Conquer America, Start with a Boxing Champion

The 69kg final was held the next morning. Link rested for one night at a Bangkok resort hotel, and the next day he followed the coaching team to the competition site.

The opponent in this game is British boxer Martin Murray, who is 28 years old, 183 cm tall, 187 cm wingspan, and weighs 68.5 kg.

Martin Murray started playing amateur games at the age of 16. He has won the Commonwealth Youth Championship and the ABAE Boxing Elite Championship. He has participated in the World Championships three times. The first time he entered the final of the four, the second time he won the World Championship gold medal, this is the third time. He represented Britain in the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and entered the quarterfinals.

The current amateur record is 83 wins, 7 losses and 2 draws in 92 games.

The opponent is a technical boxer with superb skills. He does well on both offense and defense. He has participated in more than 90 games, is experienced, has a stable mentality, and has good speed and strength. He has no obvious shortcomings in boxing quality.

Some are like Andre Berto, whom Link met in the Golden Gloves Championship.

But when Link met Andre Berto, he was still a fledgling boxer. His boxing skills needed to be improved in all aspects, and it was not easy to defeat Andre.

Now he has participated in more than 100 professional matches and defeated many boxing masters. No one can compare with him in terms of competition experience and mentality.

Before the game started, coach Zhao Liwei and other coaches of other levels surrounded him to give him advice, asking him to be steady and not impatient. They also told him that it was okay even if he lost. Getting a silver medal would also be a huge improvement for the Chinese boxing team.

Link did not comment.

Ding Ding Ding!

The 69kg finals officially began.

Link and his opponent Martin Murray took the stage. One wore a red T-shirt, red boxing gloves and head protector with a red national flag printed on his T-shirt, and the other wore blue equipment with a Union Jack printed on his chest.

"Chinese? Can Chinese make it to the finals?"

Martin Murray grinned.

Link glanced at the opponent and ignored him. The opponent wanted to use this move to provoke him, but he had been in the boxing world for many years and was calm about this kind of provocation.

"Boxing!"

The referee announced the start of the game.

Link touched gloves with his opponent, and when the opponent retreated to defend, he took the initiative to attack, left straight punch + right straight punch + left swing punch + right swing punch, and his fists hit the opponent's double arm defense continuously.

At the beginning, Martin Murray did a good job in defense, fighting and retreating, and resolved most of his attacks.

Link ignored the opponent's defense and continued to output heavy punches.

After his attack lasted for a minute, Martin Murray's arms trembled slightly, and his defense began to have loopholes.

Link found the right opportunity, took a step to close the distance with the opponent, and then a jab penetrated the opponent's arms and hit the opponent's face hard.

Martin Murray staggered after being hit, took a step back and hit his back on the ropes.

Link continued to approach, and his fists alternately hit the opponent's chest and head like beating drums.

Martin Murray was caught off guard. He leaned against the ropes, blocked his head with his arms, and kept shaking his upper body to try to avoid his attack.

Link's attack was faster and more accurate. No matter where his opponent hid, he could always quickly slide and quickly stick to his opponent. He punched his opponent accurately with his fists, and directly treated his opponent as a sandbag, hitting his upper body one after another.

His attack was like a storm, impenetrable.

Martin Murray felt like he fell into the water, and even breathing became difficult. His body was hit one after another, and he felt waves of pain from being hit by a blunt weapon.

Just as he was about to use the hugging tactic to interrupt Link's offensive rhythm, Link took a half step back and hit him steadily on the chin with an uppercut.

At the 86th second of the first round, Martin Murray fell on his back on the ring.

"Wow!"

There was a cry of surprise from the audience.

"Too amazing, Link is too amazing. This is the champion of the last World Championships, but he treated him like a sandbag. It's too fierce."

"Come on, Link!"

Zou Shiming and several teammates of the boxing team shouted excitedly.

"This Link is indeed a boxing genius!"

Coach Zhao Liwei wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at each other with incredible expressions on their faces. Before the game, they were worried that Link would not be able to beat Martin Murray, and suggested that Link adopt a conservative game tactic.

And the facts proved that Link's strength was stronger than everyone expected, and he was much better than his opponent, and he could completely suppress his opponent.

Seeing Link's strong performance, everyone showed joy on their faces. As long as Link can keep this state, Link has a great chance to represent the national team in the Athens Olympics next year and win a medal, or even a gold medal.

A gold medal is a medal of honor. This medal of honor is not only for Link, but they can also get some light.

"Martin Murray couldn't even last one round against Link?!"

"This Chinese player Lin is more powerful than we expected."

"He is not only handsome, but also very violent. This talent is definitely for our Champion Club."

In the audience, many promoters and scouts who came to watch the fight saw Link knock down former world champion Martin Murray in the first round. They shouted excitedly and looked at Link with more passion.

"Sean, you are right. This Link may have greater potential than Pacquiao."

