Across America, Starting with the Boxing Champion

Chapter 82 Highlights

“Catherine, come and see, Link is out. Wow, he looks so handsome when he is wearing clothes.”

In front of the TV, Selena Gomez was sitting on the sofa, wearing a yellow skirt and stockings, holding a bag of potato chips in her arms, her cheeks bulging with snacks, like a large hamster .

Catherine came out of the study wearing glasses and holding a script in her hand. She looked at the TV showing Link wearing formal clothes, with a handsome and three-dimensional face, always with a handsome smile on his face, and nodded happily, "He is indeed handsome. In addition, he is a world champion, and there is no one better than him among his peers.”

“When I saw him before, he looked like a little gangster. Why has he become so powerful now?” Selina asked with a face raised in confusion.

“Probably because I learned boxing. Boxing makes people stronger.”

 Catherine also put down her work and sat watching TV programs.

“Link, how does it feel to participate in the Olympic Games in China?”

In the HBO program recording hall, host Steve looked at Link next to Tyson and asked.

 “It’s great, I like China, it’s a great country.”

Link said in admiration.

 “Can we talk more?” Steve asked.

“Of course. After joining the WTO, China’s economic development rate is the first in the world, and its infrastructure construction is getting better and better. The environment of first-tier cities is no worse than that of international metropolises such as Los Angeles and Miami.”

Link talked eloquently in front of the camera, talking about Chinese economy, Chinese scenery, food, Kung Fu, Peking Opera, Qin Shihuang's Terracotta Warriors and Horses, etc. Except for politics, he talked about everything, and of course he only talked about the good aspects.

“Wow, Link, you only stayed in China for more than ten days and you know so much. It’s amazing.”

 Steve said, clapping his hands.

Link shrugged his shoulders and said with a smile: "I said that I like China, so during the competition, I made a special effort to get to know more about it. I also took the time to travel to Zhangjiajie. I heard that the new movie directed by James Cameron is in The scenery there is really beautiful.”

 “It sounds great. I will also go to China to see it when I have time.” Steve agreed.

 “Cut to Link controlling his weight.”

Ms. Tina prompted.

 Steve smiled and said: "Link, we just talked about Chinese food. How many kinds of delicacies have you eaten in China? Which one is your favorite?"

Link said regretfully: "I originally weighed 78 kilograms. In order to participate in the middleweight competition, I had to go on a diet to control my weight below 75 kilograms, so during the competition, I almost didn't eat outside. But I I know there are many Chinese delicacies, but my favorite is probably hot pot. This dish is also available in Chinatown. You can try it. ”

“Hot pot? It sounds very good. I will definitely try it when I have time.”

 Steve received the instructions from the on-site production and changed the question and said, "Link, if you were asked to use one word to describe your Olympic journey, what word would you use?"

Link thought for a moment and smiled: "You can get what you want! Any dream can come true."

 “So it’s your dream to win the Olympics?”

 Steve asked.

"almost!"

Link faced the camera and showed a meaningful smile.

"Go To Topic!"

Ms. Tina said.

"Okay! Next let me go to the boxing session with the champion, and the next video will be Link's preliminary match video of this Olympic Games. In the preliminary round, Link faced Irish boxer Darren Sutherland."

Darren Sutherland, 26 years old, is the champion of the Irish Super Middleweight Amateur Boxing Championship. He once won a bronze medal at the World Championships in November 2007. He has an amateur record of 82 fights, 73 wins, 7 losses and 2 draws. He is a very A great boxer.

During Steve's introduction, the large screen in the studio began to play the live video of the Olympic Games. Link was wearing a blue competition suit, blue protective gear, and blue gloves, swinging his fists and attacking his opponent non-stop.

Darren also moved flexibly in the boxing ring and kept dodging, but his speed was not as flexible as Link's.

At the 112th second of the first round, Link hit his opponent in the forehead with a straight punch, knocking him to the ground.

Wow!

 Seeing him knock down his opponent, there was a burst of cheers from the scene.

 In the following three rounds, Link knocked down his opponent four times and caused his opponent to count four seconds, successfully advancing to the quarter-finals.

Link looked at the video on the big screen and couldn't help but think of the situation in the Hanking match. Overall, it went smoothly, but the difficulty of the match was no lower than that of the American Qualifiers, especially the quarter-finals and semi-finals, which were more difficult than before. Peters is taller.

　　After playing the clip of the preliminary round, the picture on the big screen was still, Steve said: "Link, looking back on your match with Darren Sutherland, how do you evaluate this opponent?"

Link smiled and said: "Darren is a great boxer, his jab is very fierce and tricky, and he is also very difficult. But he has a problem. His left eye has been seriously injured, and he also has some psychological trauma after the game. , causing him to be afraid of his opponent after being knocked down. This is what I learned from talking to him after the game. If he didn’t have these problems, I think it would be difficult to beat him.”

