Chapter 106: Song Goes Viral

After the match, Link stayed in Miami for over a week before returning to the Big Apple, New York.

By the time he returned to New York, the WBA super middleweight championship hype had died down.

The news reports about boxing matches were all about the heavyweight world championship fight that had ended last week, where 'The Rock' Hashim Rahman challenged WBO-IBF champion Wladimir Klitschko and was technically knocked out in the sixth round, losing the challenge.

Nigerian 'Nightmare' Samuel Peter vs. Ukrainian champion Vitali Klitschko, the elder Klitschko TKO'd Samuel Peter in eight rounds to regain the WBC heavyweight title.

The brothers continued to hold three of the four major organizations' heavyweight belts.

The other WBA heavyweight belt was held by 'Giant' Valuev, who was Russian.

The media exclaimed that the heavyweight division of world boxing had been occupied by Slavs.

There were also some reports about Link in the news, mainly discussing the match between him and Tyson, who would win and who would lose?

Although Tyson had been retired for more than three years and his condition had declined a lot, he was still a former heavyweight champion, the king of heavy punches, and a legendary figure in boxing.

Regarding who would win the match between the two, there was a great divergence of opinion in the media.

Some supported Link because he was young and his punches were not much weaker than Tyson's, but his speed was faster. As long as he was flexible in the ring, he could tire Tyson out after twelve rounds.

Many people also supported Tyson to win. In boxing, body weight meant greater strength. Tyson weighed more than 60 pounds more than Link and had an advantage in terms of resistance to blows.

Boxing experts believed that as long as Tyson could perform at 30% of his peak level, it would not be difficult to defeat Link.

Some of these news and controversies were planned by Trump Entertainment and Dynasty Promotions to warm up the fight between the two and try to attract more people to pay attention to the match in this way.

However, the time and location of the match had not yet been determined, and Trump Entertainment had not yet officially started promoting it, so the relevant discussions were not yet heated enough.

After returning to New York, Link put aside distractions and refocused his time and energy on boxing training to prepare for the upcoming matches.

In the next six months, besides the match with Tyson, he would also participate in the competition for the WBC-WBO-IBF super middleweight gold belt. At the same time, after becoming the WBA champion, he would also have to accept challenges from challengers 2-3 times a year, so now was not the time to slack off.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Link continuously threw punches in the ring, pushing his speed and power to the limit.

In the past few matches, the reason why he was able to defeat his opponents in a short time and win the matches was partly due to the experience gained from amateur competitions, which accumulated a lot of prestige and courage for him in boxing. This was the growth of his mentality and he became stronger psychologically.

On the other hand, it was also due to his physique. Through continuous physical training, his strength, speed, reaction ability and other boxing qualities were constantly improving and breaking through. His 100-meter speed exceeded 11 seconds, his movements became more flexible, and with a weight of 76 kilograms, he could unleash heavyweight punches.

He completely crushed his opponents in the same weight class in terms of speed and strength, and his boxing techniques and tactics were also quite sophisticated.

It was like having all the best horses in a race, making it difficult to lose.

But this did not mean that he could rest on his laurels. What Bernard Hopkins said in the interview that day was also true.

Although he was strong and had fierce punches, which was a great advantage in the super middleweight division, when he moved up to the light heavyweight division, there were many boxers with over 1000 pounds of punching power.

When facing those powerful opponents, Link's punching power advantage would disappear.

If Link wanted to continue to challenge for the light heavyweight, cruiserweight, and heavyweight gold belts after unifying the super middleweight division, he needed to start preparing now.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Link continued to throw punches, hitting the punching shield hard.

"Hey, Link, doesn't it feel better to train with me?" Mario put down the punching shield and grinned.

"Be careful, don't talk during training." Link continued to punch the punching shield in Mario's hand. This target was moving, so it was more effective to hit it.

"Haha, I told you I'm the best sparring partner, Morales he..."

