Chapter 08 : Career Planning

"Link, you're only twenty years old? That's surprising."

In the office, Coach West Corian looked through the data card he had just filled out, and seeing that he was born in February 1989, he looked at him with some surprise.

"Don't you think so?"

Link smiled while holding a citrus-flavored lollipop in his mouth and raised his handsome eyebrows.

"Haha, our personalities are different. Young boxers are more flamboyant and express their emotions on stage, but you were very quiet and calm from beginning to end. I thought you were older."

Coach West exclaimed.

Link smiled lightly. He was not being calm. He just felt that defeating a few ordinary people was not something to boast about. There was no need to get too excited.

If he defeated the active WBA-WBC-IBF-WBO champion and realized his dream in his previous life, he would also roar with excitement.

"West, I have two prison records. Will it affect my amateur competition?"

Link pointed to the criminal record on the data sheet. There were two items on it. His previous sentence was three months in prison and 200 hours of community service for theft and assault.

This was a crime committed by his predecessor, and now he needs to take the blame.

West took a look and was a little surprised. He thought he was a good kid, but he didn't expect he had a criminal record. He could only sigh that one should not judge a person by his appearance alone.

"It won't affect amateur competitions, but if you achieve good results in boxing in the future, these records will be exposed by the media and add some negative information to your name."

"It doesn't matter if there's any negative information. Being black and red is also red."

Link didn't care about what would happen after he became famous. He continued, "West, I plan to fight in amateur competitions for half a year and enter the professional boxing world next year. What do you think?"

"Only played amateur matches for half a year?"

West was stunned for a moment, then said, "Link, aren't you being too hasty? Amateur competitions are not as difficult as professional boxing, but there are some powerful characters. Playing amateur competitions is also a form of training for you. Just like Holyfield, he played 160 amateur matches, and his skills were well honed. Only after playing professional competitions can he perform so well."

"West, I understand what you mean, but I am confident in my own abilities."

Seeing that West was still trying to persuade him, Link stretched out his hand, interrupted him, and said, "West, I have a suggestion. It will last for half a year. During this period, I will participate in as many amateur competitions as possible. If I lose, I will switch to the professional boxing world later. Otherwise, just listen to me and enter the professional boxing world in half a year."

West Corian thought about it and decided that this arrangement was acceptable.

If Link can win consecutively within half a year, it means that he is strong enough to handle professional competitions, and it would be a waste for him to stay in the amateur circle.

But he doesn't think Link can remain undefeated for half a year. Once Link enters the boxing world, he will know how many masters there are in the world.

"Okay, I will arrange for you to participate in an amateur competition as soon as possible. During this time, you should make good use of your time to train."

Link nodded his chin.

The sport of boxing is divided into amateur and professional competitions.

Amateur competitions include Olympic boxing matches, Continental Games boxing matches, World Championship boxing matches, Boxing Golden Gloves competitions, etc.

Professional competitions mainly refer to boxing competitions initiated by international professional boxing organizations and supervised and managed by professional boxing organizations.

Currently, the four most influential boxing organizations in the boxing world are the World Boxing Association (WBA), the World Boxing Council (WBC), the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and the World Boxing Organization (WBO).

There are also many small professional boxing organizations such as IBO, WBF, IBA, NBA, etc.

Each professional boxing organization has independent rules, regulations and competition formats.

Amateur competitions are supervised and managed by the organizers of the games, and professional games are supervised and managed by professional boxing organizations.

Another more obvious difference between the two is how closely they are related to business.

Amateur competitions are not highly commercialized, and boxers compete mainly for honors.

Professional boxing is highly commercialized, with pre-match promotion, ticket collection and PPV subscription fees during the match, and post-match publicity and hype. The entire process is inseparable from commercial operations.

Boxers compete mainly for prize money, and honor comes second, just like boxing champion Floyd Mayweather said to his old rival De La Hoya: "If you want to fight me, you can! But if you don't have $100 million, then please don't call me to harass me."

Boxing promotion companies are extremely greedy for money. If you don't have money, don't even think about competing with their boxers. This way of operating is one of the reasons why there has been a lack of successors in the American boxing world in recent years.

Link wants to switch to professional boxing as soon as possible and earn more US dollars before the North American boxing scene completely declines. With US dollars, it will be easier for him to challenge other boxing champions.

——

"Mario, are you okay?"

In the boxing ring, Link put on boxing gloves and practiced boxing. When he proposed to do confrontation training, Mario took the initiative to ask to be his sparring partner.

Link said that his punches were heavy, and asked him to wear a boxing mask to protect himself and avoid injury. Mario said that it was not necessary, he could handle it, and asked Link to attack with all his strength.

But he only lasted for a short while before Mario was knocked all over the place.

"I'm fine. I can do it."

Mario shook his head and struggled to get up from the ground, but his knees went weak and he almost fell down again.

"Mario, put on your protective gear. If you don't want to, let Reggie train with Link."

