Chapter 61: Why Do You Always Hit My Face?

"Ouch, Richard, you bastard, you hit me too hard."

In the evening, at the bar, Paul leaned on the sofa with a bruised and swollen face, holding a glass of wine. But as soon as his lips touched the rim of the glass, a sharp pain shot through him, making him want to cry. Richard, that bastard, was too vicious, aiming specifically for his mouth. His lips were swollen an inch thick.

"Stop complaining, you didn't hold back either." Richard chuckled and pointed to the bruises on his face.

Paul and Mayweather, those two guys were too much. They were probably jealous of his good looks and kept aiming for his face during the sparring sessions.

After two matches, his handsome face was injured in several places. Because his skin was fairer, he looked even worse than Paul and Mayweather.

"Haha, you deserve it. Mayweather, how are you doing? Let me see your injuries." Paul nudged the black guy next to him.

"What's there to see?" Mayweather raised his head and said unhappily.

"Hahaha, you, you, why did you suddenly get fat?" Paul laughed so hard he could barely breathe.

"Shut up!" Mayweather roared.

"Haha, I read in the newspaper the other day that since your debut, your face has always been clean after every match, without a single scratch, that's why they call you 'Pretty Boy.' Why did you become 'Chubby Boy' today? You look so cute. Come on, let uncle pinch your cheek."

"Get lost!" Mayweather punched Paul and knocked him over. He took a big sip from his glass and glared at Richard. "Is there something wrong with you? Why do you always hit my face? Are you jealous that I'm more handsome than you?"

"I'm jealous of you?!" Richard looked at him incredulously.

"Yes, in the eyes of us black people, I'm definitely better looking than you. Isn't that right, Paul?" Mayweather asked.

"No, I think I'm the most handsome. You guys are a little worse than me." Paul said, tilting his head up.

"Fuck, we're all black, can't you be more united?" Mayweather said dissatisfiedly.

"Okay, okay, I'm the most handsome, then you, then Richard. How's that?"

"Not good enough." Mayweather curled his lip. "Hey, Richard, you still haven't said why you hit my face."

"Haha, the news said that you've fought dozens of matches and your face is rarely injured. This means your facial defense is the strongest, and your head movement is very fast.

I practice on the punching bag every day, but the punching bag doesn't defend or dodge, so you're the best training partner. As long as I can hit your face, I'll be confident in hitting even the fastest opponents in the future."

"Fuck you, you're using my face as a moving target?" Mayweather slammed the table angrily.

"Fuck you too! You think you're a good guy? You knew my chin was injured and kept attacking it. You're much worse than me." Richard retorted.

"Hey hey, you can't blame me for that. You're too tall, it's easiest to hit your chin, so... how about we call it even?" Mayweather raised his glass and smiled.

"Cheers!" Richard clinked glasses with him.

"Me too!" Paul raised his glass and said, "From now on, the three of us are the Three Musketeers of the Bronx, just like the Three Musketeers of Mexico."

"No, we're much stronger than them." Mayweather shouted.

"Haha, you're right, cheers!" The three raised their glasses together.

"Haha, I came at the right time." At this moment, a voice came from the aisle. Andy, wearing a bowler hat and a cigar in his mouth, walked over.

"Hey, Andy, what are you doing here?" Paul asked.

"Buying you guys a drink!" Andy took off his hat and looked at the three of them on the seat. "May I sit down?"

"Please do!"

"Thank you. By the way, let me introduce you." Andy pointed to a middle-aged man behind him. The man was in his fifties, thin, wearing a black woolen coat and round glasses, looking gentle and refined. "This is Bob Arum, the general manager of our Starlight Sports, responsible for the company's agency affairs."

"Bob Arum? The famous event promoter?" Mayweather looked at him in surprise.

"That's me!" Bob Arum smiled smugly and greeted the three politely.

"Mr. Arum, I heard from my uncle that you used to be an agent for champions Whitaker and Taylor at Main Events. How did you end up at Starlight?"

"I resigned last year and was planning to go solo when Andy found me and invited me to join Starlight. I agreed." Bob Arum said.

"Yes, Bob has been with Main Events for over ten years and has been responsible for the event promotion of seven champions. He is a professional in this field." Andy looked at Richard and said.

Richard raised an eyebrow. Was this guy really planning to go legit?

"Are you here to talk to Richard and Paul about cooperation? Then I won't bother you." Mayweather stood up and said.

"Mr. Mayweather, we would also like to talk to you. Can we talk again?" Bob Arum said.

"No need. I said I'm not considering this issue for now. I'll talk about it after I get the championship belt. Richard, Paul, I'll go first." Mayweather left the booth.

"What a confident guy." Andy sighed.

Richard smiled slightly. According to the information, the reason why Mayweather was so famous and could make so much money was due to the guidance of his father and uncle.

His father and uncle were veterans in the boxing world and were familiar with this kind of operation.

Before Mayweather became famous, they started paving the way for him, so that when he became famous, he could make a lot of money instead of becoming a money-making tool for others. In this regard, they did much better than other champions.

It seems like this is something worth learning.

"Richard, can we talk?" Andy sat down and said.

