Across America, Starting with the Boxing Champion

Chapter 408 Boxing

Link did not attend the company's enlarged meeting. On the one hand, he was reassured about Ivaca's ability, and on the other hand, he wanted to maintain her absolute authority in the company. His presence would distract everyone's attention.

However, I heard afterwards that she often criticized executives such as Steven Bickers by name at meetings, and even announced on the spot that 20% of employees would be laid off within the year. I couldn't help but secretly feel worried for her.

If there are three things that a new official should be angry about when he takes office, Ivaca’s three things are almost all set. The first is against him, the second is against several senior executives, and the third is against all the employees who are not working hard. This attitude It burned Lionsgate Pictures from top to bottom.

Afterwards, Link also asked Ivaca what to do if several senior executives of the company resign or go on strike.

Ivaca joked that he didn't understand management and people's hearts. Lionsgate is a big production company. As long as you have money, you don't have to worry about no one doing anything. As for the resignation of senior executives, these senior executives all have families and businesses and are above the middle class.

Once you resign and cannot find a better job, you will face a downward shift in class. This is a very painful thing for many people. This is why during the financial crisis, some people with millions of dollars still jumped off the building. .

 In order to keep their jobs, they need to work hard and produce outstanding results to prove their value to the company.

Ivaca said that she hopes someone can take the initiative to resign, so that there will be less trouble when there are layoffs at the end of the year.

Link saw Ivaca explaining these things in a calm and calm tone, and he could also feel that there was a big gap between him and Ivaca in handling company affairs, a gap that could not even be filled with knowledge.

This also made him feel a little helpless. He felt that he was more suitable to be the mastermind behind the scenes than the overbearing president.

 “You are so good, I will leave the Lions Gate to you.”

Link picked up his coat and said.

 “What are you going to do?”

President Ivaca asked, leaning on his chair.

 “Practice boxing!”

  —

 Bang, bang, bang! Bang bang bang!

At the Muscle Beach Boxing Training Ground, Link was shirtless and wearing palm protectors, his fists hitting the red leather sandbags one after another like flying shuttles.

 After practicing for more than two hours, my body was covered in hot sweat.

 After handing over the position of chairman of Lionsgate Pictures, he did not come directly to the boxing ring. Instead, he spent a few days in the production department's writers room and selected two low-cost horror movies from thousands of scripts.

 One is a script based on a Spanish short film of the same name, "Maternal Invasion".

One is the new script "The Conjuring" by "Saw" series director James Wan.

The first movie Link watched, starring model worker Jessica Chastain.

　　　It is about a pair of little sisters who were abandoned by their father in the forest after their mother was killed by their father.

They were found by their uncle five years later and were taken home to take care of them. At the same time, their mother also followed.

Link has forgotten how much this movie made at the box office, but it has a good reputation and is regarded as a classic and must-see movie by many horror film enthusiasts.

As well as the follow-up "The Clown" series of horror films shot by Anders Muschietti, the film's director and producer, the reputation is equally good. The first film in this series has a global box office of up to 700 million U.S. dollars, which is also the first film in the history of film. One of the highest grossing horror movies.

 After seeing the script in the production department, Link asked to contact the director immediately to buy the rights to adapt the script of "Mother Assault" and prepare for filming.

 A producer asked him the reason.

 No reason, I like it.

Link has not seen the second "The Conjuring" and doesn't know the box office.

 But this horror film was later made into a series of movies, with as many as four or five movies. From this point of view, the first one must have done well at the box office.

Another classic horror movie "Annabelle" is considered to be a spin-off of "The Conjuring", with an investment cost of several million and a global box office of more than 200 million U.S. dollars. It is also considered to be the dark horse of the annual box office.

 So after seeing the script of "The Conjuring", he personally contacted director James Wan and invited him back to Lionsgate Pictures with a big contract.

Originally last year, after James Wan co-produced "Saw 7" with Lionsgate Pictures, the two parties ended the cooperation because they failed to negotiate a new film project.

 Director James Wan received an invitation from FilmDistrict and went to film "Insidious", which has not yet been released.

But Link has seen "Insidious 5" and can guess that this movie has great potential. He plans to buy the distribution rights and copyright of this movie after the production of "Insidious" is completed, and return the series to Lionsgate Pictures .

With these horror series, Lionsgate can give priority to the sequels of several movies when choosing new projects in the future. As long as the quality does not decline, the company said that there will be several more stable sources of box office.

Link went through the scripts in the production department for a few days, and for the time being he only found these two familiar scripts.

 After arranging these two projects, he left the company and came to Muscle Beach to train and prepare for the upcoming super middleweight challenge of the four major organizations.

 He has two opponents.

 The first one is WBA-IBF British boxing champion Rocky Fielding.

The other one is WBC-WBO North American boxing champion Andre Ward. This is an old acquaintance. During the 2009 merger battle for the boxing titles of the four major organizations, Link was drunk by Selena and was not clear-headed. Almost defeated by the opponent.

