Across America, Starting with the Boxing Champion

Chapter 534 Heavyweight Competition

After finishing the promotion work for "Rust and Bone", Link didn't have anything to do all day long, he just spent time teasing Ivaca in the office.

His match with James Toney is about to begin, and he has been spending most of his time training in the boxing gym recently to improve his strength.

The opponent he encountered in this round, James Toney, is a very powerful heavyweight boxing champion, with a height of 178 cm and a wingspan of 183 cm. His current weight is 250 pounds, which is more than 60 pounds heavier than Link.

James debuted in 1988 and has a current professional record of 87 fights and 8 losses. He is a veteran boxer with rich competition experience.

His most glorious professional record was 46 fights, 44 wins and 2 draws, with no defeat in 46 fights. He almost broke the 'curse' in the boxing world - that is, no one in the professional boxing world can win more than 49 consecutive professional games, more than 49 The game will be defeated, or it will die.

It was only in 1994 that James Toney encountered Roy Jones Jr. and tasted failure for the first time in his life.

He initially debuted as a middleweight, then gradually moved up to heavyweight, and has won world championships at multiple levels.

Including IBF middleweight championship, IBF super middleweight championship, WBU light heavyweight championship, IBO-IBF cruiserweight championship, and WBA heavyweight championship.

He defeated Holyfield in 2003 and won the WBA heavyweight belt.

James Toney is also a slugger with a KO rate of over 65%, nicknamed ‘Lights Out’.

Although he has grown older and his overall strength has declined in recent years, he is still a very intimidating opponent.

Link also needs to deal with it seriously.

The match was held at Ford Stadium in Detroit, USA. Before the match, Dynasty Promotions and James Toney's Don King Promotions did a lot of publicity work to promote the match between the two as a shocking battle.

Because Link said last year that he was prepared to win all the gold belts in the heavyweight class, dominate the heavyweight field, and become the king of this field.

When promoting, the media called him a ‘conqueror’ and James Toney a ‘gatekeeper’. If Link wanted to conquer the heavyweight division, he first needed to defeat the gatekeeper James Toney.

For this reason, the promotion company teamed up with HBO to shoot a short film specifically for this game - Link rode a tall horse, wore a handsome armor, and led a group of soldiers to attack the city. James Tony also wore armor and led a group of soldiers. A team of strong soldiers prepared to stop him.

Link drew his sword on his horse and ordered an attack, while James Tony also called on the soldiers to defend.

The war is about to break out.

This short film is 120 seconds long and cost 500,000 US dollars to produce. The scenes, costumes and props are very luxurious, and the shots are very high-quality, like a Roman legion encountering Spartan warriors on the battlefield. After it was released, it received a good response. YouTube views reached 220 million times in the past week.

Through this short film, the game between Link and James Toney is also well known around the world.

"It's all bells and whistles. The most important thing in a boxing match is winning. It's useless to do all this. Link, I feel like you might lose this time."

In the Muscle Beach Boxing Gym, De La Hoya came over with a tablet and said.

"Like the last time we played, you felt like you were going to win?"

"Hmph, this time is different. James Toney weighs 60 pounds more than you. He has more competition experience than you, and his ability to fight is also very strong. The lethality of his fists is not inferior to yours. You may not be able to win this time."

Hoya's face turned very ugly when he heard him mention the last time he was defeated.

"Then just wait and see."

Bang bang bang!

Link continued to hit the sandbag with his fist, and the sweat on his arms also vibrated from the skin at the impact. After practicing for more than three hours, he also sweated a lot.

"This guy is getting arrogant."

Hoya curled his lips and said.

"Hehe, of course, if you have 31 consecutive fights, 31 wins, and 31 KO wins against your opponents, and the appearance fee for each game is more than 50 million US dollars, you will definitely be more arrogant than Link."

Morales grinned with thick lips.

Hoya glanced at him and said, "I am your boss. You'd better pay attention when you talk to me. Be careful I deduct your salary."

"I help you make money, buy you a villa, a sports car, and pick up girls. You are the one who should pay attention."

Morales paid no heed to his threats.

"Hmph, I said Link might lose to James Tony in this game. Do you dare to bet?"

"Sure, how much is the bet? How about a million dollars?"

Morales asked excitedly.

"Why are you betting so much? I know you don't have much money and I don't want to win your money, so how about betting $10?"

"10 dollars?!"

Morales rolled his eyes. As a millionaire, the minimum amount of U.S. bills in his wallet is 50 US dollars. Betting on 10 US dollars is better than not betting at all.

"So you also know that Link is better than James Tony, right? Then why did you come here to harass him? Deliberately interfere with his training? How much did James Tony pay you?"

Morales asked.

"I didn't say that Link must be better than James Tony. I just wanted to remind Link and teach him some useful game experience. Unfortunately, he is too proud and cannot listen to other people's suggestions."

Hoya shrugged his shoulders and said with regret.

"Link is right, listening to your advice is a complete waste of time."

