Chapter 18 : Southeast Division Finals

  The Orlando competition ended, and Link won the gold medal of the Florida Division of the Golden Gloves Championship, five sets of sports suits sponsored by the Amateur Boxing Association, and a cash prize of US$5,000.  Just one day later, he and West took the Silver Star train to Charleston, South Carolina, to participate in the Southeast Division competition.

  The Southeast Division includes fourteen states: Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.

  The top three in each weight class from each state qualify, with a total of 42 boxers participating in the super middleweight competition.

  After four rounds of competition, Link once again advanced to the finals, and entered the finals with a record of KOing all his opponents, causing a huge sensation in the arena and the amateur boxing circle.

  Almost all amateur boxers know that there is a boxer from Miami who is good at KOing his opponents. He will knock his opponents unconscious to the ground in every match and will not stop until he knocks them unconscious. He has therefore earned his second title, 'physical anesthesiologist'.

  The first title was the 'Prince Boxing of Miami' given to him by boxing fans.

  Because his previous performance was too high-profile, his killer moves and game tactics were studied by his opponents. Before the game, his opponents stayed up late to find ways to crack his killer moves and tactics.

  This also made his subsequent games extremely difficult.

  In the semi-finals, his opponent was an extremely skilled Italian boxer with good skills and fast speed. He dodged Link's "killer back throw" at the beginning of the game, which caused a burst of exclamations at the scene. Everyone knew that Link's back throw was very powerful.

  From the beginning of the game to now, no one has ever dodged it, but this time he was avoided by his opponent. Everyone feels that Link might experience his first defeat since his debut.

  Unfortunately they were disappointed.

  Even though his killing move was avoided, Link was not discouraged. He still had powerful punches. In the following six rounds, he threw a total of 286 punches, with more than 40 punches in each round. This was the time when he threw the most punches and with the highest frequency in all his previous matches.

  He threw 286 punches, hit his opponent in the head 48 times, knocked him down 7 times, and the last time, he used a swift straight punch to knock his opponent to the ground completely, and he couldn't get up for ten seconds.

  He won the game with difficulty.

  "Link, how are you?"

  West saw that his whole body was covered with sweat and his arm and leg muscles were shaking. He knew that this was a symptom of overexertion, so he quickly asked Reggie and Mario to help him lie down and rest, and asked the accompanying masseur to massage his muscles.

  "I'm fine, just a little exhausted."

  Link took a sip of water and wrapped his whole body with a towel to prevent water loss.

  West frowned at him and sighed, "Link, why don't we change the plan? The goal of winning by knocking out all the opponents is too difficult to achieve."

  "That's right, Link. There are a lot of promoters from promotion companies here today. They are scouting for talents. I think winning the game is the most important thing." Reggie fanned him with a towel.

  Link waved his hand and smiled, "Don't try to persuade me. This is the goal I set for myself. Now that the goal has been set, it cannot be easily changed before failure."

  "Your opponent in the next match will be very strong. How can you knock him out with your current condition?" Mario said with a pout.

  "Fight with all your might!"

  Link clenched his fists, his eyes were determined, and his flying sword-like eyebrows were as sharp as his fists.

  The Southeast Division finals were held at 4 p.m. at the Garden Arena in North Charleston, attracting a total of 12,000 spectators. Media from southeastern states, FOX News, HBO Sports Channel and other media outlets sent reporters to do on-site interviews.

  "Link, next you will face Jones Fullers, the runner-up of last year's U.S. Amateur Championship. He is very strong. Will you still insist on ending the match by knocking out your opponent?"

  a Miami Herald reporter asked.

  "Yes, this is my goal. No matter how difficult it is, no matter how strong the opponent is, I will work hard to achieve it."

  Link responded in a gentle yet powerful voice.

  "Link, what if you fail? Will you give up the game?"

  asked a reporter from the Tennessee News.

  "Failure? Sorry, I never thought I would fail, not here, not in Miami, so Mr. Reporter, please don't mention the word failure when interviewing me."

  Link smiled and pumped his fist.

