28 Knockout
The time was quickly approaching.
At the place where the Boxing Competition was occurring, Zayd stood with his gloves by his side. As he looked at Mr Kaiju talking to some other people, he saw the guy he would be fighting.
Because it was an Amateur Boxing Competition, Zayd would be wearing headgear which he hoped was not disorienting as he was not used to wearing headgear.
Looking at the ring that he was used to sparring within, Zayd felt the blood rush to his head.
Once more, the feeling of excitement - that he had held off for now - came back in full thrust.
Once the time came, Zayd stood up and walked towards the ring with Mr Kaiju.
The match before this had one guy getting knocked out in the later rounds.
Zayd was in the red corner.
His opponent, Hattori Gensai, was in the blue corner.
Shortly after a small preparation by the referee, the judges signalled they were ready, and the match was about to begin.
Before that, the referee told some of the rules. After this, Zayd and his opponent touched gloves as a sign of respect.
Going back to his corner, Zayd felt everything slow down in his mind. The switch had flipped.
"Start!" The referee waved his hand as the first of Four Rounds began.
Moving forward, Zayd observed his opponent and threw a jab at his face to test his reactions.
Moving back an inch, he wanted to stay as close as possible without being too far away to counter anything.
His Jab did not land, but it made his opponent move back.
Zayd wanted to lower his opponent's guard by going low.
As his opponent showed signs of moving forward, Zayd moved quickly, with his Jab flicking out at his opponent's midsection.
Following up with a Two, Zayd moved back after both landed cleanly.
Feeling a little antsy, his opponent wanted to return a hit.
Throwing a double Jab towards Zayd, one went high- the other went low.
As he had moved forward, Zayd slipped the first punch, blocking the second with his arm.
Zayd had his right hand by the side of his head with his left hand dangling slightly lower.
It was like the jaws of a venus fly trap that wanted to engulf its target.
Successfully baiting his opponent to throw a Right Hook with some posturing to put his head forward, Zayd threw his Right Hand Straight.
Smashing against the opponent's chin with unexpected power and speed, Zayd made the other guy look like he'd never done boxing before as he became frantic.
Attempting to pressure Zayd, his opponent moved forward- wanting to take some of Zayd's punches to land some of his own, he took a chance.
So far, none of his opponent's punches had landed on Zayd cleanly. There was one Jab that Zayd blocked with his arm.
An exchange began as Zayd used some combos.
One, Two!
Slip the counter!
Left Hook, Right Hand Straight!
Zayd got some good hits in as he worked his opponent's guard down while landing punches.
All the attempts that Zayd's opponent made to land a hit got blocked by Zayd.
It felt like fighting Zayd was like trying to grasp a slippery eel. As he either weaved out of the way or struck back powerfully and faster.
Finally, Zayd's opponent landed a clean hit on Zayd. Although he did not want to get ahead of himself, Zayd's opponent felt a little more confident.
At least that was the case until Zayd hit him in his guts with a Right Hook followed by a Left Hook that caused him to have to move back a little.
Feeling overwhelmed, Zayd's opponent felt relief as he heard the bell ring at the end of the round.
It was a short three minute round. However, if the rest of the Rounds ended up like this, Zayd's opponent would become a masterclass for how to get beaten up.
As he sat in his corner, Zayd did not look sweaty at all. It was almost as though he had not exerted himself physically.
Mr Kaiju walked over with some water and a towel. Both of which looked useless as Zayd's cheeks had not even flushed from blood flow.
"Keep working his guard down. Remember that he wants to hit you- use that! Feign a punch landed hard to get his guard down if you can, which would be perfect for a counter. Also, keep going for the head. If you can, go for the knockout. News travels quickly, and they are filming these matches. If you want to do this in the future professionally, fame is necessary to be successful. Alright, don't lose focus."
As Mr Kaiju finished speaking, the next round started.
Zayd became a bit more dynamic in his movement. Moving around more, he appeared to be the better fighter to the outside eye, which was his intention.
Picking his punches, Zayd allowed no attacks to hit him yet as he displayed his skill.
His footwork trapped his opponent into where he wanted him, which got followed by brilliant combinations that threatened to knock out his opponent.
Slowly but surely, as the second round ended, Zayd was going for a third-round knockout.
Working his opponent's high guard down, he landed multiple Left Hooks on his opponent's body.
With Zayd's opponent moving his right arm down to block Zayd's Left Hooks, Zayd suddenly threw a Right Hand Straight and a High Left Hook.
Appearing shook, Zayd's opponent tried to steady himself but was not allowed to do so.
As Zayd's punches flowed, his opponent's guard got tighter.
Finally, Zayd saw the opportunity he was waiting for as his right hand snuck through the middle of his opponent's guard, and his Uppercut smashed his opponent's chin up.
As the ref stood forward, blocking Zayd off from his opponent, Zayd listened to the count.
"ONE!
"TWO!
"THREE!
"FOUR!
"FIVE!
"SIX!
"SEVEN!
"EIGHT!
"NINE!
"TEN!"