Now, after two years of hard training, Andre Ward has accumulated a professional record of 25 wins and 1 loss in 26 fights, and successfully defeated WBO North American boxing champion Mario Mo at the WBC-WBO boxing title challenger match in February. Lares, got the qualification to challenge him.

 The two opponents are not weak in strength.

Link felt a little pressure to quickly return to training after Evaka took over Lionsgate.

 In the past few days, I have been practicing boxing for more than ten hours every day, from morning to night, tirelessly.

There is a reason for such high-intensity boxing training. When filming Captain America last year, his weight increased to 80 kilograms, and the upper limit of weight for the super middleweight competition was 76 kilograms. He needed to lose four kilograms of muscle.

 It’s just that all the muscles on his body were gained through daily training last year and this year. There is not a trace of extra fat. It is not easy to lose it in a short time.

But it doesn’t matter if he didn’t lose weight before the competition. According to the rules of professional competitions, if his weight exceeds one kilogram, he will be fined 100,000 US dollars to compensate his opponent. He only needs to hand over 400,000 to 500,000 US dollars.

 Bang, bang, bang!

Link was sweating profusely, holding a strong fist, and punched the sandbag one after another.

 The sandbag containing sand, wood chips and grains had several obvious dents, and the hook was also shaking slightly.

 Because he has been practicing for too long, a layer of fine sweat appears on his bronze skin.

As he moved, sweat slid down his solid muscles. The waistband of his sports pants had already been soaked with sweat and clung tightly to his steel-shaft waist.

 “Hey, Link, do you want to practice?”

Hearing the shouts, Link stopped and looked at the aisle of the training area in surprise.

I saw De La Hoya walking over wearing a sports vest, shorts, and boxing gloves, with his fists hitting the gloves, showing a provocative look.

 “Why aren’t you wearing a suit today?”

"Don't talk nonsense. Do you dare to do it again? I was affected by the concert in Las Vegas last year and my performance was abnormal. If I performed normally, I would have a chance to tie you. If I performed abnormally, I would have a great chance of beating you. , do you agree with this?”

Hoya came over and said.

"Hey, Hoya, you've been losing for half a year. What's the use of talking big at this time? You can beat Link with your words?"

Morales put down the barbell, sat up and complained.

"Shut up! You have been practicing with Link for more than two years. I originally thought you could defeat Andre Ward and qualify to compete with Link, but you didn't do it. You should reflect on it and concentrate on training. Try to win it back in the next game instead of contradicting me, the former world boxing champion.”

Hoya glanced at him and said.

Morales shrugged his shoulders and stopped talking. Last year, he participated in the WBO qualifying competition, won four victories in four fights, won the WBO North American boxing title, and ranked third in the organization.

At the beginning of the year, the four major organizations will hold a wheel battle, and the top three from each organization will be invited to participate in the competition. The winner will get the opportunity to compete with Link.

In the three games, he won the first two. In the last WBC-WBO boxing title challenger merger fight, he met Andre Ward. The two sides fought for 12 rounds. He was hit many times by his opponent, but he persisted. Didn't fall down.

 In the end, he lost to Andre Ward by a wide margin of 108:118, 110:117, and 109:116. He also lost the chance to compete with Link.

If he could compete with Link, his fame and appearance fee would also double, but it was a pity that he failed to seize that opportunity.

Hearing what Hoya said, Morales did not refute and continued to lift the barbell.

"Andre Ward is very strong and can be ranked in the top ten on the P4P list. Morales can fight him for 12 rounds, which is already very good. Maybe he can consider competing for the boxing title of a small organization. ”

Link said after stopping.

“How many years will it take for you to dominate the four major super middleweight organizations?”

Hoya asked.

“Let’s wait until I get the light heavyweight belt. Maybe next year I will give up the super middleweight and focus on the light heavyweight competition.”

Link said.

"That's good. After you dominated the super middleweight division, Andre Rey and Jan Pascal, several boxing champions, fled the super middleweight division. Some switched to middleweight, and some moved up to light heavyweight. , If you stay in the super middleweight division for five years, the boxers in this field will probably be exhausted or even deserted.”

De La Hoya complained.

Link smiled lightly, took a sip of water, put on his boxing gloves, and invited De La Hoya to come on stage for a fight.

De La Hoya did not refuse and went on stage to fight him for ten rounds, with Coach Brooks as the referee.

 After the game started, De La Hoya still took advantage of his own advantages, which was his super fast punching speed.

 Every time he hits the target, his fists will hit the opponent one after another, like raindrops.

Because he not only punches fast, but also has relatively heavy punches, almost no one is his opponent when fighting in the lightweight and middleweight classes. He once set a record of being undefeated in 31 fights.

 Until later he met Mayweather, Pacquiao, and Hopkins.

 Mayweather and Pacquiao also punch very fast, even faster than him, so De La Hoya has not been able to fight. However, Hopkins is strong, resistant and has good speed, so De La Hoya has not been able to fight either.

And last year in the boxing ring in Las Vegas, he continued to use fast punches against Link.

