Chapter 15: The State Championship Part Three

"What are you doing today? Did you practice guitar?"

At night, in the Aloft hotel in downtown Orlando, Link came out of the bathroom after showering and saw two messages from Taylor on his phone. She asked him what he did today, told him she was recording music at a studio in Manhattan's East Village, and said she wrote a song for him.

Seeing Taylor's message, Link didn't feel like replying. After the music festival ended last time, Taylor only met him briefly, left him a guitar, asked him to continue practicing, and then flew away.

The last time they held hands and walked around the streets, Link thought they were in a relationship and felt a little excited. After all, she was Taylor Swift, and a little miner being able to date a big star was definitely a dream come true.

But then the music festival came, and they saw each other less often, and their relationship became more platonic. After Taylor left Miami, although they occasionally chatted, it wasn't as casual as before.

This hot-and-cold relationship made Link feel awkward. He was a boxer and liked to be direct with women, getting straight to the point.

Flirting and falling in love were too advanced for him. He couldn't handle it and didn't enjoy the passion that came with such a relationship. It would also interfere with his training and competitions.

Love was also one of the taboos for boxers.

This was one of the things Old Liu, his coach, had told him.

Old Liu said that when a boxer starts dating or gets married, their time and attention will be divided, and their strength will inevitably decline.

Link kept this in mind.

Seeing Taylor's message, Link thought for a moment and decided to briefly tell her about his day, which was mainly about the competition.

Today, he had three matches at the Amway Center. In the first match, he won by KO in the third round.

The second match was even smoother than the first. His opponent was a burly white boxer, a power puncher, who started exchanging heavy punches with Link right from the beginning, which was exactly what Link wanted.

In the first round, Link threw 15 punches, landing 4 on his opponent and knocking him down twice. The opponent threw over 40 punches, hitting Link's effective areas 7 times, with one punch landing on his face, almost knocking him down.

In the second round, Link threw 10 punches, knocking down his opponent twice. The opponent threw 8 punches, landing 3 on Link's effective areas.

In the third round, the opponent adopted a defensive stance, trying to use delaying tactics to slow down the pace of the match.

But Link didn't want to give him time to rest. 20 seconds into the round, he used a combination of punches to break through the opponent's defense, then an uppercut to knock him down.

The opponent couldn't get up within ten seconds, and the referee declared Link the winner.

The third match was a bit more complicated. The opponent was a Mexican, very strong and resistant to punches. Link used five rounds, knocking down the opponent six times, and even causing a nosebleed, before winning the match.

After three matches, he successfully entered the state championship finals.

"Can you make it to the championship finals?" Taylor texted back.

"Of course! 100% sure."

"Great, I'll go to the scene to cheer for you when you're in the finals."

"It's a deal."

Link smiled, deciding not to let Taylor leave once she arrived.

"Link, are you going shopping?"

Mario and Reggie barged into the room and asked.

"No!"

"Then why are you changing clothes and shoes?"

"Running! I didn't have time to run in the morning because of the car ride, so I'm making up for it now."

After saying that, Link put on his running shoes and a hooded sweatshirt, plugged in his earphones, and ran out of the room.

Mario and Reggie stared blankly at his running figure.

"Running at night after a day of fighting?"

"Is he human? He's definitely not human!"

"I'm so envious, Link has such good stamina."

"Reggie, forget about him. Let's go shopping. I heard there are a lot of hot girls at Universal Studios Orlando. Hehe, I must pick one up tonight."

"Mario, I've thought about it, I'm not going. I'm going for a run too. You go by yourself."

Reggie scratched his blond hair, went back to his room to change into sportswear and running shoes, and also went downstairs for a run.

Mario stood blankly at the door, looking at the empty hallway, suddenly feeling a chill in the air.

--

Orlando is located in central Florida, over fifty miles from the Atlantic Ocean. The variety and density of trees here are greater than in Miami Beach, and the morning air is fresher and cooler than in Miami, without the fishy smell of the sea breeze. It's a great feeling to jog here.

There was a match in the morning, so Link only ran five kilometers before returning to the hotel for breakfast. Seeing him come back from his run, Mario's face was dark and gloomy, as if he had eaten a breadworm in his bread. Link didn't bother with him and quickly finished his breakfast, rushing to the Amway Center for the competition.

After two rounds of elimination matches, only the final four boxers remained in each weight class. The next two rounds would eliminate one person, leaving three to compete for the gold, silver, and bronze medals, and to qualify for the Southeast regional competition.

The number of spectators today was also higher than yesterday, basically staying above 4,000, with the front rows almost full.

"Hey, look over there, why is there a poster of Link?"

Mario pointed to the front row of the audience, where a few young girls were holding a poster of Link.

On the poster, Link was wearing red boxing gloves, showing off his strong physique and iron-cast muscles. Coupled with his handsome face and blue eyes, he looked even cooler than Tom Cruise in "Mission: Impossible 3."

"So cool, Link should go to Hollywood."

"They're Link's fans, Link has fans." Reggie said enviously.

"Impossible, it's only the second day, how could there be fans coming to the scene to support him?" Mario turned to Link, "Did you pay them to come? Otherwise, how could they have your photo to make a poster?"

"I'm not that bored." Link laughed.

West shook his head, "Yesterday's matches were reported on Orlando local TV and Fox News. There are also news and pictures of the matches on Orlando's official news website, including Link's photo."

Mario searched on his phone and found it was true.

"Hey, Link, you're famous. How does it feel?" Mario asked with envy and jealousy.

"It feels great to be liked."

Link smiled and put on his headphones to listen to music.

Around 9 AM, the third round officially began. The first match on court A was the heavyweight match. The white boxer who defeated Mario yesterday also entered the third round and defeated his opponent, successfully making it to the top three. This result made Mario feel a little better.

Link's match was around 11 AM. When he entered the ring, several fans raised posters and shouted "Link will win," attracting the attention of many spectators.

Link laughed and waved his fists at his few fans, and their cheers became even louder.

The cameras on site also captured him and his fans in time. Link believed that as long as he continued to win, he would get more media attention and support from more fans.

His opponent in the semifinals was an Irishman with a thick chest hair, a technical boxer who excelled at defense.

To quickly win against a technical boxer, one either needs to have superior skills or greater strength and speed. If lacking all three, the fight would be difficult.

Link had enough strength and speed, and his technique was also excellent. Dealing with this type of boxer was relatively simple: just use heavy punches to break through the opponent's defense.

In this round, it only took him 1 minute and 48 seconds to knock out his opponent three times and smoothly advance to the finals.

His opponent in the finals was a black boxer named John Stevens.

John Stevens was 20 years old and the Florida state champion in the super middleweight category of last year's U-19 National Championship. He was ranked 18th among amateur super middleweight boxers in the country, with an amateur record of 20 wins, 2 losses, and 1 draw in 23 fights. He was also one of the favorites to win the Florida Golden Gloves championship this year.

Based on the data, he was a tough opponent, and it would be difficult to get a KO against him.

"Link, John Stevens is strong, has heavy punches, and is very experienced. His overall strength is not inferior to yours. When you fight him, don't focus on getting a KO. Get enough points first, winning the match is the most important thing."

Coach West put down his notebook and said.

"I understand! I'll be careful."

Link tapped his headgear with his gloves and quickly stepped onto the boxing ring.

(End