Across America, Starting with the Boxing Champion

Chapter 81 The Champion Appears

“Hello, good afternoon everyone, I’m your old friend Steve, God bless me, eight months after I left the studio, I’m finally sitting here again, I miss this place, and I miss you all, thank God.”

In the HBO TV studio center, host Steve Mandanda sat in front of a large studio, looking at the camera with excitement on his face, with tears in his eyes, as if he had regained something beloved after losing it. , the excitement was uncontrollable.

“Steve, be careful to control your emotions, otherwise the higher-ups will ask you to continue to be an off-site host. Of course, if you want to continue to pick up girls outside, just pretend that I didn’t say anything.”

Ms. Tina, the program producer, said through the earphone.

Steve quickly suppressed the unnecessary emotions on his face and said with a smile: "I think everyone knows that the Olympic Games ended in Hanking yesterday. The American team won a total of 37 gold medals, 38 silver medals, 36 bronze medals, and 111 medals. , the number of medals ranked first among all participating countries.

The boxing team won a total of 1 gold and 1 bronze. The gold medal winner was our old acquaintance, super middleweight boxer Link Baker. Wow, I am so familiar with him.

Me and Link are friends. I interviewed Link one minute before the final of the Golden Gloves Championship. He said that he would defeat his opponent Andre Berto in five rounds, which was exactly what he said to me.

At the Havana American Qualifying Tournament, I still interviewed him in person before the game, and also witnessed him becoming the American Super Middleweight Champion.

It can be said that I personally witnessed the growth of Link, and witnessed him step by step, from a rookie boxer, to the Golden Gloves Championship champion, to the American Qualifying Champion, and then to the Olympic World Champion, it only took him less than half a year.

Wow, talking about this process, even as a bystander, I will feel excited and excited for Link's achievements. Ladies and gentlemen before the TV Festival, what do you think of Link's experience in the past six months? Doesn't it look like a very inspirational movie story?

I heard that a Hollywood production company is collecting Link’s story and preparing to make a movie based on him. I think it will be a great movie. "

 “Don’t go too far and get to the point!”

Ms. Tina, the producer of the program, said.

“Haha, what I bring to you today is the HBO Olympic special program "Watching Boxing with the Champions". Don't get excited. The champion has not arrived yet. Please allow me to introduce the guests of this program to you."

Following Steve's words, the live camera lens pulled back, giving a medium shot of the studio.

In the camera, two show guests were sitting on Steve's left. One was a middle-aged man wearing a black suit and a red tie. Steve introduced him as Doug Fisher, the editor-in-chief of "Ring" magazine. .

The other person is a lean old man wearing gray casual clothes and a baseball cap. He is Rafael Varane, editor-in-chief of the Miami Herald.

“Welcome Mr. Fisher, welcome Mr. Varane, and then we will invite the third guest of this show.”

 “Link! Link!”

Hundreds of spectators in the audience cheered loudly.

"Everyone, please be quiet. Please forgive me. The next guest to enter is not Link, but he is even more famous than Link. He has a large number of fans all over the world. It can be said that anyone who knows boxing knows that Him, then who is he?"

 Steve pointed toward the backstage entrance and shouted,

 “We invite the heavyweight guest of this show, Mike Tyson!”

 Poof!

A burst of white mist spurted out, and a strong black man walked out from the backstage with crab steps. He was wearing a black suit and had a tattoo pattern around the left eye of his face. He grinned, revealing two large gold teeth.

 “Whoa, Tyson!”

 The audience shouted excitedly, clapped and cheered.

Tyson nodded to the audience, and at Steve’s invitation, sat down on the right side of the studio.

 “Hey, Monopoly, why did you come to this kind of show? Oh, I remembered, you’re broke.”

Raphael Varane slapped his forehead and suddenly understood.

Hahaha!

The audience burst into laughter.

Everyone knows that Tyson is bankrupt. According to the media, after retiring, Tyson spent money like water and bought many luxury cars and mansions. He also liked gambling, took drugs and drank alcohol, and had affairs with many women. He was worth as much as 500 million in the past. Recently, it was revealed that he owed money to The debt was 40 million, so Tyson had to make money again.

 Tyson cursed at Falk, raised his fist and shouted: "Damn it, Rafael, why are you here? Steve, if you told me he was here, I would never be on this **** show."

"No, no, you will still come, after all, your debt has not been paid yet." Raphael joked.

"Shut your stinky mouth Rafael. When I was a boxer, you often wrote **** comments and scolded me. At that time, it was not convenient for me to hit you. Now that I have retired, there is no sports committee to control me. I will finish recording today." You'd better not be touched by me."

 Tyson clenched his fist and waved at Raphael from across the studio.

 “End this boring topic.”

Ms. Tina, the program producer, intervened.

 “Hey, you two, please pay attention.”

After Steve received the order, he quickly grabbed him and said to the camera: "Let's get to the topic. Today our topic is to watch the boxing match with Olympic champion Mr. Link Baker. Since he has a busy schedule, I want to start with Please share your impressions of Link. Mike, please speak first."

