Chapter 26 : Secret Deal

  "Mr. Link Baker, can we talk?"

  At the east entrance of the American Airlines Arena, Link and James came back from outside after dinner and heard a voice behind them.

  The speaker was a middle-aged man with a slightly bald head and wearing a Polo T-shirt.

  This person's opening remarks were the same as Greg Cohen's, which made him mistakenly believe that the other person was also from the promotion company, but it turned out that he was not.

  The man came forward and introduced himself as Joseph or something, and that he was Andrzej Fonfara's agent.

  It should be noted here that Andrzej Fonda is his opponent in the next game.

  Shortly after Link's match ended, the other three first-place vs. second-place matches also ended one after another.

  Southeast Division No. 1 Link vs. Western Division No. 2, Link wins!

  Eastern Division Andrzej Fonfala vs. Northern Division No. 2, Andrzej wins!

Western Division Andre Beto vs. Eastern Division No. 2, Andre Beto wins!

  Mitchell Robinson of the North Division vs. Jones Fullers, the second place in the Southeast Division.

  Jones-Followers wins unexpectedly!

  The first round is over.

  The second round draw determines the opponent.

  Since he and Jones-Follows were both in the Southeast Division, they each drew an opponent in the draw, and he drew the Eastern Division champion Andrzej Fonfala.

  Andrej is a technical boxer - in amateur competitions, due to the protection of high-elastic sponge, it is extremely difficult to KO the opponent.

Technical boxers often win by points more easily than power-type and agile boxers in competitions.

This is why technical boxers are more popular in the amateur boxing circle, and it is also one of the reasons why many power boxers give up amateur competitions prematurely and switch to professional boxing.

  Anderzej has superb boxing skills. He is 189 cm tall, with an arm length of 198 cm. He punches quickly and moves like a praying mantis, often able to surprise his opponents with a cold punch.

  His shortcomings are that he is not strong enough, has low resistance to blows, and his physical strength is worse than that of a top boxer.

  In his last match, he fought with Northern Division runner-up Calvin Peters for ten rounds, which consumed a lot of his energy and he needed help when he got off the stage.

  His next opponent is none other than the famous boxing anesthesiologist Link Baker, a hexagonal boxer who possesses strength, speed, technique and good looks.

  You can imagine what the scene would be like if the two of them competed.

  So now the audience is looking forward to the afternoon match, wanting to see how Link knocks out his opponent in a fancy way.

  Link was a little surprised to see Anderzej's agent coming to him, and he didn't understand what the other party's intention was.

  "Mr. Link Baker, the thing is, I would like to ask you to use less strength during the match and not knock out Andrezej within three rounds."

  "What?"

  Link was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "You want me to be gentle during the competition? But this is a formal competition, Mr. Joseph!"

  "I understand, I understand. If Mr. Baker is willing to end the fight after eight rounds, I am willing to give you thirty thousand dollars as a reward."

  The middle-aged man said very politely.

  Link raised his eyebrows and understood that he was being asked to cooperate with the punch.

  This kind of thing is too common. Whether in underground boxing rings or in professional boxing, the phenomenon of fake fights exists.

  He had played this game many times before and was quite familiar with this business. It was just an accident that he would appear in the finals of the Golden Glove Championship and was also surprised that the other party would make such a request.

  He pondered for a moment, said to the other party, "Wait a moment", and then pulled James, who was still in a daze, to the side.

  "James, I'm going to go back and take a nap. You come and talk to him about this. Tell him that for $30,000, I will make Andrej go down in the third round, for $40,000 I will make Andrej go down in the fourth round, and for $100,000 I will make Andrej go down in the tenth round. The bottom line is $50,000. I won't do it for less than $50,000."

  James looked around and said in a low voice, "Is this a fake fight? I heard that there are many people in the boxing circle who fake fights, which is very bad. Why do you do this?"

  Link shook his head. "A fake fight is someone who intentionally loses a match and changes the outcome of the match. We don't do that. We trade fairly. Think about it. I have a match tomorrow. The longer the match with Anderzej drags on, the more it will consume me. So if he wants me to finish Anderzej off later, he has to compensate me."

  James glanced at the middle-aged man not far away, "But why did he do this? Does it make a difference if he does it a few rounds earlier or later?"

  "Of course. My punches are very lethal. The longer he can last against me, the stronger he is. After being reported by the media, the data will be more impressive. If I knock out Andrzej in the first round, how will the media comment on him? So this money is well spent."

  "But this is a bad thing after all. If the media finds out, will they expose you?" James looked around and asked cautiously.

  "Don't worry, just do your job, I'll take care of everything."

  Link laughed.