  "Link, congratulations on advancing to the Southeast Division finals and qualifying for the national championship. What is your next goal?"

  The HBO sports reporter handed over the microphone and asked.

  "Champion, of course I am the champion! I have no other choice but to be the champion."

  Link said, raising his fist.

  The interview time is over.  

  The reporters left, and only two Spongebobs were left in the ring - Link in the red sponge suit and Jones-Fullers in the blue sponge suit.

  Jones-Follows, an African-American, 22 years old, from Tennessee, is 192 cm tall, has an arm length of 195 cm, and weighs 78.2 kg. He was the light heavyweight runner-up in last year's US National Amateur Championship.

  In order to win the championship, Jones-Follows lost two kilograms before the game and signed up for the super middleweight competition.

  His characteristics are that he has a small head, a strong body, is fast, is good at fast breaks, and is also very good at defense. He is a boxer with comprehensive skills on both offense and defense.

  He once broke the noses of three opponents in light heavyweight amateur competitions.

  At present, the amateur competition record is 32 games with 28 wins, 3 losses and 1 draw, and the competition experience is very rich.

  After the game started, Jones-Follows adopted a conservative style of play, did not actively launch an attack, and stayed more than a meter away from him;

  Link tried to chase Jones, but was quickly avoided by Jones at an extremely fast speed.

  After thinking it over, Link decided to change his tactics, abandon the plan of active attack, and conserve his energy first.

  In the first and second rounds, both sides only threw 12 punches in total, and they only bumped fists perfunctorily at the urging of the referee.

  "What are they doing, why aren't they fighting?"

  Mario asked confused.

  The audience at the scene was also confused. Before coming to watch the game, the news said that there was an amateur boxer from Miami who was very fierce. He fought like crazy in the arena, beating anyone he saw and knocking out all his opponents. He was called the "anesthetist."

  Now that we are in the finals, why is the 'anesthetist' not anesthetizing anymore?

  "Link, what are your plans?"

  During a break in the second round, West asked Link this question.

  Link shook his head, looked at his opponent who was also resting, and said, "Don't worry, wait a little longer."

  "Wait? Wait for what?"

  Mario glanced at Jones across from him and asked in a low voice, "Did you put anesthetics in his water?"

  Link was stunned for a moment. Is this still possible?

  After entering the stage, he was sweating a lot, panting, and his steps were a little unsteady.

  "Did Link consume too much energy in the last battle? Is he out of strength?" Reggie asked.

  "He gets tired too?"

  Mario wiggled his nose in doubt.

  There are competitions every day during this period, but whenever Link has time, he will go running outside or work out in the hotel gym. He has more stamina than the beef cattle on his ranch.

Mario doesn't believe that Link would be so tired that he would stagger, unless there were three women in his bed last night.

  "Hey, hit it quick!"

  "Stop wasting time."

  "Refund! Refund!"

  The audience shouted loudly to express their dissatisfaction with the game.

  The referee on the scene also urged the two to play faster, as passive play would result in point deductions.

  Link ignored it, just raised his fists, stared at his opponent closely, and occasionally threw a few perfunctory punches.

  Although the reaction of the live audience is important, we should not be manipulated by their emotions and change our tactics easily.

  His opponent, Jones Fullers, was also relatively calm. He frowned and looked at Link in confusion.

  According to the coaches, Link is an impatient boxer who likes to launch a fierce attack on his opponent in the first three rounds and often knocks out his opponent in the first three rounds to end the game.

  So before the game, his coach repeatedly reminded him to defend himself carefully, protect his head, and never give Link a chance to KO him.

  Jones had watched Link's game videos and remembered his heavy punches clearly, and was prepared to deal with his heavy punches.

  But since the start of the game, Link gave up attacking after just a little probing, playing very passively, as if he was deliberately delaying the game.

  Jones was a little confused. What was he trying to do? He suddenly noticed that Link was sweating a lot and his steps were floating. Was it because he had consumed too much energy in the last game? His body had not recovered yet?

  He decided to take the initiative to attack and test Link's condition.

  (end of this chapter)