Dmitriy Salita, the promoter of the Sports Room Promotion Company, said excitedly.

Sean Gibbons clenched his fist and stared at Link, as if he saw a glittering mountain of gold.

After watching Link's two matches before, they gave Link a high evaluation in their hearts, but after watching this match, they found that they had underestimated Link before. Link's strength is much stronger than expected, and his potential is greater.

In addition, Link's style of play on the stage is also very good. He advocates attacking, is used to fighting with opponents, and can knock down opponents in amateur matches.

If it is a professional match, Link's performance will definitely be more exciting, and the matches he participates in will also be supported by the audience.

From this aspect, Link is not only capable, but also has very high commercial value.

"Hey, Sean, Demi, how about giving Link to us Queensbury, I will treat you to a drink after the matter is done."

Frank Warren of Queensbury Promotions shouted.

Sean Gibbons and Dmitri Salita glanced at him and didn't bother to pay attention.

A young, capable and outstanding boxer like Link can become a cash cow after a few years of experience in the professional boxing world, earning hundreds of thousands of dollars in one match, and millions of dollars if it is managed properly.

Frank Warren actually wants to exchange a meal for wine?

He is simply dreaming.

Frank Warren glanced at the two, gritted his teeth, and said softly: "I can give you each a reward of 10,000 US dollars, as long as you don't contact Link before the end of the tournament, let me talk to him first, how about it?"

"Want to bribe me? Don't think about it, I'm not the kind of agent who is greedy for money."

"Me too."

Sean Gibbons and Salita said.

"Huh, then we will rely on our own abilities to see who can sign Link."

Frank Warren snorted coldly.

On the stage, Martin Murray lay on the boxing ring for seven or eight seconds before he stood up shakily, with a bruised face and a face full of fear looking at Link.

"Boxing!"

The referee announced the continuation of the game.

The weather was too hot and the gymnasium had poor ventilation, so playing on the stage was also a torture.

Link didn't intend to drag the game on. After the referee announced the start, he touched gloves with his opponent. When his opponent quickly retreated, he chased him, ignoring his opponent's defense, and his fists were like drum hammers, hitting the opponent one after another.

Left swing + right swing + left straight punch + right straight punch, bang bang bang, one punch after another hit the opponent's body.

With 16 seconds left in the first round, he knocked away the opponent's fist with a powerful right swing and hit the opponent's side face hard.

Although there was a head guard to reduce the impact force, the impact force of this punch was more than 300 kilograms. The opponent's facial muscles were deformed, and his head suddenly swung to the left, and the braces and saliva in his mouth were thrown out together.

Bang!

Martin Murray was like a sawed wood, his body twisted half a circle, and fell straight on the boxing ring.

"Wow!"

The Thai audience and foreign tourists in the audience exclaimed in unison.

Generally speaking, the strength of boxers who can make it to the finals of the championship is about the same. In this case, the game scene will become sticky and not very enjoyable to watch.

But today's final opened everyone's eyes. The boxer Link from China actually knocked down his opponent with two consecutive heavy punches in the first round and beat his opponent like a sandbag.

This strength is too strong.

This kind of game is also great, even more exciting than a professional boxing match.

"Link, well done!"

"Lin, champion!"

Thousands of spectators in the audience shouted at the boxing ring.

"Link, awesome!"

Several teammates of the Chinese boxing team in the audience also shouted loudly.

The boxing referee squatted beside Martin Murray and counted to 10. Martin Murray struggled a few times but couldn't stand up, so he lay on the boxing ring like a resigned person, looking up at the ceiling.

After the referee counted 10, Martin Murray did not get up. After signaling to the referee in the audience, the boxing referee walked to Link and pulled his right fist high.

"The winner of this match is Link, the Chinese Boxing Team!!"

Papapapa!

There were warm applause and cheers from the audience.

Jack Sandner, chairman of the organizing committee of this World Championship, and Sano Sorawong, Minister of Tourism and Sports of Thailand, came on stage to present the prizes, which were a gold medal and a check for $50,000.

The prize money for the World Boxing Championship is provided by the organizer, the International Boxing Association (AIBA). The prize money share varies from year to year, which is mainly determined by the advertising sponsorship obtained by AIBA and the funds willing to be provided by the government departments of the host city.

The total prize money for this year's World Boxing Championship is $1.7 million, which is about RMB 12 million.

The $1.7 million prize money will be shared by the champions, runners-up and third place winners of 20 levels in the men's and women's groups after the game. This year, the champion of each level will receive about $50,000, the runner-up will receive $20,000, and the third place winner will receive about $10,000.

Link is the champion with a prize money of $50,000, but this $50,000 does not belong to him alone.

According to the regulations of the competition center, boxers need to give 50% of their prize money to coaches and logistics teams after the game.

But Link is not a boxer trained by the Kyoto City Sports Center. According to the temporary cooperation agreement between him and coach Zhao Liwei before the game, he only needs to hand in 20% as activity funds.

