Chapter 004: Battle in the Ring Again

In the afternoon, Mike from the neighboring surfboard specialty store came over and said, it was the second anniversary of his shop's opening and he invited the neighbors to celebrate at the bar, Link and James happily accepted the invitation.

The bar street is one of the busiest places in Miami's Palm Bay area, surrounded by the largest Latin community in Miami with a permanent population of over 200,000; there are also two villa resorts in the vicinity with populations around 50,000.

The bar street features many ballrooms, casinos, nightclubs, clubs, and restaurants, densely packed with buildings and large crowds.

Since he often hung out nearby in the past, Link was quite familiar with the area.

As they arrived at the western end of the bar street, he suddenly remembered a nearby boxing bar that used boxing matches as its selling point, occasionally inviting boxers to compete on stage, attracting hundreds or even thousands of spectators each time.

Link decided to take a detour and check it out.

Hearing his suggestion, James and Danny from the neighboring hot dog shop followed him on their bikes to the boxing bar.

The sign at the entrance of the boxing bar was a giant red boxing glove that emitted red light at night, and there were many photos of boxing champions posted on the corridor leading to the entrance.

There were photos of classic champions such as Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Michael Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Mayweather, Roy Jones, and others.

There were also rising champions from recent years and famous figures in the boxing world like Terence Crawford, Andre Ward, and Edison Miranda.

Compared to the star-studded '70s and '80s, today's American boxing scene was lacking in promising newcomers; active fighters were mostly in their thirties or forties.

The reasons were complicated, related to the era, current entertainment consumption, promotional methods, boxing rules, but mainly because there was a general lack of strength and no one capable of unifying all four major organizations.

Looking at the photos on the wall, Link said to James and hot dog shop's Danny,

"Do you believe that my photo will also hang here one day?"

"Haha, stop dreaming, this isn't your living room,"

James said, pushing his shoulder and walking inside.

"Link, sticking up a big headshot doesn't count, I could do that too."

Danny from the hot dog shop teased.

"Just wait and see,"

Link said, waving his fist and pushing open the glass door of the bar. A huge wave of sound accompanied by heat and the smell of alcohol hit them.

"Hit him! Don't let him cling!"

"Mario, stop backing up, punch him now! F*ck, f*ck, you can't box at all!"

"Mario, you wuss, just quit and go home to drink milk!"

The trio walked into the bar during a match. Two burly boxers were hugging each other, crammed against the rails, being separated by the referee in the ring.

The area around the ring was swarming with about a thousand people, mostly adult men who became very irritable after drinking; they would curse loudly and vent their dissatisfaction if the boxers were fighting passively.

"It's lively here, we should have come earlier. Mario you wuss, get down from there!"

James shouted along without even recognizing who Mario was.

"Don't shout randomly."

Link said, plugging his ears, and sat on a stool at the bar, observing the two fighters in the ring.

Both were Latin, weighing around 90 kilograms, heavyweight fighters.

One had a fierce look and a bulky body with a belly like a punching bag, this was the Mario the audience was cursing; his opponent was a muscular bald strongman.

During the fight, the bald strongman attacked relentlessly and effectively, while Mario kept dodging and switching positions, often using clinching tactics, and only occasionally attacking, a very conservative style.

This was the reason the audience was displeased; in a venue like this bar, people preferred a thrilling fight. The more spectacular the fight, the more they enjoyed it, and defensive tactics were unpopular here.

However, to Link, Mario moved strategically and defended appropriately, clearly having professional boxing training, whereas the bald strongman's approach was more amateurish, lacking plan and tactic, merely squandering his strength.

If nothing unexpected, Mario would win this match.

Indeed, in the fifth round, Mario launched a successful sneak attack with a jab that knocked the bald strongman to the ground, who struggled a few times but failed to stand up.

Mario won the match.

"Second round, who wants to challenge Mario on stage?"

The ring referee shouted into the microphone to the entire audience.

The boxing bar's competition rules were interesting.

The bar owner would place a cash box on the boxing ring containing 200 US dollars in cash.

If patrons wanted to watch a boxing match, they would put money into the cash box, and every time the cash box accumulated 1000 dollars, the bar would announce a boxing match.

The boxer who won three consecutive matches that night could take all the money in the prize pool, regardless of gender and weight class, the strongest took the money and left.

"I'm in!"

A sturdy black man took out a hundred US dollars and threw it into the cash register, with the help of the bar staff, put on a mouth guard and boxing gloves, and got on stage.

The second match started, and the black man, obviously well-prepared, swung his fists and bombarded Mario's head with punches after they tapped gloves.

In the first round, Mario was knocked down twice, In the second round Mario managed not to fall, In the third round the black man's strength gradually waned, In the fourth round he was knocked down by Mario once, and in the fifth round Mario won the match.

The black strongman was carried off the boxing ring.

"Next match, who else wants to challenge Mario Joao?"

The ring referee shouted.

After two fights, the bar patrons knew that Mario was no weakling, and those who had been ready to get on the stage were hesitating.

"Hey, who wants to come up and challenge me?"

Mario, having won two bouts in a row, was high on morale; he stood on a corner post, swinging his fists and shouting down to the crowd.

"You call me a wimp, why don't you dare come up? Ha ha, you are the wimps, all of you are wimps."

Mario held his fists and laughed loudly.

Link glanced at him, then at the cash register full of small change, and pulled a hundred US dollars out of his pocket.

"Link, what are you doing, that's not a donation box."

James asked, puzzled.

"I'm going up to box."

Link pointed to the boxing ring.

"Are you crazy?"

James widened his eyes and said, "You don't think that doing a few sit-ups at home and playing around with a skipping rope means you can box? Boxing isn't as simple as you think."

"Link, go ahead, I'm already calling you an ambulance."

Danny from the hot dog stand took out his phone, pretending to say.

Link gave the two a glance; he had planned to ask them to bet on him to win some pocket money, but since they looked like they deserved a beating, he let it go.

Link squeezed through the crowd to the front, threw a hundred US dollars into the cash register, took off his shirt, put on hand wraps and boxing gloves, and climbed onto the ring.

"Wow, it's a pretty boy."

"Is he going to donate money?"

"Hey, buddy, get down, don't embarrass yourself."

The audience started shouting loudly.

Link waved his fists at the crowd below to shut them up.

"Hey kid, are you sure you want to fight me?"

Mario crossed his arms and sized him up a few times, saying, "My punches could be deadly."

"Mine can be too."

Link held up his fists and said.

"Hmph, tough-talking kid, I'll show you what happens to braggarts in a bit."

Mario bared his teeth and said menacingly.

"Place your bets! Place your bets! Betting on the pretty boy to win, ten times the odds, ten times the odds! Guys, don't miss out on a great opportunity to make money."

The bar's bookie shouted aloud.

"Ten times the odds? Bet one dollar to make ten, James, should we try it?"

Danny from the hot dog stand said, somewhat tempted.

"Bet on who? Bet on Link? Have you gone crazy too? Do you think he can beat Mario?"

James gestured with his hands at the two men's builds; although Link had a muscular physique with broad chest and six-pack abs, he was clearly much smaller compared to Mario, who was bulky and resilient like a weeble.

"Let's try it, as a way to support Link."

Danny took out two bills from his pocket and said.

"Fine, I'll also bet two dollars, I'll eat one less hot dog tomorrow."

"You could eat one less sandwich."

Danny from the hot dog stand took the money to the bookie to place their bets.