Chapter 27 : I Report

  "Hey, is this the Miami Herald news department? I have a news tip. A very important news tip."

  In a telephone booth outside the American Airlines Arena, someone called the Miami Herald with a rough and strange voice and told them that he had an important news clue related to the Southeast Division champion Link Baker.

  "I have reliable information that he is making a private deal with the agent of his next opponent, Andrej Andrej, and they are going to have a fake fight."

  "Sir, are you telling the truth? Is there any witness or evidence?"

  "The competition is the evidence!"

  Click! The phone was hung up, and the man walked out of the phone booth, looking at the Miami sky, his blue eyes flashed, and he sneered: "Link, prepare to be a celebrity!"

  ——

  Sniff! Sniff! Sniff~A-choo!

  "What are you smelling?"

  Link looked at Mario, who was sniffing around in the lounge with his big nose.

  "Link, Mario said you were taking drugs in the lounge." Reggie shrugged and laughed.

  "Are you crazy? How could I do such a thing?"

  Link shook his head and went to the physical examination room for a check-up. Under the supervision of the staff of the Amateur Boxing Association, he put on hand bandages and boxing gloves.

  When wearing gloves and hand bandages, the staff will supervise on site, and after confirming that everything is correct, they will put a sealing label on the gloves.

  Before the start of the match, the referee will carefully check whether the seal shows any signs of damage. If damage is found, the referee will ask the boxer to change the gloves or stop the match.

  The reason for doing this is simple: to prevent someone from stuffing objects into the gloves.

  For example, putting three nuts on the joints of the back of the hand, wearing an iron ring, and then wrapping it with a bandage will double the lethality of your fist during the game.

  This kind of trick has appeared several times in regular competitions and has resulted in bloodshed. It was later strictly banned by all boxing organizations, which led to the emergence of things like glove sealing signatures.

  In underground boxing rings, this kind of trick still appears frequently, and the referees don't care. Link has been tricked by this method many times, and it feels very bitter.

  The urine test procedure is very quick. It only checks whether the urine contains stimulants, drugs, and analgesics. Nothing else needs to be tested.

  Link had never taken drugs, so there was naturally no problem with the urine test.

Under Mario's suspicious gaze, he showed off his strong back, well-developed chest muscles, and firm chocolate abdominal muscles. He raised his fists wrapped in red gloves and strode out of the quiet passage.

  Boom!

  The sound at the scene was suddenly released, and huge sound waves hit the eardrums, one after another.

  "Link!"

  "Link!"

  "Link!"

  Tens of thousands of Miami spectators and Link's fans shouted his name.

  Link waved his fists towards the sky three times in succession and rushed to the boxing ring. His opponent, Andrzej Fonfala, was already standing on the boxing ring, wearing white boxing gloves, his eyes full of fighting spirit.

  Andrzej Fonfara, 25 years old, is a Polish-American with white skin and a slim build.

  He is 189cm tall, with arms 198cm, 6cm longer than Link's. He has been practicing boxing since he was a child, has superb skills and is very fast.

  In amateur boxing, his current record is 54 fights, with 52 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw.

  Before Link came along, he was ranked second among amateur super middleweight boxers, behind only Andre Berto.

  This is a very powerful, yet not very powerful person.  

  What's amazing is his technique and arm length advantage, which makes it easy for him to score points in the game.

  What is not so good is his physical condition, but the "not so good" here does not mean that he is physically weak, but compared with his skills, his physical condition is a shortcoming.

  He once fought with Dreadlocks Morales, in which he used his superb skills to withstand Morales's strong attack and won by points.

  This type of boxer often does well in amateur competitions, but if he takes off his sponge protective gear to fight in a professional fight, he probably won't perform well.

  This is also one of the reasons why many boxers can win gold medals in the Olympics but remain unknown after becoming professional boxers.

  For this type of boxers, what they fear most are opponents like Link and Andre Berto who have both skills, strength, speed, excellent physical strength and ability to withstand blows.

  Andre Berto was already a headache, and now there's an even more terrifying Link Baker.

  If Andrzej Fonfara wants to maintain his position in the amateur boxing circle, his agent has to rack his brains to think of other ways, such as fighting a few more rounds.

  Fighting a few more rounds not only makes for better news coverage, but there is a more important reason: it does less damage to the boxer's self-confidence.

  There are many people in the boxing circle who, when they first enter the circle, can often maintain a winning streak of more than ten, twenty, thirty, or even forty fights, until they are defeated or KOed once. Their self-confidence will be greatly damaged, leading to their inability to recover.

  There are many such cases, and Tyson is a typical example.

  Before he was defeated by James Douglas in 1990, he maintained a record of 37 consecutive wins. After being defeated, he never recovered. When he retired in 2005, his game statistics were 44 wins and 6 losses in 50 games.

  And his rival, boxing legend Mitchell Spinks, held the WBA, WBC and IBF heavyweight titles for more than five years before meeting Tyson.

  But after being defeated by Tyson in one round in Las Vegas in June 1988, he immediately announced his retirement from boxing. His professional record was 31 wins and 1 loss in 32 fights.

  There is also Mitchell Spinks' old rival Larry Holmes, who was once Ali's sparring partner. Before meeting Mitchell Spinks, he had defeated many powerful boxing champions, including Muhammad Ali.

  His winning streak was as long as 48 games. After being defeated by Mitchell Spinks, he suffered consecutive defeats. In 1988, he met Tyson and was knocked out by Tyson after only four rounds.

  Therefore, in the boxing circle, boxers like Ali, George Foreman, and Holyfield who can pick themselves up again and regain the gold belt after being defeated are the truly powerful characters.

  Their strength lies not only in their physical strength, but also in their strong psychological quality and indomitable will.

  They are the ones who keep fighting despite repeated failures.

  At this time, the white boxer in front of Link, Andrzej Fonfara, obviously did not look like a determined man. His agent spent money to help him smooth things over, which was a good intention.

  Link held his gloves, pounded his chest muscles, and greeted his opponent.

  Ander Zejie also responded by pounding his chest.

  The referee checked the seal, announced the rules of the game, and cut the hand hard.

  "Boxing!"

  The match started, bang! At the beginning, Andrzej Fonfala's right fist was like a praying mantis arm, whizzing to Link's face with a sound of breaking wind.

  Link was surprised, the speed was really amazing, far exceeding any opponent he had fought before. The strength was also very good, not much worse than Mario, and ordinary boxers could not stop him at all.

  But Link is not an ordinary person. His reaction speed is faster. Seeing Andrzej's fist coming, he quickly turned his head, swung his fist, and hit Andrzej's head, one punch after another.

  "Wow! It's a backflip!"

  "Can Andrzej dodge it?"

  The audience exclaimed loudly, and Andrzej's agent was even more worried. If the punch landed solidly, Andrzej might be knocked out instantly.

  (End of this chapter)