Across America, Starting with the Boxing Champion

Chapter 32: KO him in five rounds

“Hey, dear viewers, good afternoon, I’m your old friend Steve Mandanda, and I’m currently at.”

 “Link! Champion!”

 “Link! Champion!”

 “Sorry, wait a minute, it’s too noisy in here, I might need to move to a different position.”

At the competition site, Steve Mandanda, the host of the HBO sports channel, waved to cameraman Sean, covered his ears and returned to the left corner of the ring.

After Link stepped onto the ring, the audience shouted Link's name loudly, and the huge waves of sound were deafening, easily drowning out his words.

 When we came to the corner, there were billboards blocking the way, so the shouting became quieter.

Host Steve Mandanda exhaled and gave a thumbs up to the cameraman, who turned the camera back on.

Steve was wearing a suit, holding a microphone with the HBO logo, and said to the camera with a smile: "Hey, dear audience friends, good afternoon, I am your old friend Steve Mandanda, where I am now The location is the American Airlines Center Arena in Miami.

 That’s right, it’s the home stadium of the NBA Heat.

But I am not here today to interview Wade or other players. I heard that they are on vacation in Phuket, which is really enviable.

There is another game at the American Airlines Arena today. Audiences who are familiar with boxing should know that every May and June, the Amateur Boxing Association organizes a nationwide amateur boxer competition, which is the Golden Gloves Boxing Championship.

  Counting from the one sponsored by the Chicago Tribune in 1926, it has been held 53 times across the country or in various cities.

The Golden Gloves boxing championship attracts thousands of amateur boxers to sign up every year, and this year is no different.

According to statistics from the Amateur Boxing Association, a total of 1,403 boxers from all over the country have signed up to participate in boxing matches at various levels this year, which is the largest number of signups in the past ten years. "

 “Link! Champion!”

The shouts from the audience suddenly came, interrupting Steve Mandanda's broadcast again.

He smiled at the camera, waved his fist and said, "That's right, Link, champion! Many outstanding boxer rookies appeared in this Golden Gloves Championship, including Iron Man Morales, who upset the Northern Division champion. Jones Fullers, there are also the amateur boxing championship champion Andre Berto, whom many people know, and the Eastern European boy Andrzej Fonfara, who is famous for his superb boxing skills, but the most famous one is..."

 Steve put his hands over his ears and held up the phone.

 “Link! Champion!”

The audience shouted.

“Yes, it’s Link, Link Baker, a young man born in Miami Beach, 20 years old, super middleweight boxer.

According to his coach, he has been learning boxing for less than three years. This Golden Gloves Boxing Championship is his first amateur boxing event, and he has achieved amazing results in this championship.

From the Miami regional to the championship finals, he played 16 games, winning 16 times in 16 games and KOing 16 opponents, including Mario Morales, Jones Fullers, Andrzej Fonfara. including many well-known boxers.

"Boxing Ring Magazine" said that this is a record-breaking result that Ali has not achieved, Tyson has not achieved, and Money Mayweather has not achieved it. "Boxing Ring Magazine" calls him one of the most anticipated rookies in boxing this year. one.

　　After four rounds of competition, today at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, the Golden Gloves Championship will also usher in the finals. In the past, the biggest highlight of the championship was the heavyweight competition.

This year is different. After voting by 10,000 spectators, 86.2% of the audience wanted to watch the super middleweight competition in the main venue. The organizers finally decided to hold the super middleweight competition in the main venue.

The two boxers in today’s super middleweight match are Link Baker and his opponent Andre Berto! "

Cameraman Sean focuses the camera lens on the two boxers in the boxing ring.

In the brightly lit boxing ring, there were two strong young men standing face to face, one black and one white, with a referee wearing a black shirt and white gloves standing in the middle.

Steve continued to report on the scene, "Wearing white shorts and white gloves, the muscular man is boxer Andre Berto. He is 181 centimeters tall, 188 centimeters long, and weighs 76.8 kilograms. He is 20 years old this year and has an amateur record. 37 wins and 1 draw in 38 games. He has won the U19 National Championship and the National Amateur Championship.

