Chapter 62: The Competition Scene
"Aragon! Must win!"
"Aragon! Champion!"
At the Social and Sports Center, half an hour before the game, nearly 20,000 seats were packed, with three floors up and down, and even the small open space around the ring was occupied by media reporters and tourists and wealthy Cubans who were willing to spend a lot of money to watch the game.
With only ten minutes left before the start of the game, HBO's camera was not turned on, and Steve Mandanda, the host of the sports channel, was also walking around empty-handed, with yellow-brown sweat stains on the collar of his shirt, and his face and forehead were covered in sweat. sweat.
The reason is simple. HBO TV was going to broadcast this match. Before coming, they had communicated with the Cuban authorities and would pay a broadcast fee, but before the start of the match, the Cuban authorities suddenly changed their minds and did not allow the broadcast of this match.
The sudden change of words caught HBO staff off guard, and the previous preparations were in vain. Host Steve and cameraman Sean could only stay where they were in a daze, waiting for the TV executives to negotiate with the Cuban government.
After more than a minute, an HBO staff member ran over and told Steve that they could continue recording at the scene, but if Aragon lost the game, the recorded videotape would not be allowed to be taken out for public broadcast.
"How can this be?"
Cameraman Sean complained and looked at Steve, "Are we still recording?"
"Record it! Record it first."
Steve thought for a while and said.
Originally, amateur boxing matches were not popular in TV broadcasts, because amateur matches have protective gear, the scene is not exciting enough, and there are few KOs. The audience doesn't like to watch them, and HBO is not interested in broadcasting them.
But since Link appeared in the amateur boxing world, the situation has changed. This guy KOs his opponent in every game, and the live game is very intense, no worse than professional boxing matches.
The Golden Gloves Super Middleweight Finals broadcast in mid-June received more than 15 million ratings in North America, making it the highest-rated program in amateur boxing broadcasts, and HBO also earned a lot of TV subscription fees from this program.
In the last match between Link and Haitian Peters, the opponent's chin was bleeding at the scene, and the visual effect was full. Cuban TV Sports Channel sold the videotape of the match to TV stations in American countries and earned more than one million US dollars.
In this match, Link's opponent is Lorenzo Aragon, who is stronger than Peters. Since both of them have a lot of fame in the American boxing world, many people who love boxing want to watch the match between the two. , to see who wins and who loses.
If someone wants to watch it, there will be profits. HBO and other commercial TV stations have sent people to broadcast this game.
It's just that the other side of this game is Cuban athlete Aragon, and the game is in Havana, Cuba.
If Aragon loses the game, it will not be a matter of winning or losing a game, it involves more and more complicated things, and it is also out of this consideration that the Cuban government will repeatedly broadcast the game.
Steve wiped the sweat from his face with a wet towel, took out his food, and asked Sean and several other staff members to prepare for the recording.
According to the Cuban authorities, if Aragon loses the game, the video cannot be broadcast publicly, but if Link loses the game, the video of the game can be broadcast.
Link has been in the limelight in the United States for the past two months. With his outstanding appearance, strong strength, and high-profile remarks, he has a large number of fans in the boxing world.
There must be a lot of people who want to watch the live broadcast of his losing boxing match.
Judging from the situation at the scene, Steve felt that Link had little chance of winning.
"Aragon must win!"
"Aragon Champion!"
Steve's eardrums were buzzing from the shouts in the auditorium, he took the microphone to the corner, and said to the camera with the red light flashing: "Dear viewers, good afternoon, I am your old friend Steve Mandanda.
I am now in Havana, Cuba, a beautiful city on the Caribbean coast.
The last time I broadcast an amateur boxing match for you was at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, the scene of the Golden Gloves Super Middleweight Championship Finals.
Today at the Havana Social and Sports Center Stadium, I will once again broadcast an amateur boxing match for you. This match is the Olympic Games Americas Qualifier Finals.
After six rounds of competition, 62 super middleweight boxers from 18 countries have competed against each other, and the top two in the Americas have been decided yesterday. They are Lorenzo Aragon from Cuba, who was the 2004 Athens Olympic Games 69 kg boxing The silver medalist in the competition.
Another boxer who entered the final is Link Baker, a boxer from Miami, USA!
That's right, it was in this year's Golden Gloves Championship that he won the super middleweight championship with 17 wins and 17 KOs in 17 matches. In this Olympic qualifier, he continued to use all KOs to enter the finals. His current amateur record is..." Steve lowered his head and glanced at the card in his hand, "21 wins and 21 KOs in 21 matches. Oh, what a remarkable statistic, he should have won another match, but in the semifinals, his opponent, Venezuelan boxer Alva, withdrew from the competition due to injury, so he once again entered the Americas final in the way of 4 KOs of all opponents.
Today Link will face Cuban local boxer Lorenzo Aragon, a boxer rated as the elite among amateur elites by Boxing magazine. Let us wait and see whether Link can win again in this match. "
Steve exhaled, took a sip of mineral water with the microphone, the weather in Havana is too hot, it's even hotter in the gym, wearing formal clothes feels like torture.
"Steve, Link is out, do you want to interview him?"
Cameraman Sean pointed in the direction of the east aisle, and Link and his coaching team walked over from the aisle amidst the shouts of "Aragon must win" from tens of thousands of spectators at the scene.
There are also crowded seating areas on both sides of the aisle, which are full of people, and there are forty or fifty reporters following Link to interview him while walking.
Steve Mandanda took a deep breath, took the microphone and camera, squeezed into the middle of the group of reporters, handed out the microphone and shouted: "Link, I am Steve, the host of HBO TV station, last time I was at the American Airlines Arena Interviewed you, I have two questions I want to interview you."
Link looked up at him and recognized the hot guy.
Since HBO is a TV broadcasting giant and the main broadcasting channel for boxing events, if boxers want to earn PPV dividends, they need to cooperate with HBO, so for HBO TV reporters and hosts, boxers will generally give special care.
Link is the same, he slowed down and asked: "Hello Steve, what questions do you have?"
"For your opponent Lorenzo Aragon, how confident are you that you can beat him? Can you express it as a percentage?"
Steve shouted loudly, sweating profusely.
"200%!"
Link said as he walked.
"Wow!"
The surrounding reporters exclaimed.
"Aragon must win!"
The Cuban citizens in the audience area next to them shouted loudly, engulfing the commotion made by the reporters.
"Link, I heard that you will continue to kill the game in the way of KO, do you already have tactics, can you reveal a little in advance?"
Steve shouted.
"Of course, my tactic is to knock him down with all my strength."
Link waved his fist at the camera.
"Link, I have another question, facing more than 10,000 Cuban spectators at the scene, listening to them chanting Aragon must win, will you be under pressure?"
Steve added a question temporarily and shouted.
Link smiled slightly, "You should ask Aragon this question, will he be under pressure to play against a guy who has 21 KOs in 21 matches?"
Steve thought about Link's words, it seemed like a question worth interviewing.
Link waved his fist, answered a few more questions from reporters, and was escorted by Morales, Andre and others to the rest area under the boxing ring, waiting for the bell to ring.
(End of this chapter)