Bang! Before Mario could finish, Link's fist went through the punching shield and hit him in the forehead. Mario staggered back a few steps and fell on his back on the stage, his eyes glazed over.

Morales shook his head under the stage and asked someone to drag Mario down. He went up to the stage and picked up the punching shield to continue training with Link.

Mario had volunteered to come along, saying that he wanted to come to New York to continue being Link's sparring partner. Coach West said that Mario had improved a lot recently and was planning to turn professional next year, and also asked Link to help him out.

Considering that Coach West and Mario were somewhat related, Link did not refuse. After all, Mario's food, clothing, housing, and transportation were not his responsibility, and he also had an extra moving target, which was a good idea.

---

"Hey, Link! Wait for me!"

After the afternoon training, Link was walking out with his bag on his back when Dino Duva ran over from the aisle, panting, and put his arm around Link's shoulder, "Come on, I bought two sports cars, I'll give you one."

"Why are you giving me a sports car?" Link shook off his arm and continued walking.

"Haha, guess how much I made from betting on the last match?" Dino asked excitedly.

"10 million?"

"Uh, not that much, $870,000."

"That little? Guess how much I made?"

"You bet too? How much?" Dino asked curiously.

"A little more than you," Link chuckled.

He had been betting on himself to win within 100 seconds in every match before, not much, $100,000 per match. Except for the last match where he lost $100,000, he won all the previous matches, earning about $100,000.

But with the additional $200,000 bonus for the Intercontinental Champion title and the $800,000 for the World Champion title, which were awarded by the WBA Association, plus the internal bonus from Dynasty Promotions, according to the contract, each Intercontinental Champion belt was worth $200,000 and the World Champion belt was worth $1 million. This time, he had earned over three million dollars from the match.

"You're amazing! Next time you have a match, remember to tell me beforehand how you plan to win and in which round. We can team up and make a fortune," Dino exclaimed, waving his arms.

When they arrived at the parking lot, Dino wanted to show him the sports cars, but Link declined. He already had sports cars and yachts and wasn't very interested in those things. Now he was more interested in mansions in New York, Miami, and Los Angeles.

After coming to New York, he originally wanted to buy a mansion near Central Park as a temporary base, but after asking a real estate agent, he found that apartments and villas with good locations and environments started at over 10 million dollars, and the more luxurious ones cost tens of millions or even hundreds of millions. His savings were still far from enough for a mansion in New York, so he needed to work harder.

Ring! Ring!

Before he even got home, his phone vibrated in his pocket. It was Selena calling. Before he could even say hello, he heard Selena say quickly, "Is this you? Tell me quickly, is this you?"

Selena's voice on the phone was urgent and excited. Link looked around but didn't see her. "I'm downstairs at my apartment. Where did you see me?"

"I'm talking about the video, the YouTube video. Is that handsome guy dancing on the beach you? It must be you, you look exactly the same. How can you sing? Aren't you a boxer?"

As soon as he answered, Selena rattled off a bunch of questions. Link thought she could be a rapper.

"Can't boxers sing? Ali, Tyson, Mayweather, they've all released records. Ali was even nominated for a Grammy. Is it strange that I can sing?"

Link walked into the elevator with a bag of vegetables and beef. Just as the elevator door was about to close, Leonardo DiCaprio walked in from the lobby. He held his phone on his shoulder and opened the elevator door. Leonardo said "thanks" and entered the elevator.

"But how can you sing so well? And who's the original singer of that song? It's not in the record stores, not online, and netizens in Spain and South America say they've never heard it before. Where did you hear it? Can you lend me the record to listen to?"

"Sure, the studio version of that song has been uploaded to iTunes and Amazon Music. You can search for Despacito on both platforms to listen to it. If you want to buy the single record, you'll have to wait a while longer. The record is being produced and I'll send you one when it's available."

"Despacito? Okay, I'll try it."

