Chapter 06 : Come on, boxing needs you

Leaving the boxing bar, James laughed on the street. He just bet two dollars on Link and made twenty dollars.

In the second round, Link's odds dropped to 1:2. He continued to bet on Link, and his twenty turned into forty, earning forty dollars for free. The same went for Daniel.

However, the one who earned the most was Link. The basic prize for tonight's competition was 1,000 US dollars. Eight people took the stage to compete, and the prize pool reached 1,800 US dollars.

It took him less than half an hour to earn $1,800. Although it is not as good as Tyson who earned $20 million in 90 seconds or Mayweather who earned $250 million in 36 minutes, it is a good start.

"Hey, Mr. Link Baker, wait a minute!"

Hearing someone shouting, Link stopped the car and looked back to see a thin old man wearing a baseball jersey getting out of the car.

The old man was a Latino black man, not tall, with thin cheeks, a few age spots on his cheekbones, and a kind face.

Although the old man is old, he is in good spirits and speaks in a loud voice.

Following behind him was a fat man with a face full of flesh. It was Mario who had just been knocked down by Link in the boxing ring. When he saw Link, Mario snorted heavily and turned his face away.

"Mr. Baker, can we chat? My name is West Corian, and I'm the coach of the West Boxing Club."

West Corian handed over a business card.

Link took the business card, looked at it, and said hello.

"Link, which club do you train in? Who's your coach? Maybe I know your coach."

West asked.

"I don't have a coach at the moment, so I practice at home by myself."

"Haha, that's nonsense. If you practice by yourself, you can become like that. What you mean is that those of us who come out of the boxing gym are all useless?"

Mario said, rolling his eyes.

James chuckled, "I can testify that Link was just practicing casually, skipping rope and doing sit-ups. He has never been to a boxing gym, nor has he ever been in a boxing ring. Today is his first time. Link was able to beat you on his first try, you are indeed a bit of a hehe."

Mario's face fell and he closed his mouth and stopped talking.

West Corian's expression became even more enthusiastic after hearing this. "Link, you have such a great talent. It would be a pity if you didn't try boxing. I would like to invite you to come to my boxing gym to practice boxing. What do you think?"

Link saw on the business card that West Boxing Gym was also in the Palm Beach area, not far from the Outer Beach, so it would be a good idea to train there.

"Coach West, how much does your boxing gym charge?"

"Two thousand dollars a month, equipment and food expenses are calculated separately, payable on time at the beginning of each month, no default."

Mario snorted.

"No No, no money, not a cent."

Coach West pushed Mario aside and said, "As long as you come, everything is free."

"What are you talking about?!" Mario said with wide eyes, dissatisfied, "You said I have good qualifications and I have to pay a thousand dollars every month, why doesn't he have to pay a cent?"

"Shut up!"

Coach West glared at him, then smiled and asked Link, "What do you think?"

"That sounds good. I'll go to your gym tomorrow to check it out."

"Okay, I'll be at the gym tomorrow, come over anytime, I'll wait for you."

Coach West grabbed Link's hand and shook it vigorously with a very enthusiastic attitude.

Link and the other two were rushing to attend a party, so they said hello and rode away on their bikes.

Mario's dissatisfied voice shouted again.

"Why? Why can he get it for free and I can't, West, it's not fair."

"Don't complain. He is a genius. He can beat you, who has been practicing for three years, by practicing alone. He is entitled to special treatment."

"Genius? Humph, when he goes to the boxing gym tomorrow, I will beat him to a pulp and let you know who the genius is."

Mario said, clenching his fists.

West shook his head, opened the car door and said, "If Link is willing to join the boxing gym, you can be his sparring partner in the future."

"What?!"

Mario stared at West with eyes wide open in disbelief. When he entered the gym, he became the mainstay of the gym. He was West's biological son, and other boxers were his sparring partners. Now that Link was here, he became a sparring partner?

