Chapter 32: KO Him in Five Rounds

"Hey, dear viewers, good afternoon, I'm your old friend Steve Mandanda, and I'm currently at..."

"Link! Champion!"

"Link! Champion!"

"Sorry, wait a moment, it's too noisy here, I might need to change positions."

At the competition venue, Steve Mandanda, the host of HBO's sports channel, waved to the cameraman Sean, covered his earpiece, and came to the corner on the left side of the ring.

After Link stepped onto the ring, the audience shouted his name loudly, and the huge waves of sound were deafening, easily drowning out his words.

When he reached the corner, there were billboards blocking the sound, and the shouting was a little quieter.

Host Steve Mandanda exhaled, gave the cameraman a thumbs up, and the cameraman started filming again.

Steve, wearing a suit and holding a microphone with the HBO logo, smiled at the camera and said, "Hey, dear viewers, good afternoon, I'm your old friend Steve Mandanda, and I'm currently at the Miami American Airlines Center Arena.

That's right, it's the home arena of the NBA Heat.

But I'm not here today to interview Wade or any other players. I heard they're on vacation in Phuket, which is really enviable.

There's another match at the American Airlines Arena today. Viewers who are familiar with boxing should know that every May and June, the Amateur Boxing Association organizes an amateur boxing match across the country, which is the Golden Gloves Championship.

If you count from the one sponsored by the Chicago Tribune in 1926, it has been held 53 times across the country or in various cities.

Every year, the Golden Gloves Championship attracts thousands of amateur boxers to sign up, and this year is no exception.

According to the statistics of the Amateur Boxing Association, a total of 1,403 boxers from all over the country signed up for various levels of boxing competitions this year, the highest number of participants in the past ten years."

"Link! Champion!!"

The shouts from the audience suddenly came, interrupting Steve Mandanda's broadcast again.

He smiled at the camera, waved his fist, and said, "That's right, Link, champion! Many outstanding new boxers have emerged in this year's Golden Gloves Championship, such as Iron Man Morales, Jones Falls, who upset the Northern Division champion, and Andre Berto, the amateur boxing champion who many people know, and Andrzej Fonfara, the Eastern European boy known for his exquisite boxing skills. However, the most famous one is..."

Steve covered his ears with his hands and raised the microphone.

"Link! Champion!"

The audience shouted.

"That's right, it's Link, Link Baker, a young man born in Miami Beach, 20 years old this year, a super middleweight boxer.

According to his coach, he has been learning boxing for less than three years, and this Golden Gloves Championship is the first amateur boxing event he has participated in, but he has achieved amazing results in this championship.

From the Miami regional competition to the championship finals, he has played 16 matches, 16 wins and 16 KOs, defeating many famous boxers including Mario Morales, Jones Falls, and Andrzej Fonfara.

The Ring Magazine said that this is a record-breaking achievement, Ali didn't have it, Tyson didn't have it, and Floyd Mayweather didn't have it. The Ring Magazine called him one of the most anticipated rookies in the boxing world this year.

After four rounds of competition, today at the Miami American Airlines Arena, the Golden Gloves Championship will also usher in the final finals. In the past, the biggest highlight of the championship was the heavyweight competition.

But this year is different. After the vote of 10,000 spectators on the scene, 86.2% of the spectators hope to watch the super middleweight competition in the main venue, and the organizer finally decided to hold the super middleweight competition in the main venue.

The two boxers in today's super middleweight competition are... Link Baker, and his opponent Andre Berto!"

Cameraman Sean pointed the camera at the two boxers on the ring.

On the brightly lit boxing ring, there were two strong young men standing face to face, one black and one white, with a referee in a black shirt and white gloves standing in the middle.

Steve continued his live report, "The man in white shorts and white gloves with a strong build is boxer Andre Berto, 181 cm tall, 188 cm arm span, weighing 76.8 kg, 20 years old this year, with an amateur record of 38 wins, 37 wins and 1 draw. He has won the U19 National Championship and the National Amateur Championship.