Click! Her call came in a hurry and ended just as quickly. Link put away his phone and nodded to Leonardo.

"Girlfriend?" Leonardo asked, wearing a suit and tie, smelling of alcohol, as if he had just returned from a cocktail party.

"My sister!" Link replied.

Leonardo said "oh" and stared at the jumping floor numbers, "I heard you won the world champion belt, congratulations."

"Thanks! You haven't been out filming recently?"

"No, I made three movies last year and in the first half of this year. I'm tired and plan to take a break." Leonardo put his hands in his pockets and shrugged.

"That's not bad. We can play tennis together sometime. I saw a tennis club next door."

"Yeah, okay!"

When they reached the seventh floor, Leonardo said "goodbye" and stepped out of the elevator.

Link returned home with the bag and put the meat, poultry, eggs, milk, vegetables, and fruits into different compartments of the refrigerator. Before he could finish, he heard his phone on the table outside ringing non-stop.

He came out with an apple and answered the phone. It was Selena again, screaming like a groundhog with Despacito playing in the background.

"Did you get your finger caught in the door?" Link asked.

"Link, how could it be your voice? How could you be the original singer? Tell me quickly, this isn't real," Selena asked excitedly.

"If my song isn't my voice, then whose voice would it be?" Link laughed.

"Your song? You're the original singer? How is that possible? Wait, why is the songwriter and singer information all you? Don't tell me you wrote this song."

"Who else do you think it is?"

"Uh~"

Selena took a few breaths and asked in a clear voice, "Link, did you really write this song, and the music too?"

"Yes, it was me!"

"Wow, you're amazing, Link! You're my idol! I'm going to tell everyone that this is my brother's new song. It's so awesome, Link! I'm coming to see you tomorrow, I want you to sign for me."

Selena shouted excitedly, and he could even hear her stomping her feet.

Before she could hang up, Catherine took the phone and asked a few questions. Link briefly explained what had happened in Miami with the recording, copyright registration, and uploading to iTunes.

The video of him singing and dancing was edited by someone Simon Curtis found three days ago and posted on YouTube using his account. On the first day, without any promotion, it had over 30,000 views.

Last night, NBC Entertainment News, FOX Evening Entertainment News, and several entertainment newspapers reported the video of world champion Link and Miss Trump dancing closely on Miami Beach as news, speculating that the two might be dating.

In just one day, the video had over 1 million views and over 50,000 comments, instantly becoming the most viewed video on YouTube recently, even more than the video of 14-year-old Canadian singer Justin Bieber covering the Backstreet Boys' song.

Catherine reminded him that there were many paparazzi in New York, so he should be careful when bringing his girlfriend home for the night. In case of emergency, he could call the police and never resort to violence.

Link said he understood.

After hanging up, Link opened his computer and browsed YouTube. His video had already surpassed 2 million views, and many people in the comments section were asking who the original singer was, if anyone could translate the lyrics into English, and if there was a high-definition MV.

Some people also exclaimed how handsome Link was, how sexy Ivanka's figure was, and how funny the fat guy was.

There were also some replies with links to Despacito on iTunes and Amazon Music.

Some netizens returned from the music stores and said that the original singer and songwriter of the song was world champion boxer Link Baker, which was shocking.

Many netizens expressed disbelief, asking how a boxer like Link could write songs and demanding the original singer to come forward.

Someone posted Link's copyright registration information, and everyone exclaimed that the world champion was too talented, his cross-border level was too high, and his first attempt was a hit, leaving no room for other singers to survive.

There were also many netizens who were skeptical, wondering how a boxer like Link could write songs, and speculating that the song might have been bought by Link, as many celebrities did.

Others retorted that such a good song would make anyone who sang it popular, so only a fool would sell it.

The internet was buzzing with discussions. Link ate an apple while browsing the comments, secretly marveling at how Despacito, the future number one song on YouTube in terms of views, was still a hit even ten years earlier.

(End of Chapter)