Is this life? Is it so cruel?

"Yes, Link is very good. His speed and strength are at the level of a professional boxer. You will improve faster if you serve as his sparring partner. Don't forget that boxing champion John Ruiz served as a sparring partner for Lewis, boxing champion McCall served as a sparring partner for Tyson, and boxing champion Larry Holmes served as a sparring partner for Ali. Being his sparring partner does not mean belittling you, but rather it means valuing you and training you."

"Humph, why don't you let him be my sparring partner?"

Mario complained.

West glanced at him and said darkly,

"Link's punches are quite powerful. You probably can't handle it. Maybe I should consider finding him a stronger sparring partner."

Mario opened his mouth and said, "Well, I'm not even qualified to be his sparring partner."

——

Link, James and Daniel went to the Pink Lover Bar to attend the two-year anniversary celebration of the surfboard shop. The group drank, picked up girls and drew lots of lottery tickets, and had a great time.

Link didn't want to harm his body, so he refused pornography, gambling, drugs, cigarettes, alcohol and junk food. He was a little out of place at the party and went home to sleep before nine o'clock in the evening.

Ding Dong! I just laid down on the bed and received an MSN message from a new friend named Taylor Swift.

"Have you slept yet?"

"No, just came back from the bar."

Link talked about the anniversary of the surfboard shop next door, and Taylor also talked about some rehearsals at the Hard Rock Stadium. He said that rehearsals were very tiring and more tedious than live performances, but he felt very happy when he thought about being able to stand on the stage and sing.

Link smiled, feeling the same way himself in the ring.

The next day, he got up early and continued running on the seaside boulevard. At around nine o'clock, Taylor waved to a middle-aged woman on the seaside boulevard and walked over from the sandbar carrying a log-colored guitar on her back.

Today she changed into a white halter dress with a light blue belt. Her tall and slender figure was in the budding stage. Her hair was tied into a fluffy ponytail. She walked swayingly, and when she saw him at the door, she smiled and waved.

"Link, are you waiting for me here?"

"Yes, I guess you'll come by this time."

Link laughed.

Taylor smiled and began to teach him how to play the guitar.

The two men sat on a blanket, facing the sea, one teaching patiently, the other gritting his teeth to learn, both were very serious, but the progress was slow. Taylor could still hold back his temper at first, but later he didn't want to hold it back anymore and hit his shoulder muscles with his fist.

"Wow, so sweet, are they in a relationship?"

Daniel from the hot dog stand asked as he came over licking his ice cream.

James looked up from Playboy magazine, glanced at the men and women on the beach, curled his lips and said, "No, they are just taking guitar lessons."

"Not really. Taylor is almost leaning into Link's arms. Is this a teacher-student relationship?"

The two looked at each other and burst into laughter.

Link had no time to pay attention to the teasing of the two people behind him. His attention was all on the six strings of the guitar, and he also had to deal with Taylor and avoid being criticized by her.

After practicing for two or three hours, he roughly understood the differences between the six strings and the positions of the notes CD, E, F, G, B, but he was still a long way from being able to play a complete piece of music.

During practice, he discovered something strange. Taylor seemed to be approaching him intentionally or unintentionally and having some intimate contact with him. This made him a little embarrassed and he didn't know whether he should accept Taylor.

Taylor is very beautiful and a big star, it would be nice to have her as a girlfriend.

But Taylor has had a rich emotional experience after becoming famous, and her ex-boyfriends can form a football team. It is not bad to say that she is the queen of the sea.

Link didn't think he was her match in that regard, so he tried to be careful when they were together.

In the afternoon, Taylor's mother, Mrs. Andrea, came to pick her up for rehearsal. When she saw Link, she looked at him deeply, which made Link's scalp tingle. He felt that dealing with these women was more difficult than winning the iron cage championship.

After seeing Taylor off, Link rode his scooter to check out West's Boxing Gym.

(End of this chapter)