 Tyson adjusted his posture and said to the camera: "Link? I've heard about him a long time ago. Around the time of the Golden Gloves Championship, I heard that he won the competition by knocking out all his opponents. This is an amazing result."

“Mike, have you ever knocked out an opponent in an amateur competition?”

Interviewed by Steve.

“Of course there are, but the times are very few. Everyone knows that amateur competitions require protective gear and the competition time is also very short. It is too difficult to win by KO.”

Tyson said with his fists clenched. "Yes, this also shows that Link is very powerful. It is said that his punch weight is comparable to that of a heavyweight first-line boxer, which is very impressive. Next is Mr. Varane."

 “Wait, I’m not done yet.”

Tyson shouted at the camera, "In addition to Link's heavy fists, I admire his style of doing things. He is a smart guy who is very good at making trouble through the media. When he was still participating in the super middleweight amateur competition, he He dared to challenge Chris Bird, James Toney, and Valuev, several heavyweight boxing champions. He was really cool. I wanted to ask him for an autograph when he came."

“You asked him for an autograph? Link once said that his boxing practice was also influenced by you and Roy Jones Jr., and now you ask him for an autograph. This is so funny. Mike, are you done?”

 Steve asked.

“Yeah, but you don’t have to ask them two. They are from newspapers and often publish **** comments in newspapers and magazines. It’s a waste of time to listen to them.”

 Tyson looked at the two editors opposite, Rafael and Doug Fisher, with disdain. These two guys had bad things to say about him when he was still boxing.

Rafael and Doug Fisher smiled nonchalantly. Their profession is to scold and praise people. Tyson used to be very popular and had many problems. Almost all commentators in the boxing world criticized him, not alone. Both of them.

Under Steve's inquiry, the two talked about their impressions and evaluations of Link, and naturally they all had good things to say.

At this time, Link had just become the world champion and the only gold medal winner of the American boxing team. His popularity was booming. Anyone who said bad things about him publicly would be scolded to death by his boxing fans.

Furthermore, Link has had nothing to criticize since his debut, so anyone who wants to criticize him has no target.

“Okay, thank you both for your wonderful comments. I received the news that Link has arrived backstage.”

Steve stood up, turned to look at the backstage entrance, and shouted: "Next, let us use warm applause to invite the 29th Summer Olympics boxing middleweight world champion, who is also the youngest world champion in boxing history. Mr. Link Baker!”

 Poof!

A burst of white mist sprayed out. Link, wearing a black suit and a blue tie, strode through the entrance. He was tall and strong, with long and powerful legs. He looked handsome and refreshing.

 Pap, pah, pah!

 Steve and hundreds of other spectators stood up and clapped vigorously, shouting Link's name.

“Wow, Link looks so handsome in his formal clothes. I thought I saw a movie star just now.”

 Steve clapped his hands and said in an exaggerated voice.

 “He’s a really cool guy, he must have a lot of girlfriends.”

Tyson bared his teeth and laughed.

 “Hi! Good afternoon everyone!”

Link waved his hand to greet the audience, and then said to Steve: "Why does the entrance ceremony look like "The Man Show"? My agent told me that this is a serious sports talk show."

“Haha, the weather in Los Angeles is too hot. We want to cool you down. How about it? Is it very cool? I’ve tried it several times before.”

 Steve shook his hand and smiled.

“Don’t forget I’m from Miami, and the weather in Los Angeles feels like spring to me, very comfortable.”

Link smiled, said hello to two acquaintances, Rafael and Doug Fisher, and then looked at the behemoth in the boxing world, Mike Tyson, feeling a little excited.

Despite all the shortcomings of Tyson, no one in the world boxing world does not admire Tyson, the king of heavy punches. He became the WBC boxing champion at the age of 20 and was the youngest world boxing champion in history.

At his peak, Tyson defeated almost all the boxing champions at the time and forced many heavyweight boxers to end their careers early.

At that time, there was a saying in the boxing world that the only one who could defeat Tyson was Tyson. Before he experienced the defeat in Tokyo, he had always been a **** in the boxing world. His fists were almost the ceiling of human combat effectiveness.

Around the world, he, Air Jordan and movie actor Schwarzenegger are synonymous with strong men.

However, Tyson is much shorter than expected. His real height is about 178 centimeters and his body is very strong. Sitting there, he looks like King Kong in the movie.

 “Hey Mike, I’m a fan of yours and it’s great to see you here.”

Link shouted, holding out his palm.

 Tyson laughed, reached out and gave him a high-five and said, "Link, I'm also a fan of yours. Please remember to sign for me later."

"no problem!"

Link smiled lightly, turned around and waved to the fans who were still standing and applauding, and sat down in the empty seat next to Tyson.

 “Ask Link what he thinks of China.”

 The producer of the program spread the news.

 Steve pressed the earphones and nodded slightly.

 (End of this chapter)