Chapter 83: Fame in China

"Mom, look, Link is the world champion now. Do you still think he is a bad boy?"

In New York's Times Square Hotel, Taylor sat cross-legged on the sofa and watched Link writing Chinese characters on the TV and said.

"He is indeed very good now, but he did do bad things in the past, and I didn't make it up."

Mrs. Andrea placed a plate of washed blueberries on the table.

"Then will you still stop us from dating? Don't deny it, the last time dad was paralyzed was because of you, right? I have to say, dad's acting skills are terrible."

Taylor said with a snort.

Mrs. Andrea shook her head and was not surprised that her daughter saw through what happened that time. After all, her daughter is a smart person. She chuckled and said: "Taylor, even if I don't stop you, it will be difficult for you to become boyfriend and girlfriend, because You are all too busy. Just like now, when Link returns to Los Angeles after participating in a competition abroad, you don't have time to greet him.

In addition, Link is an energetic boxer. What he needs is a girlfriend who can always be by his side, not a nominal girlfriend who flies around all day and can only be contacted by phone. You understand me. What do you mean? "

Taylor lowered his head and thought for a while, put down the fruit plate in his hand, stood up and walked out.

"What are you going to do?"

"I want to cancel all announcements and go back to Los Angeles to find Link."

"up to you!"

Mrs. Andrea said nonchalantly.

"Link, Mike, before we watch the semifinals, how about we play a game?"

"OK!"

"I have no opinion!"

On the TV, the program "Follow the Champions Boxing" continued to play. The host Steve asked the staff to bring up a machine and introduced to everyone, "This is a boxing weight developed by Clark Boxing Champions Company in Nevada. A testing machine that can accurately test a boxer’s punch weight. Link, I heard that your boxing gym also has one, right?”

"Yeah, it works great, so is this an advert?" Link laughed.

"Haha, okay, it is indeed an inserted advertisement."

Steve smiled and said, "Mike, I heard that your boxing weight was as high as 1,800 pounds in your peak period. How much do you have left now? You can test it first, and then we will invite Link to test. I heard that his boxing weight was as high as 1,500 pounds." ”

"Link, you are a super middleweight boxer, and your punch weight is 1,500 pounds?"

Tyson asked in surprise.

"The average punch weight at the time of explosion is only over 1,100 pounds."

Link said a more conservative figure.

"1,100 pounds is also very powerful. My average weight at my peak was just over 1,500 pounds."

Tyson took off his suit jacket, wearing only his shirt, walked to the boxing weight testing machine, moved his thick right arm a few times, and punched the boxing target. The data on the boxing weight testing machine changed rapidly, and finally stopped at 1,450 pounds. superior.

"Wow!"

Link also clapped his hands along with the audience. Tyson is 42 years old. Three years after his retirement, he can still weigh more than 1,400 pounds, which is higher than the weight of ordinary heavyweight boxing champions. His peak weight was probably more than 1,800 pounds. Pounds, just like Link wouldn't tell others the maximum weight of his punch.

"Link, it's your turn."

Steve said as he rubbed his fists.

Link also took off his jacket, revealing his straight shirt, strong arms, and the outline of his chest and back muscles that could be seen even wearing the shirt.

"Cameraman, close up, capturing Link's figure."

Ms. Tina ordered.

Steve rolled his eyes secretly when he heard the message in the earphones. This was the disadvantage of having a female producer. She would inquire about the gossips of the guests on sports programs and capture the figures of handsome guys.

Link walked to the machine, clenched his right fist and hit the target hard, beep beep beep, the number jumped rapidly, and finally stopped at 1500 pounds.

"Wow!!"

Seeing that his punch was 50 pounds heavier than heavyweight Tyson, the audience clapped and cheered vigorously.

"Link, I just said that your punching weight is up to 1,500 pounds. You immediately hit that number. Are you deliberately hiding your strength?"

Steve laughed.

"Of course not. My boxing weight is roughly around 1,500, which is almost over 50 pounds."

Link smiled and returned to his seat.

After the interlude, he continued to explain his match with James DeGale to the audience.

DeGale is indeed a powerful boxer. He won a gold medal at the 2007 World Amateur Boxing Championships. He has comprehensive skills, strong physical fitness, and is very good at both offense and defense. He is an enhanced version of An. Andrea Berto.

The opponent's mentality was also very stable during the match. Link fought with the opponent for four rounds and knocked down the opponent four times.

