Conquer America, Start with a Boxing Champion

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

However, I later heard that she often criticized executives such as Steven Bewkes 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 worry about 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.

Iwaka said she hoped someone would take the initiative to resign, which would save a lot of 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 domineering president.

"You are so powerful, I will leave the Lions Gate to you."

Link said as he picked up his coat.

"What are you going to do?"

President Ivaca asked, leaning on her chair.

"Practice boxing!"

——

Bang bang bang! Bang bang bang!

In the Muscle Beach Boxing Training Ground, Link was shirtless and wearing palm guards, and his fists hit the red leather sandbags one after another like shuttles.

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

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

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

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

I watched the first movie Link, 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.

It was not until five years later that their uncle found them and took them home to take care of them. At the same time, their mother also followed.

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

And the director and producer of this film, Anders Muschietti, followed up the "The Clown" series of horror films, which also had a good reputation. The first film in this series had a global box office of US$700 million, which was also the highest box office in film history. One of the top horror movies.

After Link saw the script in the production department, he 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 why.

No reason, I like it.

Link has not seen the second film "The Conjuring" and does not 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.

In addition, there is a classic horror movie "Annabelle" that is considered to be a spin-off of "The Conjuring". The investment cost is several million, and the global box office is more than 200 million US 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, after James Wan collaborated with Lionsgate Pictures on "Saw 7" last year, the two parties ended the cooperation because they failed to negotiate a new movie 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 it will also have several more stable sources of box office.

Link flipped 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 is WBA-IBF British boxing champion Rocky Fielding.

The other one is WBC-WBO North American boxing champion Andre Ward, an old acquaintance. During the 2009 merger battle for the boxing titles of the four major organizations, Link was drunk by Selena and became mentally ill. 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. In February, he successfully defeated WBO North American boxing champion Mario Mo at the WBC-WBO boxing title challenger match. Lares, got the qualification to challenge him.

Both opponents are not weak.

Link felt a little pressure, so he quickly returned to the training ground after Eva Ka took over Lionsgate.

These days, he has been practicing boxing for more than ten hours every day, from morning to night, tirelessly.

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

It’s just that all the muscles on his body are trained every day last year and this year. There is no extra fat, and it is not easy to lose it in a short time.

But it doesn’t matter if he didn’t lose weight before the game. According to the rules of professional competitions, if the weight exceeds one kilogram, a fine of 100,000 US dollars will be imposed to compensate the opponent. He only needs to pay four or five hundred thousand US dollars.

Bang bang bang!

Link shed sweat, clenched his strong fists, and punched the sandbag one by one.

The sandbag filled with sand, sawdust and grains was hit with several obvious dents, and the hook was also shaking slightly.

Because he had been training for too long, a fine layer of sweat appeared on his bronze skin.

As he moved, sweat slid down his solid muscles, and the waist of his sweatpants was already wet with sweat, tightly attached to his steel-like waist.

"Hey, Link, do you want to practice?"

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

De La Hoya came over wearing a sports vest and shorts, wearing boxing gloves, with both fists against the gloves, showing a provocative look.

"Why aren't you wearing a suit today?"

"Don't talk nonsense, do you dare to play another game? Last year in Las Vegas, I was affected by the concert and performed abnormally. If I played normally, I would have a chance to tie with you. If I played exceptionally, I would have a great chance to beat you. Do you agree with this?"

Hoya walked over and said.

"Hey, Hoya, you have been losing for half a year. What's the point of bragging at this time? Beat Link with your mouth?"

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 beat Andre Ward and get the qualification to compete with Link, but you didn't do it. You should reflect on yourself, concentrate on training, and strive to win back in the next game instead of confronting me, the former world champion."

Hoya glanced at him and said.

Morales shrugged his shoulders and said nothing. Last year, he participated in the WBO qualifying competition, won four games and won the WBO North American boxing title, ranking third in the organization.

At the beginning of the year, the four major organizations held a round-robin competition, inviting the top three organizations from each organization to participate in the competition. The winner will get the opportunity to compete with Link.

In the three games, he won the first two games. In the last WBC-WBO champion challenger combined battle, he met Andre Ward. The two sides fought for 12 rounds. He was hit by his opponent many times, but he insisted on not falling down.

In the end, he lost to Andre Ward with a large score difference of 108:118, 110:117, and 109:116.

He also lost the chance to compete with Link.

If he could compete with Link, his popularity and appearance fee would double, but unfortunately he failed to seize that opportunity.

After hearing what De La 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 title of a small organization."

Link stopped and said.

"How many years do you plan to dominate the super middleweight championship of the four major organizations?"

De La Hoya asked.

"Wait until I get the light heavyweight gold belt first. 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, boxing champions like Andre Rey and Jan Pascal fled the super middleweight division. Some switched to the middleweight division, and some moved up to the light heavyweight division. If you stay in the super middleweight division for five years, the boxers in this field will probably be gone, or even deserted."

De La Hoya complained.

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

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

After the game started, De La Hoya still played to his advantage, that is, his super fast punching speed.

Every time he hit the target, his fists would hit the opponent continuously, like raindrops.

Because he not only punched fast, but also punched heavily, almost no one was his opponent when he fought in the light and middleweight divisions, and he once created a record of 31 undefeated games.

Until later, he met Mayweather, Pacquiao, and Hopkins.

Mayweather and Pacquiao also punch very fast, even faster than him, so De La Hoya couldn't beat them, and Hopkins is strong, resistant, and fast, so De La Hoya couldn't beat him either.

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

It is said that a few months before the game, he personally flew to Cuba to ask Felix Savon, the boxing coach of the Cuban national team, for guerrilla tactics, trying to give Link a surprise in the game.

And his fast punches and guerrilla tactics did cause some trouble for Link in the game.

But Link's boxing speed is not inferior to his, and in terms of reaction speed, he is even faster than him. More importantly, Link's punch weight is much heavier than his.

He hit Link with ten punches, but it is not as good as Link hitting him with one punch.

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, but De La Hoya failed to find an obvious flaw in Link and was sweating all over.

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 deteriorated?"

Link smiled as he put on his towel.

"Hmph! You used to ridicule me, saying that I was a playboy 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 teasingly.

"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 demeanor 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 in the future.

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, hold on, 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 junior brother. He is 26 years old this year. He was originally 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 Division, qualifying to fight Link.

Rocky is very powerful, very fast, very skilled in combination punches, and his movements are also very confusing.

The disadvantage is that he has just moved up to super middleweight and his punching 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, and once again defended his WBA-IBF title.

The second game was against Andre Ward in Singapore.

The game was originally scheduled to be held on Hong Kong Island, but the organizers of 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 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 hard and fought very tenaciously and fiercely.

Link had no intention of ending the game early. He used his superb boxing skills to fight with 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.

When Andre Ward met him afterwards, he said that he was an invincible opponent and that he 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.