Link talked about the experience of Darren Sutherland. His situation is somewhat similar to that of Cuban boxer Ross Neil, who had old injuries.

 Darren played for the Irish team against the Russian B team in 2006 and was hit in the left eye by an opponent, which almost caused him to lose his sight.

Later, with funding from the Irish Boxing Association, the hospital performed a transplant surgery specifically for him. Some new materials were filled in the eye muscles, which helped him regain some vision, but his vision was still affected to some extent, which was also Darren's shortcoming.

 “Darren is a very strong man indeed.”

 Steve nodded, looked at the three Tysons and asked: "What do you think of Link's performance in this round?"

 Tyson waved his fist and gestured a few times and said: "It's great. Link's style of competition is as sharp as mine. We all like to use heavy punches to break the opponent's defense and then use heavy punches to knock out the opponent. This style is very cool."

 “No, I don’t think so.”

Raphael shook his hand and retorted, "Link's boxing is smarter and more diverse than yours. He not only uses fists in the game, but also uses his brain and tactics. He often defeats the strong with the weak. From him and It can be seen in the games of Peters, Aragon, Altaev, and James Gadel.”

Next to him, Doug Fisher nodded, "I have watched all of Link's game videos during this period. There are two highlights of his games. The first is of course his KO skills. Boxing is the art of knockout. There is no One doesn't want to see a boxer knock out his opponent during a match, and Link does this brilliantly.

The second is his use of boxing tactics in the game. His tactics are different in every game. I asked his coaches West and Ed, and they both said that during the game, Link will formulate his own tactics. They just give advice, which is great. "

 “Very well said.”

Host Steve clapped his hands and said to Link, "What do you think of their reviews?"

"It's great, but in terms of tactics, Coach West and Coach Ed also helped me a lot during the game. They are old people and have rich game experience. Although I don't play according to their tactics most of the time, I will I made adjustments and modifications to my tactics based on their opinions. I would also like to express my gratitude to the two coaches. My gold medal is also due to their contributions.”

Link said humbly to the camera.

 Pap, pah, pah!

 The audience applauded one after another.

 “Wow, that’s great Link said!”

At the West Boxing Gym in Miami, West, Reggie, Mario, Robinson and others sat around in front of the TV, watching Link talk on the TV.

“Link is not only great at boxing, he is also so humble after becoming a world champion. I wish I could be like him.”

Reggie looked at the TV longingly and said.

Jim and other young apprentices also nodded. "Haha, Link is indeed a good boy. Inviting him to join the boxing gym was the most correct decision in my life."

West grinned, but his eyes were filled with crystal water stains.

 “Wait! Why didn’t you thank me?”

Mario stood up, pointed at the TV and said dissatisfiedly: "I trained with him for more than two months, got beaten so many times, and was knocked unconscious three times. Don't I have no credit for it? Don't I deserve his thanks? "

“Shut up, Link has four training partners, and you are the only one who has trained with him the least. Do you still want him to thank you?”

Coach West glared at him and said.

“Mario, Link originally didn’t want to use you as a training partner. It’s because you didn’t want to leave. Besides, training with Link will give you more benefits.”

Reggie winked and smiled.

 Mario opened his mouth, snorted softly, and turned his head to ignore them.

  —

 In the quarter-finals, Link faced the Athens Olympic middleweight gold medalist Altaev.

Altaev is the last champion and the super middleweight champion seed of this Olympics. He has extremely high defense and extremely fierce fists. It is said that he once killed a brown bear with his fists.

After the game started, the two sides began to fight each other. In the first round, Link punched 102 times and hit his opponent 12 times. Altaev punched 96 times and hit Link 8 times. Not knocked down by his opponent.

 In the second round, the two sides continued to exchange blows. Link relied on his fierce punches and cunning jabs to hit his opponent 12 times in a row and knock him down once. Altaev only hit him 3 times.

 As the score between the two sides widened, Altaev played more conservatively in the third round, focusing on defense and engaging in defensive counterattacks.

Link gritted his teeth and continued to attack Altaev. Finally, in the fourth round, he knocked down his opponent three times in a row, causing his opponent to fall to the ground three times for several seconds. Link won the game with difficulty.

“It’s really an exciting game, Link. Which game is more difficult than Peters’ game?”

 After the video finished playing, Steve clapped his hands and asked.

Link thought for a moment and said: "Both games were difficult for me. The game against Peters was not long after I debuted, so I have less experience in the game, but Peters has extremely high defensive and counter-attack abilities. It's hard to get up.

Altaev’s boxing style is similar to mine. He is also an offensive boxer and moves forward courageously, like a warrior on the battlefield.