But after being knocked down, DeGale was able to get up quickly the first two times without being counted for a few seconds. At the end of the game, Link had to stand with his opponent in front of the referee's seat and accepted the referee's score for the first time. The final score was 31:19. Win the opponent and advance to the finals.

But without him, the opponent would be the 2008 super middleweight gold medalist.

"Link, do you have any regrets about not being able to complete all amateur matches with a KO record?"

Steve asked.

"A little bit, but an Olympic gold medal can make up for all the regrets."

Link said while holding the gold medal on the table.

"Haha, that's very well said. No matter what, you are the champion."

Steve clapped his hands and asked three guests to comment on the performance of Link and James DeGale in the game.

The three of them believed that Link failed to KO his opponent partly because the opponent was relatively strong, but also because Link encountered a strong enemy Altaev in the last game and consumed a lot of energy.

Raphael reminded everyone that Link had to go on a diet in order to control his weight, which meant competing on an empty stomach, making the competition more difficult.

Hearing Raphael say this, everyone suddenly understood and applauded Link.

Link did not refute. If he competed with DeGale at 78 kilograms, he would indeed be more confident of KOing the opponent. But for a world champion, it does not matter whether his amateur record is all KOs. The reason why he was obsessed with KOs in the first place was The main purpose is to gain media attention and get more signing bonuses during negotiations with contract companies.

Now that he has signed a contract, his reputation is even greater, and he is still a well-known world champion. The next step will be to move to professional competitions. One less KO will not have a big impact. This shortcoming will instead generate more news topics.

"Come on Link! Come on Link!"

Just as he was thinking about it, he heard cheers in Chinese. Link turned to look at the big screen, where the scenes before the finals were playing.

The game was in the afternoon. There were more than 10,000 Beijing citizens, mostly young people, sitting in the auditorium of the main stadium of the Workers' Sports. There were also many people holding Link's boxing posters and shouting loudly for Link to come on.

According to reporters at the scene, the number of spectators who came to watch the game was no less than when two Chinese boxers Zou Shiming and Zhang Xiaoping participated in the finals.

The main reason was that the day before the competition, Link rescued a child in Houhai and defeated Phelps, who had won 8 swimming gold medals, during the rescue process. This incident was reported by Chinese official media as "positive energy" news After coming out, "Hanzi Brother" Link's fame in China suddenly increased, becoming the most famous athlete in this Olympic Games, even more famous than Phelps, who won eight gold medals.

"Link, I heard that you and Phelps had a competition at the CBS swimming pool yesterday. What was the result?" Steve asked.

"This is his gold medal in the 200-meter freestyle."

Link said while holding the gold medal on the table.

"Wow, he lost to you?"

Steve took the gold medal and looked at it. Sure enough, it was the mark of the swimming event. He held it up and faced the camera, which captured the gold medal.

"Link, can you swim faster than the world champion?"

Tyson and the others also looked at him in disbelief. Although boxers are powerful, fast and have great endurance, boxing and swimming have different power points. If a boxer wants to swim faster than a swimming champion, this is definitely a talent. Superman.

Link explained: "Everyone knows that I live in Miami Beach. My ancestors were fishermen, and I am a diver. I often swim in the sea. My skills are pretty good, but I am only a little faster than him. We exchanged gold medals afterwards."

Yesterday when he was doing a show on CBS, the producer suddenly invited Phelps, who has eight gold medals on his body.

As soon as Phelps saw him, he shouted that he wanted to compete with him.

Encouraged by the CBS host, the two went to the swimming pool and had a competition.

He swam the 200-meter course in only 98 seconds, more than 5 seconds ahead of Phelps. If it were in sea water, he would have surpassed him by even more.

After the game, Phelpster was shocked and said he would train harder when he went back and try to beat him next time.

"Link, you're a few seconds faster than Phelps. Have you ever considered becoming a swimmer and competing in the Olympics in four years?"

"Not yet. My goal now is to become a world boxing champion."

Link said while clenching his fists.

"Link, I support you, boxing is much cooler than swimming."

Tyson patted his shoulder and said.

Link agreed. Swimming can only win championships and accept a few more advertisements afterwards. Other income is not much.

A top boxer can be called a walking money printing machine. He can earn hundreds of millions of dollars in half an hour in a match, making more money faster and more than any sports star. Naturally, he will not lose the big for the small.