  After giving James a few words of advice, he yawned and went back to the lounge to sleep.

  More than ten minutes later, James ran in panting.

His originally fluffy curls were wet with sweat and stuck to his forehead. It was unclear whether it was because of the heat or fear.

He stuck his butt out, carefully closed the door, and came over to wake up Link who was dozing off.

  "Link, fifty thousand dollars, KO after eight rounds, do you want to agree?"

  James swallowed and asked softly.

  Link thought about it, resting his head on his arms, then nodded.

  "So I'm going to collect the money?"

  James took two steps, turned around and asked, "How about we go together?"

  Link turned around and faced the wall, snoring, and there was a soft sound of a door closing behind him.

  Half an hour later, Link took a nap and James ran in with his hands on his stomach, his face flushed. His expression showed three parts excitement and seven parts worry.  

  He locked the door of the lounge, took out a butter paper package from his stomach, spread it out on the stool, and found five stacks of green US dollars.

  Link was stunned, "Where did the money come from?"

  "Ah?"

  James blinked his eyes. "This is the fifty thousand dollars I just took back from our transaction with Joseph."

  "What Joseph? Who is Joseph? What deal? Why would he give you so much money?" Link asked in surprise.

  "."

  James was stunned, rubbed his eyes with his fists, and stared at him, "Didn't you just let me out, did you forget?"

  "I didn't, don't talk nonsense, I was just sleeping and I didn't know anything." Link closed his eyes and shook his head seriously.

  James sat down on the ground, pointing at him with a trembling finger, "You, why are you like this? You asked me to do it, why are you lying and saying you didn't know?"

  "I really don't know."

  "Impossible, you clearly knew, how can you say you didn't know? I didn't want to do it, but you asked me to do it. After I did it, you said you didn't know. You can't do this."

  James slumped to the ground, his eyes red.

  Link touched his forehead, feeling a little reluctant, and said helplessly: "James, I am the person involved. There are some things I should know and some things I shouldn't know. I only know what I should know, and I won't ask about things I shouldn't know. Do you understand?"

  James blinked his eyes. He was not stupid, but he had never done such a thing before. His brain was confused for a moment.

After thinking for a while, he suddenly slapped his forehead and said in shock: "I understand. You mean, you make the money and I take the blame?"

  "NoNoNo, it's the two of us who make the money, and it's clean money, so there won't be any problems."

  Link picked up a wad of money and threw it into the fat man's arms.

  There is no personal income tax or inheritance tax in Miami, and there is no tax on gifts from others. It is not only the entire American product trading center, but also a money laundering center. Fifty thousand US dollars is nothing.

  "Is the money really okay?"

  James felt the money was too hot to hold, so Link simply threw all the money into his arms and asked him to take it back.

  "No problem. If there is any problem, I will take care of it. It has nothing to do with a little assistant like you. Go out. I'll sleep for a while."

  Link waved his hand.

  James wiped the sweat off his forehead, put the money into the bag, stuffed it into his big belly, stammered, and hesitantly walked out the door.

  ——

  "This fat guy came here several times in a sneaky way, with something hidden in his stomach. What are they doing?"

  At the door of the next room, a ferocious-looking face was looking at James' back through the crack in the door, with some confusion on his face.

  "Is Link taking drugs?"

  Mario's pupils suddenly dilated. He started thinking, and after much thought, this was the only possibility.

The fat man came in stealthily, like a thief entering the house, with something hidden in his stomach, and he hid it when he left too. The time in between was enough for Link to take drugs.

  Can taking drugs alone solve the problem?

  Urine tests are conducted before the fight, and the boxers' preserved urine is also checked after the fight.

  Cheating is a big deal.

  Link didn't think that the organizer's urine testing agency couldn't detect what came out of him, right?

  Mario rolled his eyes and came to West's coach's lounge.

  West was watching the video of Andre Berto's game in the morning. Mario walked behind him twice and said in a low voice: "West, can you believe it? Link was taking Ketamine in the lounge?"

  West was stunned for a moment and shook his head, "Impossible, he doesn't need it."

  "Really? I just saw the fat guy in his store sneaking into his lounge with food in his stomach, and then sneaking out again. Link must be taking drugs."

  Mario said firmly.

  "Don't talk nonsense, Link can't be on drugs."

  West waved his hand calmly and continued watching the game video.

  Mario clenched his fists, took a few deep breaths, walked over to Reggie who was taking a nap, and punched him awake. "I swear, Link must be taking drugs."

  Reggie rubbed his eyes, yawned under Mario's gaze, and covered his head with the blanket.

  "Why why, why don't you believe me?"

  Mario yelled in irritation.

  (End of this chapter)