Coach West yelled.

Mario snorted coldly and reluctantly put on a highly elastic sponge headgear and sponge armor to protect his head and body. After Mario put on the protective gear, his originally fat body became even stronger.

"Haha, Link, come and hit me, now I can definitely catch your fist."

Mario knocked his fist against the headgear and laughed.

Link smiled softly, raised his fists, and continued to attack Mario.

With the protection of the sponge headgear, Mario's ability to withstand blows is greatly improved and he will no longer be easily knocked down.

Bang, bang, bang!

Link swung his fists wantonly, using the five basic punches, the straight punch, the hook, the jab, the swing, and the throw, as well as the combination of the five punches, one after another, hitting Mario, which was very exciting.

After practicing for more than an hour, Link's strong back was covered with sweat, and Mario was lying straight on the ground, gasping for breath.

"Link, are you a beast? Why are you so strong?"

Mario said weakly.

When he competed with Link before, he thought that Link's strength was just that great. After practicing with Link for more than an hour, he realized how terrifying Link was. His fists were like hammers, fast and fierce. Even with protective gear, he would be beaten back repeatedly.

This guy is a beast.

"I'm just naturally strong."

"You take a rest first. I'm going to practice with the rubber target."

Link handed Mario a bottle of water and walked down from the ring.

When the other boxers saw Mario being knocked down by Link even though he was wearing protective gear, they couldn't help but look at him with admiration.

Mario weighs 208 pounds and is a heavyweight boxer, while Link weighs 168 pounds and is a super middleweight and light heavyweight. He is able to defeat Mario across weight classes. His strength is too strong.

Coach West was so happy when he saw Link defeat Mario that he laughed.

The power that Link just displayed was greater than he had imagined, and his speed was also faster. The combination of punches he delivered was also very skillful, just like an old boxer who had practiced for many years. His mentality and boxing awareness were also extremely sophisticated.

West felt like he had struck gold, a gold mine with huge reserves.

"West, you've seen my playing style. Do you have any suggestions for improvement?"

Link wiped the sweat off his neck and pectoral muscles with a towel.

West groaned for a moment,

"Link, your combination punches are great, but there are a few small problems. I wonder if you noticed them."

"What's the problem, West? Just tell me."

"During the competition, you would perform small moves such as knee lifts, elbow swings, and foot taps. Have you ever practiced free fighting before?"

West asked.

Link nodded his chin.

This is not a habitual movement brought about by practicing free fighting, but a bad habit developed from fighting in underground boxing rings for too long.

The matches in underground boxing rings focus more on visual effects and are relatively relaxed in terms of supervision. As long as there are no major fouls, it is not considered a violation.

This kind of indulgence led to boxers making constant small moves and fighting in a very dirty style. Link fought in the underground boxing ring for nearly ten years and developed some bad habits.

But he was trying his best to restrain himself.

"West, I used to fight a lot on the streets and didn't pay much attention to the rules. I will pay attention to them in the future."

"Okay, keep practicing."

Link felt that he still had some strength left in him, so he continued to practice boxing on the human-shaped rubber target.

The human-shaped rubber target is harder than the human body, and it is very tiring to hit with only a bandage to protect the hands. However, the rubber target is relatively strong, so there is no need to worry about it being damaged, and it is very enjoyable to practice with.

When Link was practicing boxing, West and the boxing apprentice stood in the distance and watched him. They saw him punching the rubber target crazily, making a banging sound and causing the target to shake constantly. They couldn't help but marvel at him.

I heard that when Tyson was practicing boxing, he often knocked out his sparring partners and broke the boxing ring. Link was almost the same. Could Link be as good a boxer as Tyson?

Mario's eyes twitched when he saw it. It was too brutal. If Link had fought like this on the stage just now, he would have been knocked down long ago.

"Everyone, stop looking and go train."

West waved his hand and drove away several boxers and boxing apprentices.

"He's not very strong, how can he be so powerful?"

Mario said enviously.

"This is talent, you can't envy it."

West was also very envious. If he had had Link's talent back then, he would not have been boxing for ten years and not even won a gold belt.

"Mario, you have seen Link's strength. Whether in terms of strength or speed, he is one of the best in professional boxing. If you can train with him for three years, it won't be difficult for him to win the Intercontinental Boxing Championship in the future."

West said.

Mario scratched the flesh on his face, "West, have you ever thought about another possibility? I've been training with him for three years, and there's a possibility that I might be beaten to death by him?"

"It's possible, so whether you want to be his sparring partner or not, the choice is up to you."

West patted Mario on the shoulder and went to arrange a competition for Link.

Mario looked at Link's back, clenched his fists tightly, and regretted that he was too weak and could not withstand Link's attack, which forced him to use the rubber man. This was a dereliction of duty as a sparring partner.

"Link, I will continue to be your sparring partner tomorrow."

Mario yelled at the top of his lungs.

"I heard you, no need to be so loud!"

(End of this chapter)