However, according to regulations, boxers cannot participate in amateur boxing competitions such as the Olympics after turning to professional boxing.

If he wants to win more Olympic gold medals, he can only go swimming. He has received a call from the United States Swimming Association before, inviting him to join the US team, but he has not yet agreed.

"Link, let's go back to the game. There are so many people cheering you on. Do you feel any pressure?"

Steve asked, pointing to the big screen.

"No, I like playing at home, and I also like to hear the audience cheering for me. The louder they cheer, the harder I play. This is one of the reasons why I can beat Aragon again."

"Yes, Link's mentality is very good. He is a person with a strong heart."

Doug Fisher commented.

Link thanks Fisher for the compliment.

Next, he continued to interpret the finals for the audience.

Although this final is not as exciting as the one in Havana, it is still an extremely difficult game.

At the beginning of the first round, Aragorn took the lead and engaged in guerrilla warfare with him on the spot.

The guerrilla tactic in the boxing ring is a tactic in which the weak defeat the strong. It was born out of the Cuban independence movement. The Cuban army and civilians defeated the Spanish colonial army. This tactic is very flexible. It often points to the east to attack the west, the south to the north, and the attack to defeat them. It's hard.

Link's method is to hold his position. As soon as Aragorn attacks, he will use heavy punches to chase down the opponent with a speed that is not inferior to the opponent.

After more than a month of practice, his punching weight and speed have improved, while Aragorn has been recovering from injuries for more than a month and has stopped making progress.

He knocked down Aragorn once in 110 seconds in the first round.

This punch severely dampened Aragorn's confidence and fighting spirit.

Aragon played more conservatively in the second round and chose to admit defeat in the third round and give up the game.

Bang bang bang!

"Link is awesome!"

After the game video was played, there was a burst of warm applause and cheers.

Link stood up to express his thanks.

"Dad, I seem to know this guy."

In New York, in the penthouse of the Tomb International Building, a tall, blond woman with a curvy front and back said in surprise when she saw Link on the TV.

"Oh, Ivaca, do you know Link Baker?"

Ivaca's father, Mr. Thompson, turned his eyes from the TV and looked at his eldest princess in confusion. He was probably in his sixties, with flowing blond hair. He liked to pout when he spoke and spoke in a long tone. .

"Link Baker! That's the name."

The blonde woman frowned her beautiful eyebrows, stared at Link and said, "About two months ago, I met him in front of the Tomb International Beach Building in Miami. At that time, he was riding a scooter and suddenly said hello to me. , said he was a fan of mine, and claimed that he was a boxer and would definitely become a boxing champion in the future.

I didn't believe it at the time and thought he was deliberately telling lies to get my attention. I didn't expect that he would win the championship in the Olympics. This was unbelievable. "

"More than two months ago? What a confident boy. I like this young man. I can invite him to our home next time."

Mr. Tomp said, stroking his double chin.

Ivaca also stared at the boy on TV. This guy seemed to be more handsome than two months ago. At that time, he was wearing casual clothes and looked ordinary. But after more than two months, he turned out to be so handsome and charming. Radiate.

It's so amazing.

Maybe I can talk to him when I go to Miami in the future.

"Link, congratulations again on winning the Olympic gold medal. I want to ask you a question on behalf of all the boxing fans. When will your next fight be? Is there a definite time?"

Steve asked on the TV.

"Roughly in early September, I will switch to professional boxing and participate in the qualifying matches for the WBA super middleweight championship belt."

"That's great. I wish you victory in your first fight and win more gold belts in the future."

Steve said.

"Ask about his relationship status, boxing fans are concerned about this issue."

Ms. Tina intervened aloud.

Steve was stunned for a moment. It was almost over, so why did he ask questions about relationships again? Is this appropriate? He thought for a while, but couldn't find a good insertion port, so he asked two questions casually and ended the recording of this program.

"Hmph, I bet you will continue to run outfield. Congratulations, you can find opportunities to pick up girls everywhere again."

Ms. Tina sneered into her earphones.

The corners of Steve's eyes twitched, and he felt very bitter. If he had known that she would become his superior, he would have been more serious when dating her and stopped flirting with others. Now revenge is coming.

He thought for a while, if Tina was still the director of the program production team, it would be safer for him to run outfield. If he stayed on stage, his life might be in danger.

Thinking of this, Steve Mandanda smiled slightly and felt a little more relaxed.