Morales slapped his arm muscles and walked away. De La Hoya glared at him fiercely. This guy became more and more unrestrained after becoming the WBO super middleweight champion.

He watched Link's training for a while and found that there really was nothing to teach Link. He sighed softly and turned around to leave.

On June 8, at Ford Stadium, Link’s first heavyweight jump challenge was held here.

Detroit is the sixth largest city in the United States and a famous international commercial and industrial center in the United States. It is famous for its automobile manufacturing and engineering technology. The number of automobiles produced in Detroit once ranked first in the world, and it is also known as the 'Auto City'. '.

There are many boxing fans here, which is one of the reasons why the organizers put this game here.

Another reason is that the city of Detroit is experiencing a financial crisis and its economic situation is deteriorating. The city government owes more than 18 billion in debt and is currently filing for bankruptcy.

The city government is looking for ways to improve the current financial situation, such as organizing concerts, large-scale sports events, and Link's boxing matches.

Link has huge fame and influence in the United States. Every time he competes, he attracts many boxing fans and can add hundreds of millions to the city's GDP in terms of hotels, transportation, gambling, etc.

Inviting Link to participate in the competition is also a very cost-effective business activity.

The day of the game was Saturday, and workers in capitalist factories did not need to go to work. On that day, all the 36,000 spectator seats at Ford Sports Center were filled, and there were dozens of photographers holding "long guns and short cannons" to face Link on the stage. Filming non-stop with James Toney.

Wearing black fighting shorts and black fists, Link looked more muscular than when he defended his WBO light heavyweight title in March.

Two strong chest muscles, strong and explosive, a back like a steel shaft, and eight-pack abdominal muscles like C4 explosives, with distinct blocks and a metallic luster under the light.

There are also his arm muscles, scapular muscles, and inverted triangle back contour. They are as muscular as Greek sculptures, but more dynamic than sculptures.

As he moved, strong muscles moved under his skin, like a python waking up in spring. Just looking at his muscles made people feel very powerful.

On the opposite side, James Tony is a bald black man, shorter than Link, but thicker than Link. His body is like a stone pier, with no obvious muscle outline, but giving people a thick and strong feeling.

"Hmph, Link, it is definitely not a wise move for you to choose me as your first heavyweight opponent. I will make you taste failure here."

James Toney shouted, raising his fists.

"James, you were pretty good when you were young, but now that you are older, I'm afraid you are no match for me."

Link laughed.

"Hmph, you'll see."

James Tony said with his thick lips curled up.

The two touched their gloves, and after the referee waved their arms, the game officially began.

"Link, come on!"

"Link, we must win!"

Under the ring, thousands of Link's fans waved flags and cheered loudly for Link in the audience.

There are also a lot of people cheering for James Toney.

Detroit is a city with a majority of black people. They like boxing matches. When the competition in the boxing ring is one black and one white, no matter how powerful the white boxer is, they will consciously stand with the black boxer and fight for the black brothers. Come on, yell 'Kill Link'.

Bang bang! Bang bang!

After the game started, Link took the lead in attacking in the first round, taking advantage of his arm length to hit James Tony with his fists one after another.

It's just that James Tony weighs 250 pounds, and his chest, shoulders, abdomen, etc. are all filled with fat and thin muscles. He has a strong ability to withstand blows. A fist hitting these parts will not cause much damage to the opponent.

Link could only aim at the opponent's head and try to hit it as accurately as possible.

At the same time, he was also prepared for James Toney's counterattack. James Toney was a heavy gunner with strong boxing power. The actual punch weight was more than 1,400 pounds, and his lethality was considerable.

Link started to test his punches, and was hit twice in the abdomen and shoulders by the opponent, which was very uncomfortable.

In order to avoid being hit by the opponent, Link moved his feet flexibly while fighting, using guerrilla tactics + positional warfare, punching the opponent one after another.

Bang bang bang!

In the first round, he punched 121 times, hitting the opponent 21 times, hitting the opponent's head 6 times, and the remaining hits were below James Toney's shoulders.

James Tony had a thick body and a very stable lower body. He received several punches to the head in the first round, but he did not fall down. This was the first time since Link's debut that he failed to knock down his opponent in the first round.

James Toney punched more than 110 times in the first round, hitting Link's body 16 times and grazing Link's chin once.

In this round, James Tony focused on defense, holding his head to prevent Link from hitting him.

But because Link was too fast and his style of play was too flexible, and James Tony had a heavy body, it was very difficult to defend. After the first round, James Tony's dark skin was covered with sweat. He sat on the corner stool and kept talking. Earth gasped.

"James, hold on, even if you can't beat Link, you have to punch him a few times and don't let him win too easily."

Holyfield followed coach James Toney to cheer him on.

"James, be more defensive. Don't let Link hit you in the head. His fists are very heavy."

Coach James Toney said.

puff!

James Tony glared at Link opposite him and spat, "I know, I will make that **** boy look good in the next round."

(End of chapter)