Domination in America, Starting from being a Boxing Champion

After resting for more than two hours at noon, Link and a few others played basketball at the gym and then returned to the competition site around 2 p.m. to watch Mario’s final match.

In the final, Mario’s opponent was also a Latino boxer, Chaoslei Arnold, who had a lean build, solid muscles, stood at 182 centimeters tall, with an arm reach exceeding 192.

Just by looking at his physique, he was clearly a technically skilled fighter with great agility, stamina, and boxing determination.

"Mario has encountered a very strong opponent, it might be difficult for him to win,"

Morales stated as he watched the platform.

Link nodded, knowing that if it were himself facing such an opponent, he would only need to surpass the opponent in speed and then use heavy punches to execute a KO strategy, defeating him wouldn’t be hard.

But speed was Mario’s weakness, and it wasn’t certain that his stamina and technique were stronger than his opponent’s—the only advantage was that his punches were slightly heavier.

However, in amateur matches, fighters wore protective gear, so having only slightly heavier punches wasn’t much of an advantage.

Once the match started, Mario went on the offensive for one round, throwing over 60 punches, but only 3 landed effectively while the rest missed entirely. In contrast, his opponent landed 7 solid hits, including one to the face.

"Link, do you have any good ideas?"

Coach West asked.

Link, watching the ring, nodded, "I have some thoughts, but we have to wait a bit longer."

"Why wait? If you have a strategy, why not use it right away?" Dino and Reggie asked curiously.

Link shook his head, "Mario is poor at executing strategies. It’s no use bringing them out now."

After the first round, Mario was in a sorry state. Link sent Reggie to Mario below the ring holding a gold medal, telling him to just give up since he couldn’t win anyway.

Mario was furious, almost lashing out at Reggie.

In the second round, Mario continued his aggressive onslaught, while his opponent kept up his nimble dodging and counter-attacking defense.

This round Mario threw 72 punches, only landing 4 effectively, while his opponent hit him 8 times. The score was 7:15, with Mario significantly trailing.

Link again had Reggie flaunt in front of Mario, mentioning that Coach West was planning to reward him with a sports car, which wouldn’t be inferior to the Pontiac GTO.

As soon as Mario heard of the sports car, his eyes turned bloodshot, and he roared furiously with fists waving.

"Link, by provoking Mario like this, do you think he can defeat his opponent?"

Dino asked, watching Mario, who seemed to be on a stimulant.

"It’s useless, he will continue to lose this round."

"Then what’s the point of what you’re doing?"

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"Just wait!"

Link found it interesting to watch the action on the ring, reflecting on the times he was the one fighting while being watched by the audience.

Now sitting here, watching others fight, he realized that being an onlooker allowed him to clearly see both sides’ moves, tactics, habitual actions, the boxers’ personalities, and boxing consciousness.

He also thought about how fighting in front of tens of thousands of people was actually a display of one’s abilities and characteristics, the charm of the process. The stronger the opponent and the more exciting the match, the fuller the display, and one’s abilities and charm would be ignited and magnified, attracting and conquering more spectators.

After this realization, he began to reflect on his past competitions, finding that he hadn’t performed well in his professional boxing matches.

Winning too quickly, with limited time, he hadn’t been able to show more of his abilities and charm.

Apart from leaving an impressive record in the media, with his immense punching power and speed, there wasn’t much else to boast about, somewhat lacking substance.

In contrast, boxing champions like Ali, George Foreman, Joe Frazier, and others may not have as many victories and records, but they left a deeper impression on boxing fans. That includes their tenacious spirit, their unwavering willpower, exquisite skills, never-say-die attitude, and cunning tactics.

In the hearts of boxing fans, such boxers are also more charismatic and influential. Thus, decades after their retirement, fans still reminisce about them.

Link and his contemporaries seemed to share a problem: they were too impatient, overly focused on the outcomes, and failed to immerse themselves fully in the matches to show more to the audience, akin to fast food.

This might be one of the reasons for the decline of contemporary boxing.

Having understood this, Link furrowed his brows in contemplation, wondering how he could perform better on the ring and be more charismatic.

"Link, stop daydreaming. The third round is almost over. Mario has been hit 9 times and only hit his opponent 5 times. He’s about to lose. What’s your plan?" Dino shouted, tugging at his arm.

Link looked towards Mario on the ring, who had been full of fighting spirit in the first three rounds. After losing three rounds in a row, both his physical and mental stamina severely diminished, leaving him completely disheartened, likely having accepted his impending defeat.

Link spoke briefly with Coach West, who after a moment’s thought, agreed with his suggestion.

After the third round ended, Coach West went over to Mario and quietly gave him a few pieces of advice.

Mario hung his head, looking dejected, showing little reaction to Coach West’s words.

Coach West, having finished speaking, did not say more and returned to the stands.

"Go Mario!"

Reggie and the others shouted loudly.

In the fourth round, Mario stopped advancing and started to back off while fighting. His opponent, seeing him drenched in sweat and breathing heavily with a lack of fighting spirit, attempted to launch a counterattack to extend the lead.

One punch after another landed on Mario, who didn’t strike back but passively defended.

