Chapter 013: State Championship

"Link, isn't this too high-profile? If your opponents take note of this, they're going to study your fighting style, and your upcoming matches will become even more difficult,"

West flipped through the match records in the boxing gym's third-floor office, voicing his worries.

Link had won all three of his matches by knockout, performing extremely well. After the regional competitions, many in the City of Miami's boxing circles noticed him. While this attention could be well-intentioned, it would not be without malice. To protect Link, West decided to discuss the matter with him.

"It's okay, fame doesn't come without a price. I'm not afraid of being targeted."

Link shook his head, his intention being to draw people's attention.

We are now in the age of the internet, with advanced communication technologies, allowing the public to collect information for free from various platforms via the internet, which also leads to their attention being easily distracted.

In the times of Ali or Tyson, their high-profile presence among the general public was achieved merely through newspapers and television news, making them highly popular boxing champions.

Boxing fans coveted their matches, which earned huge ticket and PPV (pay-per-view) revenue shares—tens of millions to hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars per fight, equating $10 million in the sixties and seventies to forty or fifty million dollars in 2008.

Now, to become a highly popular boxing champion like Ali, Tyson, or Holyfield and to earn even more U.S. dollars, he must become famous and find ways to garner more attention and discussion.

Defeating opponents as quickly as possible in the ring and demonstrating overwhelming strength was one of the methods he thought of.

"West, if the media interviews me, keep it a secret for now. Leave some suspense for the media and the public. We'll reveal everything at the finals for even greater attention and discussion," Link suggested after some thought.

West nodded in agreement. Having been in the boxing industry for three to four decades, he knew quite a bit about the boxing world and could understand Link's methods and goals.

There was no doubt that Link was right.

This reminded him of his own debut years, when his agent brought in journalists to interview him and write press releases. He was reluctant back then, believing that boxers, unlike actors or singers, should let their fists do the talking, not meaningless publicity.

How young and naive he was in those days. In the world of boxing, fame is not only useful but critical.

If two boxers are of equal skill but have different levels of fame, the one with greater fame could earn a prize of 10 million U.S. dollars per fight, compared to just 10,000 U.S. dollars for the lesser-known one.

For the sake of the prize money, the force they exhibit in the boxing ring will be entirely different, with the more famous one definitely performing better than usual.

In his early years, as a challenger, he fought against the WBO middleweight champion Sugar Ray Leonard. As the match began, tens of thousands of spectators cheered for Sugar Ray, boosting him with home-field advantage, while West fought under pressure, eventually performing poorly and losing.

Now, reflecting upon his past, West often thought about his match at Las Vegas' MGM Grand. If he had also had the support of thousands of fans, could he have won?

He believed the chances were significant, at least he wouldn't have been knocked out by Sugar Ray in the third round.

So now, seeing Link making clever use of the media to create public opinion and promote himself to attract public attention from the outset of his career filled West with gratification.

"Link, focus on your matches. I'll leave the media to Robinson. He used to be my assistant and executive agent and often dealt with the media. This will be easy for him."

"Sure!"

----

The Golden Gloves tournament schedule was tightly arranged. After the regionals, Link, West, Mario, Reggie, and others rode the Silver Star train to the City of Orlando to participate in the Golden Gloves state qualification tournament.

Orlando is located in central Florida, just over two hundred and thirty miles from Miami. It's a beautifully scenic city known for tourism, with famous attractions including Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, and Adventure Island Park.

It's also one of the filming locations for "Harry Potter." Inside Adventure Island, there's the Wizarding World of Harry Potter complete with Hogwarts Castle, Hogsmeade Village, and the Hogwarts Express, making it a suitable destination for a family outing.

Orlando's most famous attraction is the NBA's Orlando Magic basketball team.

This year the Magic's performance was mediocre. Despite having 'Superman' Dwight Howard, Turkish power forward Hidayet Turkoglu, and one half of the 'dynamic duo' Rashard Lewis, they lost early in the divisional matches to the Detroit Pistons and headed home, leaving their arena available for the boxers.

The Florida qualification for the Golden Gloves tournament took place at the Amway Center, the home arena of the Orlando Magic.

The arena can host 17,000 spectators, and the match was open to the public. Visitors from out of town could purchase tickets for fifteen U.S. dollars each, a very reasonable price.

"Hey, did you know, I was a member of the school basketball team in middle school, and I was pretty good at basketball," Mario said, looking at the Magic's emblem on the wall of the Amway Center's lounge.

"Why didn't you continue playing basketball? Your height could've allowed you to play as a guard."

"Do you think I didn't want to? I stopped growing after I reached 6 feet 1.5 inches at eighteen, and my body got heavier and heavier. Later, when I met West, he said I was suited for boxing, so I came to practice boxing," Mario explained, patting the flesh on his belly.

