it to collapse.

There are many such things, Tyson is a typical example.

 He ​​maintained a record of 37 consecutive wins before being defeated by James Douglas in 1990. After being defeated, he never recovered. When he retired in 2005, his game data was 44 wins and 6 losses in 50 games.

There is also his opponent, boxing legend Mitchell Spinks, who dominated the WBA, WBC and IBF heavyweight championships for more than five years before meeting Tyson.

But after being defeated by Tyson in one round in Las Vegas in June 1988, he immediately announced his retirement from boxing, with a professional record of 31 wins and 1 loss in 32 fights.

There is also Mitchell Spinks' old rival Larry Holmes. He was Ali's sparring partner. Before meeting Mitchell Spinks, he had defeated many powerful boxing champions. Including Muhammad Ali.

His winning streak is as high as 48 games. After being defeated by Mitchell Spinks, he lost consecutively. In 1988, he met Tyson and was KO by Tyson in only four rounds.

 So in the boxing circle, boxers like Ali, George Foreman and Holyfield who can bounce back and regain their gold belts after being defeated are truly powerful characters.

 Their strength lies not only in their strength, but also in their strong psychological quality and unyielding will.

They are also talking about repeated defeats and battles.

At this time, the white boxer Andrzej Fonfara in front of Link obviously did not look like a strong-willed person in appearance. His agent paid money to help him smooth things over, which was considered a good intention.

Link clenched his fists, beat his chest muscles, and greeted his opponent.

 Andrzej also responded by beating his chest.

The referee checks the seal, announces the rules of the game, and cuts off the hand with force.

 “Boxing!”

 The game started, boom! At the beginning, Anderzej Fonfara's right fist was like a mantis arm, swishing towards Link's face with a sound of breaking wind.

Link was surprised. The speed was indeed amazing, far exceeding the opponents he had fought before. The strength was also very good, not much worse than Mario. Most boxers could not stop it at all.

But Link is not an ordinary person. His reaction speed is faster. Seeing Anderzej's fist coming, he quickly turned his head, raised his fist, and punched Anderzej's head, one punch after another.

 “Whoa! It’s a backfist!”

 “Can Anderszej escape?”

 The audience exclaimed loudly, and Anderszej's manager was even more worried. If the punch was real, Anderszej might be knocked out instantly.

 (End of this chapter)