Around 80 seconds into the fourth round, Mario backed into a corner and suddenly launched a counterattack, landing several heavy punches on his opponent, forcing him into the corner, using his bulky body to block the opponent’s escape route.

Caught by surprise, his opponent could only protect his head with his hands up, continually dodging.

Mario’s fists kept swinging, hitting his opponent’s head and face until the opponent clinched with him. The referee came over to separate them, ending their exchange.

"Is this your strategy?"

Dino said in surprise.

"A bit early."

Link shook his head. Just now in the match, he noticed that Mario’s opponent would slightly pause after being hit, as if he were stunned.

He guessed that the opponent’s ability to take punches wasn’t high enough and that in the face of Mario’s heavy punch, his response was poor.

Therefore, through Coach West, he persuaded Mario to use the fence strategy, corner the opponent, limit their speed, and then implement a series of hits.

Unfortunately, Mario’s punches weren’t heavy enough, and his punching speed wasn’t quick enough. If it had been Link himself in the ring, that wave of head attacks just now would have knocked the opponent out directly.

"Link, if you had such a strategy, why didn’t you use it sooner?" Dino asked.

"In the first three rounds, the opponent’s energy wasn’t greatly expended, and Mario couldn’t trap him. Also, Mario’s mentality has issues; he performs average when he has the upper hand but sometimes excels in adversity."

Link explained.

With more than twenty seconds left in the fourth round, Mario took advantage of the fact that the opponent hadn’t recovered and launched a strong attack again. This time, the opponent’s reaction was even slower, getting hit in the head by Mario twice in a row.

By the fifth round, the opponent began to fight passively, circling around Mario in an attempt to last the remaining two minutes this way.

Mario directly adopted a foul strategy, reaching out to hug the opponent and taking the chance to land two solid punches.

After being separated by the referee, Mario pounced once more, swinging his fists and striking the opponent near the ropes, pressing down on him with his belly. Before the opponent could react, he landed several Swing Punches heavily on his head.

But still, he couldn’t knock the opponent down.

After the referee separated them again, the opponent continued moving, though his actions were much slower than in the previous rounds.

Reggie and Morales were shouting from below: "Sports car! Sports car! Sports car!"

Seizing the moment, Mario attacked and, at 86 seconds, once again successfully cornered the opponent at the ropes and hit his head with five consecutive Swing Punches, causing the opponent to fall for the first time.

When Mario knocked down his opponent, the audience cheered him on, and both Reggie and the people from the boxing gym shouted loudly.

Mario’s momentum surged, while the opponent’s condition deteriorated significantly.

At 112 seconds, Mario landed three more punches and wanted to continue attacking but was stopped by the bell signaling the end of the match.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Since there was only one knockdown, Mario did not win by KO. Both fighters stood in front of the main referee, and everyone watched expectantly as the three judges revealed their scores.

The final result was 32:31, 30:30, 31:30, with two judges ruling in favor of Mario and one calling it a draw, granting Mario a narrow victory.

"Roarrr!!!"

Seeing the score, Mario raised his fists to the sky and roared furiously, and towards Link’s direction, he beat his chest forcefully, looking particularly defiant.

Link merely smiled, unconcerned.

The heavyweight competition ended, and immediately the award ceremony began. The sports arena’s sound system played "Unstoppable" as Link and the vice chairman of the Amateur Boxing Association, Mr. John Kadil, stepped onto the boxing ring.

"Link, I won! I won! I’m a champion now too!"

Mario stood on the podium, shouting at him.

Link gently clapped his hands.

"Haha, Link, you thought I was doomed just now, but how about now? Hahaha, you were wrong, terribly wrong!"

Mario, waving his arms, shouted triumphantly.

Link nodded, shook hands with the third-place winner, congratulated him, and placed the bronze medal around his neck.

"...."

Suddenly, Mario’s eyes widened, "You, you, you...."

Link then shook hands with the runner-up, offered his congratulations, and hung the silver medal around his neck.

"You are presenting the awards?"

Mario asked, shocked.

Link smiled slightly, "Am I not qualified to present the award to you?"

Not only was he an Olympic champion, a world boxing champion, but in April, he was also named the ’08/’09 Best Boxing Sport Promoter of the Year by "Boxing Ring" magazine because he promoted boxing matches on numerous occasions, bringing more attention to the sport.

After the news of his attendance at the match was made public by the media, the boxing association sent someone to invite him as a guest presenter, saying he could choose any rank and that his presence would bring more attention to the event.

Link did not refuse.

Mario stared at him, his cheeks trembling non-stop.

Link picked up the gold medal and smiled at him.

Through gritted teeth, Mario endured for a few seconds before bowing his head.

"Not bad! Keep it up!"

Link patted his shoulder and said.

Mario’s mouth twitched viciously. He swore, had he known Link would be the award presenter, he would not have fought so hard to win the match.

After the match, the news that Mario and Reggie had won the National Amateur Boxing Championship in the cruiserweight and super welterweight categories spread widely across the media.

Since the two were students of Link, who was sensational in the boxing world, the media and public gave them considerable attention, curious whether they would become as formidable as Link.

However, the one who benefited the most was West’s boxing club. A single club producing three amateur championship winners was an extraordinary achievement. According to Mario’s complaints, Coach West has been smiling every day like a lunatic.

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