In the end, he can get 40,000 US dollars.

After the game, Link did not leave immediately. He sat in the audience and watched the 48kg final, where Zou Shiming played against the Russian star Kazakov.

Kazakov won the European Youth Boxing Championship. He is taller than Zou Shiming. He has good strength, speed and explosive power, and his punches are lethal.

After the game started, Zou Shiming continued to use pirate boxing techniques and counterattacked, leading 4:3 in the first round.

But the opponent's tactics were also good and his defense was rigorous. Zou Shiming attacked his opponent many times but failed to break his defense. Instead, he consumed a lot of physical strength. In the third round, Kazakov used his height and physical strength to fight back and scored on Zou Shiming many times.

In the end, Zou Shiming lost 19:23 and won the runner-up in the 48kg class of the World Championships.

When Link was watching the game in the audience, agents from several boxing promotion companies came to him and congratulated him.

At the same time, he expressed his desire to sign him, spend a lot of money to promote him, let him enter the international arena, become a boxing star like Ali, Tyson, and Holyfield, and earn millions of dollars in one game.

These agents talked a lot of nonsense. When Link mentioned the signing bonus, they hesitated. Some offered 50,000 US dollars, some offered 100,000 US dollars. Sean Gibbons of Top Promotion Company and Salita, the promoter of Competition Room Company, offered the highest price of 500,000 US dollars.

Link was not moved at all and asked for a signing bonus of 5 million US dollars on the spot.

In terms of the revenue sharing of the game, before becoming the world champion of the four major organizations, it is 50-50, after becoming the world champion, it is 7:3, and after the single game income exceeds 10 million US dollars, it is 9:1.

If you can accept this condition, we can talk about other things. If you don’t want to accept it, you can go back and think about it.

Sean Gibbons and others changed their faces when they heard his words. At first, they came with a translator, which made it difficult to communicate. Later, when Link spoke, they found that Link’s English was more standard than theirs.

He spoke very imposingly, like a shrewd politician.

And when it comes to professional boxing, Link also behaves very knowledgeable and seems to be very familiar with the professional boxing world.

This made many boxers who wanted to trick Link into falling into the trap fail.

In fact, it is a good thing that Link knows English and understands the inside story of professional boxing, which makes it easier to cooperate.

It’s just that Link asked for a signing fee of 5 million US dollars at the beginning. This offer is too high, far higher than their expectations. They are just agents, not the bosses of the promotion company, and they can’t make such a decision.

After talking with Link, Sean Gibbons and others called the company boss to discuss and tell Link’s conditions.

After hearing Link’s request, the bosses of several small promotion companies directly said that Link was crazy about money. A person who just made a name for himself in the amateur boxing world dared to offer 5 million US dollars, which was not worse than Don King’s offer to sign Tyson. No one would accept such an offer.

The agent from the small promotion company had no choice but to give up signing Link.

Sean Gibbons called Bob Arum, the founder and owner of Top Promotion Company, to talk about Link’s request.

Even though Bob Arum has been in the boxing world for more than 30 years, he was speechless when he heard Link asking for a $5 million signing bonus. He didn't understand how an amateur boxer from China could dare to make such an excessive request when facing the olive branch offered by the world's number one promotion company?

Arum asked Sean Gibbons for his opinion.

Sean Gibbons talked about Link's performance in the final, praising him for his strong strength, beautiful fighting style, and potential that was not inferior to Pacquiao, and it was worth spending a lot of money to sign him.

Bob Arum fell silent after hearing this and said he would watch the videotape of Link's game first.

The World Boxing Championship has little influence in the boxing world. During the competition, except for Thailand, no other national TV stations participated in the broadcast, so if you want to watch the championship live, you still need to watch it through the videotape.

In addition to Top Promotion, the bosses of Arena Promotion and Queensbury Promotion also said that they were not in a hurry to sign after hearing Link's conditions, and would watch the video first before making a decision.

——

After the World Boxing Championships, Link and the Chinese boxing team took a flight back to China.

The Chinese boxing team performed well this time. In the 20-level men's and women's boxing competitions, the men won one gold and one silver, and the women also won two bronze medals. Compared with the previous World Boxing Championships, this is a huge breakthrough.

Link also became the first boxer in the domestic men's boxing team to win the World Championships, and also won a ticket for the Chinese boxing team to participate in the Athens Olympic boxing event.

After Link and the boxing team returned to Kyoto, they received attention from many media. Link and Zou Shiming participated in interviews and TV programs of many media successively. CCTV5 also bought the recordings of Link's three games from the Thai TV station and broadcast them on Saturday weekends.

In addition, major media such as Xinhua News Agency, CCTV News Channel, "Huaxia Youth Daily", "People's Daily" and "Huaxia Sports Daily" reported on this competition to varying degrees.