Southpaw V Southpaw

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

Now, Zayd had put his opponent into a situation where they had the least experience. A Southpaw was rare, so two Southpaws facing one another was a barely seen thing.

Zayd could use his skills better this way. As he had adapted his combinations with Mr Kaiju, Zayd had prepared for this kind of fight.

Frowning, Yujiro felt awkward.

No longer possessing the advantage, Yujiro had to fight in a way he never had before. It was troublesome for him to fight a Southpaw as he had never done so. Unluckily for Yujiro, this was Zayd's plan from the start.

With the change, Zayd's style also changed.

Zayd had less reach than Yujiro by a slight margin. That was a disadvantage. To combat this, Zayd moved closer and started getting his Jab into Yujiro's guard.

Now, Zayd was testing Yujiro's reactions and defence.

Of course, Yujiro attempted to regain his bearings by throwing punches with a regularly occurring Right Hook.

Mr Kaiju had taught Zayd a trick to deal with Hooks: whenever they go for your body, poke your elbow out to target their forearms.

In this way, you can inflict damage without punching. You also cause pain which could open up an opportunity for a counterattack.

One final impact was that you would reduce your opponent's punching power.

Zayd's Jab slipped through Yujiro's guard twice and hit his face before Zayd followed up with a Left Hook to the body.

Hitting Yujiro directly, Zayd stunned him momentarily. However, the bell rang, signalling the end of the First Round.

Mr Kaiju spoke to Zayd in his corner.

"When you hit your Jab on his body, he wants to throw a Hook at you. Try and bait him to chase you a little, then switch stance and use your power hand! Remember, you don't need to stick to Southpaw- you can switch as well."

Meanwhile, on the other side, Yujiro spoke to his Coach.

"I can't hit him. Every time I punch, it doesn't land, and I get hit instead. What do I do?" Yujiro felt rather desperate at changing the outcome of the fight.

"I see that you're throwing your hooks too much, and he's poking his elbows out to hurt you. Alright, throw your Jab and move back and watch what he does. You are panicking because this is weird for you to fight a Southpaw. Calm yourself down. Out of you two, who has more reach?"

"I do," Yujiro said.

"Who has more Boxing experience in general?"

"I do," Yujiro said with more conviction in his voice.

"Who is going to be the Champ?"

"I am!" Yujiro said with confidence coming back to himself.

"Now, let's get back in there! You can do this, Yujiro!" His Coach said to him as he patted Yujiro's back.

The bell went once more, signalling the start of the Second Round.

Immediately, Zayd detected Yujiro's change as he stayed a little out of range.

Zayd waited as he feinted to see if Yujiro's reactions changed.

Instead of the previous backwards shuffle he did, Yujiro merely took a half step back.

His guard remained up, and Zayd moved forward to target his body with his Jab, but Yujiro had stepped in slightly, and his Jab struck Zayd solidly on his cheek.

Zayd wanted to move in once more but realised what was happening.

Yujiro was doing a tactic in which he watched his range as he attempted to 'Out Box' Zayd.

There are two areas in which you can be in within a fight.

Firstly, the Green Zone, otherwise called the Safety Zone.

Secondly, there is the Red Zone, also named the Danger Zone.

What Yujiro was doing now was standing on the edge of his Green Zone- he was waiting for Zayd to move forward.

Once Zayd approached him, Yujiro's reach was enough to hit him while remaining safe from any counters.

It was usually tough to work around such a tactic in some cases.

However, for Zayd, it was different.

Zayd's brain recognised the pattern.

Zayd pretended to move forward as he lifted his front foot moved it forward but planted it where it originally was.

Yujiro threw his Jab in a reaction as Zayd had moved quickly.

Rapidly accelerating, Zayd went on his tip-toes as his Jab once again struck Yujiro on the face after Zayd avoided Yujiro's punches.

Zayd Jabbed twice towards Yujiro. The first Jab hit, the second went down for where Zayd had landed the powerful Hook earlier.

Feeling a sense of crisis momentarily, Yujiro attempted to keep calm as he hastily parried Zayd's Jab.

However, this gave Zayd another opportunity.

With Yujiro's Right Hand down, lifting it would take some more time.

Zayd switched stances back to Orthodox.

His Jab struck Yujiro suddenly, causing Yujiro to try to retreat.

Zayd was following him, however. Getting into the flow of things, Zayd threw his Right Hand with strength that Yujiro had not felt yet.

Striking Yujiro cleanly, Zayd threw a Low Right Hook. Swapping back to Southpaw, Zayd threw a Left Hook at the same place.

Finding the beginning of a rhythm, Zayd flowed around Yujiro's punches like water. The 'switch' in his mind had activated all the way.

For the first time, Zayd felt everything pour out of him.

One punch after another, Zayd felt his Boxing had gone up a level.

With every Stance change, every combination, everything became more refined.

Yujiro attempted to fight back. However, under the unrelenting flurry of attacks, Yujiro panicked once more.

The referee looked ready to stop things soon if it seemed like Yujiro took too much damage.

Zayd's punches stacked up the damage.

The bell rang, signalling the end of yet another round.

"Keep doing what you're doing, I don't know what it is, but it's working. It's insane how quickly you grow. You're doing well, Zayd. I'm proud of you," Mr Kaiju said to Zayd in their corner.

Yujiro felt his motivation falter.

"Yujiro is it over yet?! Why do you want to give up? I told you, you can do this! I'm not lying to you, and you know it too, don't you? Don't give up because things get challenging. I know you have it in you to power through and win the next two rounds! Remember, no pain, no gain. If you can't get through this, you should stop Boxing." Yujiro's Coach was able to say the right words once more.

As the Third Round started, Yujiro changed once more.