8 Chapter 8 : The final battle

The dome was full of enthusiasm, and a hundred thousand spectators roared wildly, releasing their inner passion.

Cameras were in every angle trying their best to record the show, Yuri and James fans were chanting their names.

Because James had won the semi-final fight three days before, he was qualifier to finally face Yuri.

In the locker room James had a towel on his head, he wore his boxing gloves and took a deep breath.

"Yūri is equipped with a unique prototype "integrated" Gear, which is surgically grafted directly to his arms."

"Facing an opponent like Yūri whose physical strength surpasses you and whose speed has almost nothing to envy you, this fight will surely be the most difficult you have ever known, try to defeat him as quickly as possible, avoid the endurance fight with him because you will surely lose, be direct and use your speed without worrying about consuming your endurance and above all give each punch with the intention to kill your opponent."

James took the towel off his head and stood up while looking at Tojo with a smile on his face.

"Tôjo, I will absolutely win, because the team of the drunken old man can't lose."

Tôjo then laughed and also stood up and hit James' back.

"Go show them the power of the old drunken old man's team."

Then the two walked down the corridor leading to the ring.

. . . . . . .

Almost all the lights in the stadium were off, only a gigantic projector illuminated the ring with giant screens showing the show.

In the ring a man elegantly dressed next to the referee holding a microphone readjusted his bow tie before shouting.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!"

Light effects and special effest then began to animate the ring, and the spectators shouted with exaltation as James and Yūri entered the ring.

The cameras of the television channels then turned towards the ring, the viewers at home began to tremble with excitement, in the city the passers-by stopped in the street seeing the live broadcast of the fight on the giant screens.

"Today is the fight of the centuries, now and here in the Dome, Yūri, undisputed champion of Megalonia,93 victory and 0 defeat, champion of champions will be challenged by our supernova, illuminating the competition with its pure strength, without gear, which has fought 11 times in just one week, the man nicknamed Lightning Fist! 11 victory and 0 defeat! James Art!"

"Yūri! Yūri! Yūri..."

"James! James! James..."

The public became more and more excited, the atmosphere became hot, the shouts of the spectators flooded the stadium.

In the anime Megalo Box, Yūri had deactivated his Gear to make the fight with the protagonist, Joe, but now faced with the boss of this world James felt slightly nervous, because Yūri was equipped with his Gear, and James absolutely hadn't the halo of the protagonist, unless Yūri was a madman. He certainly won't give up his Gear in front of James, this kind of treatment is only reserved for the protagonist.

James and Yūri looked at each other silently, James' heart started to race, he took a deep breath to calm down and stopped in the middle of the ring in front of Yūri.

"Touch gloves. Corners!"

The two touched gloves before returning to their corners.

Yūri, are you ready?"

"Yes."

"James?"

"Yes."

"Fight!!"

Ring!

The bell rang.

Yūri rushed in from the start and took control of the center of the ring.

James quickly moved towards the center, too. They both threw out a one-two punch without hesitation.

Thwack, thwack!

James staggered, he had not been punched, he staggered backwards simply from the force of their arms brushing together.

With such a spectacular start, the audience cheered.

James and Yūri rushed at each other again.

Thwack, thwack!

Yuri and James were exchanging blows madly, James was dodging the punches of Yūri the most quickly possible because his strike force was terrifying and thanks to the defense and the speed conferred by his Gear Yūri was starting to slightly dominate James.

But James still had a slight advantage conferred by his dexterity, the improvement of his nervous responses thanks to this, he managed to dodge the punches of Yūri despite his physical disadvantage, but suddenly he noticed a change in the attack posture of Yūri.

Yuri's eyes went down to James's chin.

'A undercut?'

Thought James changing position slightly to dodge the punch but the next moment. Smack!

James's eyes spun, Yuri's back-fist had hit him straight in the face, Blood squirted out of his nose as he had lost his balance.

"What an unbelievable attack from Yūri, James loses his balance! What an incredible fight!"

The whole Dome trembled under their screams. One could even feel the excitement of the commentator in his voice.

"James! Counter! You just have to keep your balance!"

Hearing the voice of Tôjo James came back to his senses, he dodged the punch that had just been thrown by Yūri, He then leaned slightly to the left and gave an Undercut to Yuri.

Undercut!

Thwack!

Yūri retreated under the violence of James' blow, but James continued to rush towards him like a mad dog, continuously threw punches at Yuri's guard.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

"That's it, good! Now finish him!"

Tôjo shouted at that moment. James twisted his body to the side and punch Yuri right cheek.

Overhand-punch!

Thwack!

Yūri felt as if he had been hit by a hammer as he fell to the ground, his vision became blurred, he lost two teeth and his mouth was bleeding.

The referee quickly stepped forward and began the countdown.

"1...2...3.."

"How can I, me, Yūri lose?"

"Yūri is down, the referee starts the countdown, what fight, what confrontation, would that be the end?"

"7..8..9"

"I refuse to lose!"

Yūri slowly rose from the ground and rushed towards James as his eyes turned red from the blows he received.

Thwack!

And before James had time to dodge, Yūri punch James with all the power of his body and Gear.

James was thrown to the ground with extreme violence.