Chapter 2: Fight

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

"Fight!" The announcer shouted, followed by the deafening cheers of the crowd.

The audience watched the ring with rapt attention, their hands clutching their beer bottles and their mouths either yelling out cheers or smoking on cigarettes.

"Kick his ass King!"

"Get him, King!"

"Beat his face in so I can get my money!"

"Give up kid!"

"You ain't ever gonna win against The King, just kneel down and let us get our money!"

Both fighters got into their boxing stances as they prepared to fight each other. Most boxers used the basic boxing stance, also known as the orthodox stance, where you put your feet shoulder-width apart and slightly bent your knees, while your left fist rested at eye level and your right fist was tucked under your chin.

Ender's personal stance had his front foot forty degrees northwest of his body while facing outward, while his backfoot was two-hundred degrees southeast and facing forward. This stance gave him an advantage in shuffling horizontally, but sacrificed power and shuffling vertically.

His left hand was away from his body and pointed to his opponent in a relaxed fist that swirled around, while his right hand was up to his ear-level. The benefits of this guard were that his left hand could calculate range, distract the opponent because of its constant movement, and his surprising explosive speed could give a disorientating jab that would lead to a knockout. His right hand was farther back which meant more power, and he had full vision of his enemy.

The cons were that he left his entire body open, so if he was caught off guard his opponent could easily land a body shot on him. His left hand would also eventually get tired if he kept it hovering and moving in a circular motion, which was one of the reasons why it wasn't fully extended.

Both of the fighters traveled to the middle of the ring, but Ender's opponent reached the middle first and therefore gained control of the ring.

His opponent had a large grin on his face and mockingly made a "come here" motion with his fingers, and said; "I'll make sure to give you a proper beating before you get on your knees and accept your loss like the good little dog you are."

Ender was known for his ability to stay calm in any situation, but this kid was getting on his nerves. If it was a fair fight he would knock the kid's jaw out of place to calm his nerves down, but what made it worse was that he had to purposefully lose to him!

Once Ender entered the kid's range, the kid immediately threw a straight to Ender's body using his entire body weight.

If Ender wanted to, he could have knocked the kid out right then and there. What idiot taught him to lean his entire body forward when throwing a punch? It left him wide open and off-balance, not to mention how Ender's longer reach would inevitably allow him to hit first.

Remembering that his coach told him to make it look like he was actually trying, Ender didn't knock the kid out but blocked the blow with his arm and jabbed towards the kid's head, but a magical phenomenon occurred and his jab missed!

The kid immediately made use of the opening provided by his stretched-out fist and threw a hook to Ender's gut, and for some odd and unexplainable reason, Ender's fist didn't retract back in time to block the hook.

The hook connected with Ender's lung, the punch containing so much power that a shockwave emitted out!

Dust flew away from the ring, and the entire audience could feel a gust of air hit across their faces!

Such power, such technique, this kid was born to be a champion!

Those were the thoughts of the kid as he thought about how cool he looked right now. What would his girlfriend in the audience think?

'Hehe, I bet I'm getting some special services from her tonight!' The kid thought to himself, his mind stuck in his own fantasies.

Meanwhile, Ender was shocked by the pure weakness of the kid's punch. How could a punch be so weak? It had been spot on with his lung, but it wasn't even strong enough to knock his breath out!

Ender knew that he had to act as if it hurt, so he changed his expression to one of pain and clutched his side. He fell to his knees and breathed roughly, while the kid had an arrogant expression on his face.

"Ha, you dirty commoner, just pick up my money like the dog you are and lose this fight," The kid said pompously to Ender, causing a vein to bulge on his forehead.

'Who did this kid think he was? Was he really proud of winning a rigged match?' Ender thought to himself, as he slowly got up. He knew that nobody would believe that the match was a clean one if he lost in the first round, so he decided to lose in the second round, probably somewhere around halfway through it.

"Ohh, the dog really chose to get up! Bark for me commoner!" The kid said again, but this time

quieter as the referee walked over to check on Ender.

This was an underground fighting ring, a place where nobody with a weak stomach would go. Only those with sick minds who made up the scum of society would attend such a place because of the often bloody and gruesome fights. It wasn't uncommon for fighters to get permanently injured in underground fighting matches, and even death wasn't that rare!