 It is said that many boxing promotion companies have made an offer to him, and Andre Berto also plans to enter professional boxing after winning the Golden Gloves Championship.

 Opposite him, the strong boxer wearing red gloves is tonight’s hero, Link Baker. His amateur record is 16 KO wins in 16 fights.

Before the finals, he publicly declared that he would use all KOs to reach the finals and win the championship. Just yesterday, in this boxing ring, he sent off two outstanding boxers, Morales and Andrzej, by KO, and successfully advanced to the finals.

He is also here today. He will continue his KO legend and win the championship, or he will be defeated by his opponent and unfortunately miss the Golden Gloves. Please let us wait and see. "

After finishing the broadcast, Steve took a long breath, took a bottle of water from his assistant, took a sip, gurgled in his throat a few times, and spit it on the ground.

“Mr. Mandanda, the organizer asked you if you want to interview the two boxers. If you don’t interview them, the competition will begin.”

 An on-site work assistant came over and said.

 Steve looked at the boxing ring, nodded and said: "Link is a very trouble-making guy, so it would be nice to interview him."

The work assistant nodded and ran over to inform.

 Steve walks to the ring with the camera in hand.

HBO is a cable television broadcasting giant, and boxing event broadcasting is a key program of HBO TV.

 Normally they will broadcast professional boxing matches and make money through PPV payment. Occasionally they will broadcast some relatively high-profile amateur events.

According to past practice, HBO only broadcasts the heavyweight finals of the championship every year. However, this year a dazzling newcomer, Link Baker, appeared in the super middleweight class, which attracted a lot of attention. Therefore, HBO also changed the broadcast target to the super middleweight class. .

Steve trotted onto the ring, greeted the audience first, then walked to Andre Berto, handed over the microphone and asked: "Good afternoon, Andre, the person standing in front of you is 16 times KO your opponent’s ring anesthetist, Link Baker, would you be nervous to compete with him?”

Andre Berto bulged his thick arms, showed his white teeth, and said with a smile: "Of course not, he is the one who should be nervous. I will not accompany him in fake punches like other boxers do. I will use I defeated him with my iron fist and told everyone that boxers are made with fists, not by cheating.”

"Wow!"

There was a burst of exclamation from the scene.

Link narrowed his eyes and raised a smile at the corner of his mouth. When he first communicated with Andre Berto, he was polite and friendly, but when he faced the camera, he threw dirty water on him in front of him. It was interesting!

"Wow!"

The host Steve also shouted exaggeratedly and handed the microphone to Link, "Link, Andre said you faked punches. What do you want to say?"

Link shrugged his shoulders and said with a smile: "There is nothing to say. For opponents who are worthy of respect, such as Anderzej, I am willing to play with him for a few more rounds to exchange and learn. If I encounter an opponent who is not worthy of respect, I will not Mind ending the fight earlier, Andre Berto, you said I was fake? That’s fine. To prove you wrong, I will KO you within five rounds. Please be prepared to fail.”

 “Whoa! Whoa, what do I hear?”

Steve exclaimed again, holding the microphone and shouting to the audience, "Link said he would KO Andre Berto within five rounds. Wow, this is an amateur competition. Andre Berto is The top-ranked amateur boxer in the super middleweight class, God, did I hear you right, Link, are you sure you want to KO Andre Berto within five rounds?”

 “That’s right, I only need five rounds.”

Link clenched his fist and said into the microphone.

"Wow!"

 “Link! Champion!”

 “Link! Come on!”

 The audience heard Link's shouting from the radio, and one of them shouted excitedly.

On the opposite side, Andre Berto clenched his fists tightly, gritted his white teeth together, and glared at Link angrily.

The host Steve handed the microphone to Andre Berto again, "Andre, Link said he would KO you within five rounds. How did you respond to him?"

Andre Berto glared at Link and yelled: "He is dreaming. I will use my iron fist to teach him a lesson, KO him, and make him lie on the ground and beg me for mercy like a coward."

 “Link.”

 Steve took the microphone and wanted to ask Link what he thought. At this time, the referee came over to remind him that the game time was up. Steve put away the microphone without hesitation and left the field with the cameraman.

 (End of this chapter)