Chapter 51: KO to the End

  “Hey, Americans, get outta here, you're losers!”

A dark, skinny boxer shouted at Link as the Cuban boxing team passed by.

“What are they yelling about?”

Jonesy Flowers looked quizzically at the boxing team's interpreter.

“Fark! I think they're calling us Americans, should we fuck him?”

Morales said angrily, bulging his muscles.

The interpreter looked at the coach of the team in confusion as to whether or not he should translate.

The U.S. and Cuba are neighbors and enemies. The U.S. is a capitalist country and Cuba is a red country.

Since the 1960s, the U.S. has imposed a trade embargo, embargo, and economic sanctions on Cuba, and created the Bay of Pigs landing incident.

Cuba was close to the Soviet Union. In 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis was staged, which almost ignited the fuse of World War III.

In 1980, Cuba quietly sent 150,000 people to Miami, including traffickers, psychopaths, death row inmates, drug addicts, prostitutes, and thieves.

Both sides have been digging each other's holes for decades.

To this day, the U.S. has not lifted the embargo against Cuba.

Cuba is still hostile to the US and considers the US its number one enemy.

In the sport of boxing, the two sides are even more bitter rivals.

Whenever they meet in international events, Cuban boxers beat up American boxers.

Since the 1960s, the U.S. team has won only two Olympic finals against Cuba.

The first time was the 1976 Montreal Olympics, when champion Sugar Ray Leonard won the gold medal over a Cuban boxer;

The second time was the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, when Mayweather won the gold medal over his Cuban opponent.

Both of these Olympics were held in the United States, and if they had been held outside of the country, it would have been a toss-up.

Because of the tensions between the two countries, the interpreter was unsure whether or not to translate what he heard as a provocative remark, fearing that a fight would affect the match.

“Shut up, Catero, they are guests.”

Cuban coach Felix Sahon chided, and pulled the Black Boy over to him, solemnly apologizing to the U.S. team.

Link smiled gently and walked straight over and greeted him in Spanish, “Hello Mr. Sahon, my name is Link Baker, I've watched the video of your matches, you are very tenacious in your play on the field, it's worthwhile for us juniors to learn from you.”

“You are Link Baker?”

Felix Sahon was a bit surprised when he saw him and seemed to recognize him.

At that moment, a Cuban man came by and lowered his head to Sahon's ear to introduce Link, saying that he was the No. 1 super middleweight on the U.S. team, and that he had just KO'd the second-place finisher of the Mexican team, Martín, in the ring, and had advanced to the second round.

“KO?”

“Is he fighting a rookie?”

Several Cuban team members exclaimed.

Sahon glared at his disciples, extended his hand towards Link and shook it, smiling: “Mr. Linkback, I know you, in this year's U.S. Golden Gloves Championships, you won 17 fights, 17 victories, and 17 KOs, you're a great boxer.”

“17 KO's?”

“An amateur fight?”

Several of the Cuban team members looked at Link in surprise.

If he had managed to KO the Mexican second place finisher, it was possible that his opponents were not of high caliber.

But 17 KO victories in the U.S. amateurs means this guy is really something.

Lorenzo Aragon also looked solemnly at Link, scrutinizing Link's physical features with the eyes of an enemy.

Link smiled unconcerned, shook Sawon's hand and said: “great not dare to be, is only a kind of eye-catching tricks, do not deserve your praise, the real great is your kind of people, three championships, not only proved your strength, but also for the country to seize the honor, all our athletes should learn from you.”

This is not a boast, but the spirit of the other side is really worth learning from all athletes.

In the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, Sahon won the heavyweight gold medal, the United States famous boxing promoter Don King out of five million dollars want to sign and promote him to invite him to the United States to participate in professional competitions.

Because the Cuban government, citing the loss of talent, security concerns and other issues, since 1962, boxing players are prohibited from turning professional, and going abroad to fight is tantamount to 'defection'.

In addition, according to Olympic regulations, professional boxers cannot represent their country or region in amateur competitions such as the Olympic Games.

Sahon gave up his $5 million check to continue as an amateur boxer, won three gold medals at the Olympics, and never fought a professional match until he retired.

He was a famous heavyweight boxer who could have easily made tens of millions of dollars if he had been more flexible and crossed the 358-mile Florida Straits to the U.S. But he didn't.

If this kind of thing happened to Link, he wasn't sure he could do it, so he admired this kind of true patriot.

“Haha! Mr. Link Baker, you're overpraised, I'm already old, the future of boxing belongs to you youngsters.”

Sawon laughed, patted Link's arm, Link's eyes of admiration he also saw, but he did not understand why an American will look at himself with this kind of eyes, some of the heart is not very comfortable.

Link a few people left, Sawon immediately pulled his disciple Lorenzo Aragorn to the side, looking at the back of Link, expression cautious, said: “Aragorn, remember him, he is definitely a stumbling block on the way to win the Olympic gold medal.”

Aragorn glanced at Link and nodded seriously, “I understand!”

“This Link Baker is not simple, he may not be as good as you in terms of competition experience, but in terms of mentality and strength, he is definitely not much worse than you. From now on, you have to pay attention to him, watch more of his matches, know what he is good at and what he is not good at.”

Sa Weng said these still do not rest assured, so he asked his disciples to find the scene of the cameraman, ask them to Linke's game video copy of a copy over, he wanted to see Linke's game in person.

At the same time Sawon also some remorse, not long ago friends talked to him about the U.S. Golden Gloves tournament, talking about Link Baker 17 fights 17 KOs, at the time he heard only marveled at the young man's strength is really big, and not too much on the mind.

After all, boxing is not weight lifting, just brute force is not useful, technology and speed is the key to victory.

But after seeing Link Baker himself, he had to be cautious, this guy is not his imagination of the black man, or brown-red skinned Mexican, but a courteous and handsome white man, not bad talk, temperament and mild, stable character.

A light-skinned man with a good head on his shoulders, and with his terrific strength and boxing skills, he was not to be underestimated.

It's a good thing this is Cuba.

With a few more rounds to go, there was plenty of time to get to know Link as an opponent, and he was prepared to use a bit of trickery to delay Link's fight with Aragorn so that they would meet again in the finals.

When Aragorn fully understands Link's strength, he will have a better chance of winning the match.

(End of chapter)