It is said that several boxing promotion companies have already offered him an olive branch, and Andre Berto also plans to turn professional after winning the Golden Gloves Championship.

Opposite him, the strong boxer wearing red gloves is the protagonist of tonight, Link Baker, whose amateur record is 16 wins and 16 KOs.

Before the finals, he publicly declared that he would enter the finals and win the championship by KOing all his opponents.

Just yesterday, on this very ring, he successively sent away two outstanding boxers, Morales and Fonfara, by KO, and successfully advanced to the finals.

Today, here, he will continue his KO legend, win the championship, or be defeated by his opponent and miss the Golden Gloves regretfully. Let's wait and see."

After finishing the report in one breath, Steve exhaled deeply, took a bottle of water from his assistant, took a sip, gurgled it in his throat, and spat it on the ground.

"Mr. Mandanda, the organizer asked if you want to interview the two boxers, otherwise the match will start."

A field assistant came running over and said.

Steve looked at the ring and nodded, "Link is a troublemaker, it would be good to interview him."

The assistant nodded and ran over to inform them.

Steve walked towards the ring with the camera.

HBO was a cable TV broadcasting giant, and boxing matches were a key program of HBO.

Usually, they would broadcast professional boxing matches and make money through PPV pay-per-view, and occasionally they would broadcast some amateur events that were of more interest.

According to past practice, HBO only broadcast the heavyweight finals of the championship every year, but this year a dazzling newcomer appeared in the super middleweight, Link Baker, who attracted a lot of attention, so HBO also changed the broadcast object to the super middleweight.

Steve trotted onto the ring, first greeted the audience, then walked to Andre Berto, handed him the microphone and asked, "Good afternoon, Andre, standing in front of you is Link Baker, the ring anesthetist who has KOed his opponents 16 times. Are you nervous about competing with him?"

Andre Berto bulged his thick arms, bared his white teeth, and smiled, "Of course not, he should be the one who's nervous. I won't be like other boxers and play fake matches with him. I will defeat him with my iron fist and tell everyone that boxers are made by fists, not by faking."

"Wow!"

There was a gasp from the scene.

Link narrowed his eyes and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. He had been polite and friendly when communicating with Andre Berto, but when facing the camera, he threw dirty water on him. Interesting!

"Wow!"

Host Steve also exclaimed exaggeratedly and handed the microphone to Link, "Link, Andre said you're fighting fake matches, what do you want to say?"

Link shrugged and smiled, "There's nothing to say. For respectable opponents, like Andrzej Fonfara, I'm willing to spar with him for a few more rounds and learn from each other. For opponents who are not worthy of respect, I don't mind ending the match early. Andre Berto, you said I'm fighting fake matches? Very well, to prove you wrong, I will KO you in five rounds. Please be prepared to lose."

"Wow! Wow, what did I hear?"

Steve exclaimed again, holding the microphone and shouting to the audience, "Link said he will KO Andre Berto in five rounds. Wow, this is an amateur match, and Andre Berto is the number one ranked amateur boxer in the super middleweight. Oh my god, I didn't hear it wrong, right? Link, are you sure you want to KO Andre Berto in five rounds?"

"That's right, I only need five rounds."

Link clenched his fist and said into the microphone.

"Wow!"

"Link! Champion!"

"Link! Go!"

The audience heard Link's shout from the broadcast and shouted excitedly.

Andre Berto, on the other side, clenched his fists tightly, his white teeth clenched together, glaring angrily at Link.

Host Steve handed the microphone to Andre Berto again, "Andre, Link said he will KO you in five rounds, how do you respond to him?"

Andre Berto glared at Link and shouted, "He's dreaming, I'm going to teach him a lesson with my iron fist, KO him, and make him beg for mercy like a coward."

"Link..."

Steve held the microphone and wanted to ask Link what he thought, but the referee came over to remind him that it was time for the match. Steve reluctantly put away the microphone and left with the cameraman.

(End of chapter)