"Talk about what?" Richard smiled.

"About signing a contract. I can agree to the terms you mentioned last time." Andy held a cigar, a confident smile on his face.

"Last time?" Richard thought for a moment. "You agree to the one million I mentioned?"

"Haha, as long as you're willing to talk, everything is negotiable. But Bob is in charge of this. Bob, it's up to you. Richard is not an easy person to persuade." Andy laughed.

"Okay!" Bob Arum nodded and smiled. "Mr. Braddock, congratulations on winning another match. Your previous opponent, Anthony Tarver, was considered one of the most promising contenders to reach the semi-finals, but you defeated him. Mr. Braddock, we are optimistic about your development prospects and hope to cooperate with you."

Richard looked at him. "I heard that you usually only promote established boxers. Why do you want to sign rookies like me and Paul?"

"The reason is simple. In recent years, boxing has become very popular, and boxing matches are very profitable. As a result, more people are involved in this industry, and the competition is increasing.

Various sports agencies and event promotion companies have started to scout talent from rookies. Mr. Braddock, you and Paul are the rookies we are optimistic about." Bob said.

"How much signing fee are you going to give Richard?" Paul interrupted.

"The same, $500,000 for 5 years, $1 million for 10 years." Bob glanced at Paul and said.

"Haha, Richard, do you want to sign? You just said you were short of money, a lot of money." Paul's big mouth started blabbing again.

Richard smiled slightly. "Mr. Arum, the first round of the ranking tournament is not over yet. If we don't make it to the next round, how will you recover your investment?"

"That doesn't matter. You two are very young and strong, and you have many more opportunities.

After this event, we will arrange for you to participate in other competitions, such as the OPBF in Japan and the ABCO in Thailand, both under the WBC.

With your strength, it's not difficult to win the intercontinental championship title.

With the intercontinental championship title, you can then challenge for the international and world championship titles." Bob paused and said sincerely, "Mr. Braddock, we have a common goal. Please trust our sincerity."

"Yes, Richard, if you sign with an agency, your monthly salary, living allowance, training fees, and medical expenses will add up to tens of thousands of dollars.

And the facilities at Starlight Sports are quite good, with a gym, boxing gym, medical room, and so on. I think it's pretty good." Paul said.

Bob nodded. "In addition to these, we can do some promotion for you in advance, just like the last boxing match.

With the publicity from the agency, and with that victory, you can become the brightest new stars in the boxing world, and maybe even get advertising endorsements."

Richard pondered for a moment. "Can I hear your promotion plan?"

"Haha, Richard, Bob is much more professional than me. How could he forget about this?" Andy laughed.

"Mr. Braddock, this is the preliminary promotion plan." Bob took out a proposal.

Richard took it and looked it over. He wasn't completely unfamiliar with this kind of thing, having learned about it through reading newspapers and chatting with the old man.

For boxers, boxing is a sport.

For agencies and agents, boxing is just a business activity, and boxers are commodities, exhibits, tools.

In the entire commercial system, agencies, promotion companies, organizers, boxing organizations, media channels... are the backbone of the commercial system, and boxers are just the details.

Therefore, choosing a good agent is extremely important for boxers.

With a capable agent, boxers can enjoy a good life and participate in higher-level competitions.

Currently, the three most capable agents in the boxing world, also known as event promoters, are Don King of Don King Productions, Bob Arum of Top Rank, and Lou DiBella of DiBella Entertainment. Almost all major events in the industry involve these three.

With an incompetent agent, boxers will struggle.

This Bob Arum is a veteran in the industry, having managed the events of several champions. His methods are not much worse than those of the three mentioned above, which can be seen from this promotion plan. It's steady yet sharp.

Richard read it through. This business proposal was not bad, and he couldn't find any flaws in it. However, agreeing to cooperate would bring many problems.

One is the lack of freedom.

Mike Tyson once sued his agency, saying that his agent was manipulating his career, his bonuses were being exploited by the company, and the company kept squeezing his commercial value... A champion's tragic story.

There was also the issue of training. With an agency, they would provide a professional coaching team, but Richard didn't want to change coaches.

"Richard, we can respect your opinion on the coaching issue. Since both you and Paul train with Alvin, we can hire him as your head coach. This is also Paul's idea." Bob said.

"Hey hey, Richard, if we go together, Alvin can earn more money." Paul laughed.

Richard glanced at this guy with annoyance. If this jerk took Alvin away, who would he train with in the future?

"Mr. Arum, your promotion plan is very good, but I need to think about it." Richard said.

"No problem. Also..." Bob looked at him and smiled. "Mr. Braddock, you are very handsome and a white boxer, which means your commercial value is even greater. If you are willing to join Starlight, the signing bonus is negotiable."

"Hey hey, Richard, you don't have to worry about us not having money at Starlight. To be honest with you, Starlight just received an investment not long ago.

We're preparing to do something big. This time, it's not just you. We're extending cooperation invitations to eight professional boxers at the same time, including Whitaker, whom Bob used to manage." Andy squinted and smiled.

"Okay, I'll give you an answer within three days." Richard raised his glass.

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(End of chapter)