It will be very enjoyable to play against such an opponent. The two of us fought hard in the first two rounds. I had a slight advantage in strength and speed. After the second round, we knew the outcome of this game. So before the start of the third round, Altaev congratulated me and said I had a chance to win the gold medal. "

“It sounds like you have a good relationship in private?”

 “Yes, we had coffee together.”

Link said with a smile.

 “Wait, Link, I have a question.”

Raphael raised his finger and pointed at the big screen and said, "When I was watching the match just now, I heard many people shouting your name. Do you also have many boxing fans in China?"

 Steve turned on the big screen again and turned up the sound. When Link and Altaev were competing, many people in the audience shouted, ‘Link XX! Link XXX! ’, since it is in Chinese, everyone only understands the word ‘Link’.

 Steve said to Link: "Link, can you explain it to us?"

Link said: "There is a highlight reel before this game. I wonder if you have cut it out."

 “Wait a moment, I’ll contact the backend!”

 Steve gestured toward the production room.

 Ms. Tina immediately contacted the editing studio.

After a while, a tidbit actually appeared on TV. Before the game, after the boxers from both sides entered the scene, Link asked the volunteers at the scene for a pen and wrote on the notice board with his name. In one sentence - 'Huaxia people, my name is Link, please cheer for me! ’

As he was writing, the CCTV commentator on the scene exclaimed in surprise. He was surprised that an American boxer was writing Chinese characters on the spot and asked the audience to cheer him on.

Link used handwriting, which was not very neat, but he wrote in a large and clear way. After he finished writing, he raised it high, and the live camera also sent the words on the sign to the big screen, and there were thousands of spectators at the scene. He also screamed in surprise, and then shouted to Link to come on.

Link smiled, pointed at the sign on the screen and said, "That's why they cheer for me."

 “Link, why do you know how to write Chinese characters?”

 Steve asked in surprise.

Link nodded and smiled: "On the plane to Hanking, I met a Chinese actor. She taught me Chinese. My language talent is pretty good. I can write some simple Chinese characters after learning it for a few days."

"Wow, that's amazing. Chinese is the most difficult language in the world. Even the professors at Ivy League universities can't learn it. How many days did it take you to learn it? Link, how many more times can you write on the spot? A Chinese character?”

 “I can try.”

Link nodded, and then the staff on site brought a white cardboard and a black pen. Link wrote a few Chinese characters on it, 'sun, moon, star, tree, sea', using a pen. The characters look like they are arranged with matchsticks, at the level of a primary school student, but they are indeed Chinese characters.

Also because he can write Chinese characters, whenever he plays in subsequent games, the Chinese audience will cheer for him loudly.

 After the game, many media reported the news. CCTV reporters also interviewed him and asked him why he knew Chinese and why he wanted to learn Chinese? How much Chinese do you know?

Link naturally praised Chinese characters very much, saying that Chinese characters are the greatest writing in the world and Chinese is also the greatest language. In the evening after the interview, his news was featured on CCTV’s evening news.

On the seventh day of the opening of the Olympic Games, he also became popular on the Chinese Internet and media with his handsome appearance and interesting matchstick Chinese characters, and gained high popularity in China.

Subsequently, his boxing matches were also focused on by China TV. The audience for each match ranged from more than 1,000 to more than 3,000 people, mostly college students from schools around the Workers' Stadium, who came to cheer him on.

Link also gained partial home court advantage in the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals.

After the news of his brave rescue of a drowning child was exposed, China Television repeatedly reported the news, calling it one of the most touching events at the 29th Olympic Games.

 In the final match between him and Aragon, more than 10,000 people came to the Hanking Workers Stadium, and they all cheered for him loudly.

Seeing so many people cheering for him, Link didn't want to lose the game in front of his hometown people. He became more and more excited as he fought. In the first round, he hit 108, 48 punches, and directly knocked Aragorn to the ground. In the second round, he Continuing to show off his power, he knocked down Aragorn again, forcing Aragorn to give up the game.

Because if Aragorn continued to fight, he might really get injured, which would affect the battle for runner-up. In the end, Aragorn played another game with James Gadel, defeating Gadel with a score of 22:13, and won the silver medal for the second time. .

"Mike, look, this is Link's tactic, using language to gain home field advantage. If it were you, could you think of this?" Raphael asked, pointing to the whiteboard.

Tyson shook his head and looked at Link like a monster, "Learn a language to win the game? Or is it the most difficult Chinese? I don't think anyone can do it except Link."

Link smiled softly. In his previous life, he wanted to represent his country in the Olympics, but unfortunately missed out. He wanted to do so in this life too, but because he was a pure American, he had no chance to become a naturalized person. He could only use this method to end the two. Fortunately, the result was very good.

 “Ask Link who the Chinese actor is? He used her.”

Ms. Tina asked.

Steve is helpless, how can a good sports program turn into gossip entertainment news?

 (End of this chapter)