And because of this large gathering of the Earth's scummiest people, it became a hotspot for all kinds of illegal business deals like drugs, and it was common for these areas to be used as meetups between buyers and sellers of illegal trade. This made underground boxing rings become so popular that some of the most dangerous people in the criminal world would attend them to do business, and that put pressure on the owners of the illegal boxing rings to increase the amount of entertainment their boxing rings provided.

What better way to do that than to make more violence?

Thus, referees stood outside of the ring instead of inside so that they couldn't break up the fights. This action lets the audience focus on the two fighters more and lets the fighters be a bit more aggressive. This trend of making referees less involved in fights became widespread, and in some illegal boxing rings, there was no referee!

But in this establishment, there was a referee. He would sit on the outside of the ring and watch the match, and the only times he came in was when one side was injured or if the winner had to be exclaimed to the crowd.

With Ender now injured, the referee had to come and check upon him. He walked into the ring and over to Ender, and asked him some questions.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes.

"Do you want to give up?"

"Not yet."

"Can you breathe?"

"Yes."

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

"That question doesn't even relate to my injury."

"Just answer the question!"

"Three"

"Two, one, fight!" The referee said, before running back out of the ring.

Being the aggressive and arrogant person he was, the kid immediately ran towards Ender and threw a straight to his face. The punch was horrible and the kid's lack of footwork made his punch extremely predictable. Ender could easily dodge the punch, which would result in the kid falling to the ground because of his horrible footwork, but he knew that he couldn't do that.

So instead, Ender put up a blocking guard which absorbed the kids straight.

But the kid wasn't discouraged at all. With Ender taking up a blocking guard, wasn't he just the kid's personal punching bag now?

The kid rained down punches onto Ender's body with no care about his utter lack of a guard. He threw out consecutive haymakers, straights, and hooks in an attempt to break through Ender's guard, which inevitably left him wide open for a counter-attack.

Right after the kid's haymaker collided with Ender's glove, Ender threw out a jab, but somehow it went past the kid's head and grazed his ear. Now Ender's body was open, and the kid had a large smirk on his face.

Ender made it look like he was panicking and trying to quickly bring back his fist to put his guard back up, but the kid threw a hook at him which collided with Ender's face.

The punch was hard but not enough to knock Ender down, but Ender acted like it did anyway and fell to his knees again.

Right after that punch the buzzer that signaled that the round was over emanated in the room, and Ender got up from the ground to walk to his corner.

"Haha, you fucking dog!" The kid jeered once again before he walked to his own corner.

Ender felt an anger he had never felt before appear in his head, but he closed his eyes to calm himself down. In the past, he would have never taken these insults so lightly. He was a man who expected respect and got it wherever he went. He wasn't a little kid, he wasn't a dense idiot, and he wasn't a beta bitch. He was an alpha, a damn alpha! How could that little fucking kid disrespect him like this!

Taking deep breaths to calm himself down, he reminded himself that he needed the money and walked to his corner where his coach was waiting for him.

"Good job boy, after this match we'll get a huge paycheck!" Ender's coach said with a huge grin on his face.

Ender sighed and said; "That kid is pissing me off. I've had so many chances to knock him out, and if he keeps talking I just might."

Hearing that, the coach's goofy grin completely disappeared as if it was never there.

"You will lose this match, you understand me? This is going to be the biggest paycheck of our lives, even when we split it! Don't mess this up because of your emotions!" His coach yelled.

Ender nodded, and for the rest of the break, they talked about what they would use the money for. It seemed like his coach was thinking of leaving the underworld and becoming a businessman, and Ender was surprised when the coach revealed to him that his wife was pregnant.

They had known each other for years, and Ender saw his coach as a father figure that replaced his dead parents. When they had met, Ender was in a street fight with a bunch of kids in the neighborhood. His coach decided to watch the fight as a way to pass the time but was shocked when he saw Ender's extreme talent.

The coach walked over and offered to provide Ender a home and boxing training, which Ender obviously agreed to. From there they bonded like a family, and when Ender found out that his coach was losing money trying to support him and that he was becoming a burden, he joined an underground boxing ring.

At first, his coach was a bit hesitant, but eventually, he relented and they took the underworld by storm with Ender's amazing fighting talent. They had forged an unbreakable bond through war, and they were closer than two magnets.

"Fighters, get ready for round two!" The referee announced to them.

"Wish me luck," Ender said as he walked away from his corner.

"I wish you luck in your loss," His coach replied, his tone joking yet still serious.

Waiting for Ender was his opponent, the kid, standing in the middle of the ring with an arrogant expression.

"You ready to die commoner?"