Hardest Fight Yet

With the sudden increase in popularity of the Club, too many people wanted to join. There was only one Mr Kaiju which was troublesome because he had to integrate each new member.

Eventually, they decided to cap the Club members for each year at 25 People.

In this way, Mr Kaiju's focus would be on a limited number of people. That would make things easier for him.

Trying to coach multiple people was difficult. Individual coaching was not going to be possible.

Of course, Zayd was an exception to this.

---

With the first match over, Zayd was through to the next round. The most important thing now was to consolidate his abilities.

A few days rest was between each match to allow the fighters to recuperate.

It was not a brilliant idea to cause competitors to become exhausted in a competition.

Thursday evening was Zayd's next match. Mr Kaiju told him something vital that he did not expect.

"Your next opponent is a Southpaw Fighter. You are an Orthodox. The problem is that you rarely encounter Southpaws, so they hold an advantage against you in a generally Orthodox sport. I'll attempt to act like the Southpaws I've fought in the past."

With Mr Kaiju's Right hand on the same side as Zayd's Left Hand, his Jab got easily nullified by a Left Hand Straight.

Another thing was that Zayd's usual combinations required some change. With Zayd's Power Hand even further away, it was challenging to land it on Mr Kaiju.

Zayd would Jab out with his Left, but Mr Kaiju could stop it with his Right Hand.

With each exchange of punches, Zayd felt his understanding of the Southpaw stance increase. Fighting against the stance, he understood how certain things worked well while other things failed against the Southpaw.

For example, when Zayd circled left towards Mr Kaiju's Right hand, he blocked the Left Hand. Mr Kaiju's Right Shoulder blocked his Left Hand from reaching Zayd.

With his head behind the Right Hand, Zayd could punch with both hands and be able to hit the Southpaw without being hit back.

As the training went on, Zayd further heightened his understanding of the Southpaw and its differences to the Orthodox Stance. Both had things that were better than the other in some way.

For Zayd, this experience was priceless.

Eventually, Zayd tried out Southpaw against Mr Kaiju in Orthodox. In this way, he would learn the defensive manoeuvres used by Southpaws and how they defend different punches.

This time, his learning sped up exponentially.

Once the training got to the point where Zayd's 'Switch' flipped, Zayd seemed like a mainly Southpaw fighter. Fighting off of his instincts, Zayd did his best against Mr Kaiju. However, the weight class difference between the two made things difficult.

Zayd felt excited for the upcoming fight with the Southpaw. What had occurred the last time the Competition was on was that Zayd's next opponent had come in second place.

The difficulty of this next fight was incomparable to the last match with Hattori Gensai that Zayd had.

However, Zayd welcomed the challenge with open arms.

---

Now that he sat at the front of the classroom, Zayd sat next to Minoru, which would most likely be a permanent change.

Zayd rather enjoyed being next to Minoru as she was good academically and was helpful whenever he struggled with some topics until he got it. Alongside that, she was great fun to talk to as a person. The fact that the two had some hobbies that aligned exemplified this affinity between the two.

"Yeah, I haven't ever fought a Southpaw before either. Most people were Orthodox, so I'm afraid I can't give you any advice in that area," Minoru said to Zayd.

"That's completely fine," Zayd replied. "I feel too excited right now. I'm shaking so much."

"Zayd? Are you okay? Are you sure there's nothing wrong?" Minoru asked with an expression of concern on her face.

"Yeah, this happened before too. Don't worry- it's alright, I think anyway."

---

Somehow, Zayd managed to calm himself down and took a nap after School had finished. Having already trained a little to the extent that he would not be exhausted, Zayd had prepared for the fight.

---

Once more, Zayd stepped into the Ring. Zayd had seen other Amateur Boxing Competitions. Some did not even have a Ring and only had some space with four markings to mark the corners.

As he had entered after his opponent, Zayd felt his 'Switch' flip once his opponent came into view.

Standing in the Red Corner was Zayd.

Over at the Blue Corner was Zayd's opponent, Yujiro Sato.

The Southpaw had a strange aura about him.

'This guy is tough.' Zayd instinctively knew the fight was not going to be a steamroll like the last.

However, Zayd was not deterred in the least, as he maintained direct eye contact while remaining completely calm.

As though shutting off the outside world, all he could hear was Mr Kaiju speaking to him.

Entering a state of extreme focus, Zayd walked forward to touch gloves with his opponent.

As the referee went over the rules hastily, Zayd felt relaxed. He could feel his blood pumping as he breathed in deeply and exhaled.

It was the Quarter-Finals, and already, Zayd was fighting against one of the big bosses within the Competition.

As it was Zayd's second Amateur Boxing Fight, it was also the make or break part of his career.

As the fight started, Zayd's opponent moved forward.

Yujiro came forward with his Jab. His Right hand came forward plenty of times as he moved with every punch.

Zayd tried the counters he'd been working on with a single Right Hook landing on Yujiro's abdomen.

Zayd got hit by a Low Jab once as a Straight Left whizzed past his face.

With the exchanges increasing, Zayd understood that Yujiro was a pressure fighter. Someone that doesn't care about range and closes the distance to land a large volume of punches.

As Zayd backed off, he switched to a Southpaw Stance.