Link looked at him with some surprise; this guy still didn't lose weight despite daily training. From 208 pounds to 210 pounds, the flesh on his body wasn't pure fat but a mix of fat and muscle, much tougher than James's, very resilient.

"I used to want to play baseball," Reggie scratched his blond head and said, "but then I saw Tyson's matches and thought boxing was cooler, so I started training in boxing."

"What about you, Link?" asked Mario.

Link thought for a moment; he used to be a miner, and becoming a boxer had been the lesser of two hard choices.

Though being a boxer was tough and tiring—punching sandbags or getting hit as a sparring partner—it was still more promising than working in the dark pits of a mine.

Working in the mine shafts every day, descending into the well, burrowing hundreds of meters deep into the pit, looking above at the mine's ceiling, one couldn't help but worry about being crushed to death by a suddenly falling rock, or being buried deep in a mining disaster with no body to recover, leaving their family without compensation.

Those days truly were pitch-dark.

To him, boxing was like a beam of light shooting into his dark life, a life-saving straw, which is why he never gave up on it until his death.

"Link?"

"I'm a diver, I have a diving license,"

Link said with a smile.

"Cool! After the match, I'm going to ask you to take me diving."

As the group entered the main arena of Amway Center, the state championship had already been ongoing for half a day, with the venue split into two competition points, the left ring hosting matches for above 70 kilograms, and the right for below 70 kilograms.

Over two thousand spectators had arrived, creating a fairly lively atmosphere.

Currently, on the left ring, the heavyweight (over 91 kilograms) boxing matches were taking place, with two stocky athletes wearing gloves and trading blows on the platform, both adorned with protective gear, which gave a subpar visual effect and induced a tepid reaction from the audience.

Mario was also a boxer in this rank, and originally, West had wanted him to cut weight and fight in the cruiserweight category, where there weren't many formidable opponents, but as he couldn't manage to lose the weight, he had to compete in the heavyweight division.

After the match on the platform concluded, Mario passed the inspection, donned his gloves, and climbed onto the ring. His opponent was a Latin man from the northwestern city of Panama City, standing at 196 centimeters tall, solidly muscled, with relatively longer arms.

Once the match started, after a few probing exchanges, Mario's opponent took the initiative to attack, using his reach advantage to land punches on Mario's face, chest, and abdomen.

In the first round, Mario was at a disadvantage, but his defense was solid, preventing his opponent from disrupting his rhythm.

In the second round, Mario launched a counterattack, landing a punch on his opponent's chin, cornering him.

"Mario, you're striking too early,"

At the end of the second round, West, in the rest area, said to Mario, "Your advantage is defense. You should focus on that first, try dragging the match into the third round or later, wear down your opponent's strength, then go on the offensive."

"I understand, I know how to fight, West, don't worry, I'll definitely win this one,"

Mario said excitedly.

Bang!

In the third round, Mario continued his offensive, a Right Swing Punch landing on his opponent's face, knocking him down, which caused quite a stir among the audience.

With the day's matches being of average excitement, any knockouts on the platform always elicited applause from the crowd.

In the fourth round, Mario once again knocked down his opponent, who struggled to his feet, enduring for a round before being knocked down once more in the sixth round, leading the referee to declare Mario the winner.

"Roar!"

After the victory by KO, Mario stood on the corner post, excitedly raising his fist and yelling towards the spectators, who responded with enthusiastic applause.

Link also clapped his hands.

"West, look, I won,"

Mario shouted excitedly after stepping down.

"You initiated the attack too early. If you had delayed it, you could have won more smoothly and conserved energy for subsequent matches,"

West critiqued.

Mario laughed heartily, patting his belly, "West, I get your point, but there was no need for that. My opponent looked strong, with long arms, too. I thought he would be tough. But after he hit me a few times, I realized how light his punches were, like he was tickling me. I figured, with him being so weak, there was no need to drag it out. I went on the offensive, knocked him down with a single punch, and it felt absolutely amazing."

Mario swung his fist, excitedly wiggling his butt, resembling the teddy bear sitting next to him.

"Mario, it's because you've been sparring with Link lately that your ability to take a punch has skyrocketed, making you feel the opponent's punches aren't heavy," Reggie said with a laugh.

Mario chuckled, "That's right, compared to sparring with Link, that guy's punches are nothing special. But Link, don't expect me to be grateful for you hitting me every day."

"No need, but you should be careful. There are many strong fighters in the heavyweight division,"

"No worries, there aren't many strong opponents in the Florida region. I'm confident I'll get the spot to advance,"

Mario stated with overflowing confidence.

West shook his head and continued discussing tactics with Mario, insisting that he follow the strategy in the next match and not fight haphazardly. Mario nodded continuously, but his eyes had already drifted to a female volunteer's buttocks.

——