It is said that a few months before the competition, he personally flew to Cuba to consult with the Cuban national team boxing coach Felix Savon on guerrilla tactics in an attempt to surprise Link in the competition.

 His fast punches and guerrilla tactics did bring some trouble to Link during the game.

 But Link's punching speed is not inferior to him, and his reaction speed is even faster than him. What's more important is that Link's punch is much heavier than him.

He hit Link ten times, but Link hit him once.

 In the end, Link pinned him to the left corner post in the third round and knocked him out with consecutive punches, ending the game.

 Afterwards, De La Hoya reviewed and found that Link's boxing skills and other abilities were too comprehensive, and he could not beat him no matter how hard he fought.

 He was discouraged, but after seeing Link, he was unwilling to admit defeat easily, and wanted to fight again to see if there was any way to find a flaw in it.

When Link competes with De La Hoya, he is not in a hurry to end the game. He often uses harassment tactics to lure De La Hoya to attack, and then finds ways to defend against all his attacks, in order to exercise his reaction ability, defense ability, and Pick-and-roll technique.

The two sides fought for ten rounds. Hoya was unable to find any obvious flaw in Link, and he broke out in a stinky sweat.

Link was merciless and only punched him in the face a few times, but did not KO him.

"Link, you hold concerts every day, pick up girls all over the world, and now you are a boss in Hollywood. How come your boxing skills and physical strength have not deteriorated at all?"

Hoya sat on the rubber floor, breathing heavily and looking at him helplessly.

“I don’t smoke or take drugs, I live a regular life, and I insist on physical fitness and boxing training every day. Why has my strength declined?”

Link put his towel on and smiled.

"Hmph! You used to ridicule me, saying that I was a **** and that my private life was not good, which led to the decline of boxing strength. I was one of the most regrettable boxing champions in the history of boxing. And you have girlfriends from more than ten countries. I've been too busy, aren't you worried about losing strength like me?"

Hoya said jokingly.

 “Don’t worry, my waist is fine.”

Link shrugged his shoulders, took off his gloves, rested for a moment in the training ground, and continued to practice boxing.

Hoya sat on the steps, looking at his nimble steps, elusive fists, and expression that showed no signs of fatigue. He sighed helplessly, feeling envious and jealous.

 People like Link were born for boxing. Regardless of physical condition, boxing skills, and willpower, he is at the top level among boxers.

 What’s even more rare is that he is just twenty-two years old and has more than ten or twenty years of career ahead of him.

 What will he become in the future? Will he set many records in boxing history? Become the first in boxing?

De La Hoya thinks it's very possible.

“Link, keep at it, don’t give up boxing, let me see how far you can go.”

De La Hoya shouted, pumping his fist.

"I will."

Link waved his fist and hit the sandbag hard.

 In mid-to-late April, Link held two boxing matches in Warsaw, Poland and Singapore.

　　The first match was against WBA-IBF European boxing champion Rocky Fielding.

The opponent is Joe Calzaghe’s sparring partner and younger brother. He is 26 years old this year. He started out as a middleweight boxer and has a professional record of 30 fights, 2 losses and 18 KOs.

 Last year he upgraded to super middleweight and defeated Carl French in the European competition, qualifying to fight Link.

 Rocky is very strong, very fast, very skilled in combo punches, and his movements are also very confusing.

 The disadvantage is that he has just moved up to the super middleweight class and his punch weight cannot keep up.

 Link hit him in the forehead with a punch at 36 seconds of the first round, causing him to lie on the ground unable to get up for 10 seconds. He once again defended his WBA-IBF boxing title.

 The second game was against Andre Ward in Singapore.

 Originally, the game was scheduled to be held on Hong Kong Island, but the organizers of the Hong Kong Island did not negotiate a good venue before the game, and the publicity was not in place, causing the game date to be postponed again and again.

After negotiation between several parties, the order of this match and the next match against the WBA light heavyweight was changed. The title defense match will be played in Singapore first, and when Hong Kong Island is ready, the light heavyweight challenge will be played there.

 In this game in Singapore, Andre Ward played with revenge in mind.

　　From the beginning of the game, Andre Ward took the lead in attacking until the end of the first round. After the start of the second round, Andre Ward continued to attack fiercely, playing very tenaciously and fiercely.

Link had no intention of ending the game early. He used his superb boxing skills to fight Andre Ward for three rounds. At 47 seconds of the third round, he knocked out the opponent with one punch and successfully defended his title again.

 Professional record: 22 fights, 22 wins, and 22 KO wins.

Andre Ward met him afterwards and said that he was an invincible opponent and was ready to move up to the light heavyweight category. He hoped to have the opportunity to compete again in the light heavyweight arena in the future.

Link agreed.

 Because he is relatively well-known, the organizers did a good job in publicity before the game. These two games attracted many boxing fans to watch on TV and the Internet, and the ticket revenue was also very good.

 He also earned US$78 million in tournament prize money from two games.

 (End of this chapter)