"Link, you're only twenty years old? That's surprising."
In the office, Coach West Corian was looking through the filled-out data card and was surprised to see his birthdate in February 1989.
"Don't seem like it?"
Nursing a citrus-flavored lollipop, Link raised his handsome eyebrows and smiled.
"Haha, it's not about your looks; young boxers are usually more flamboyant on stage, showing their emotions openly, but you've always been quiet, very composed. I thought you were older," Coach West praised.
Link smiled lightly. He didn't consider himself composed; he just didn't think defeating a few ordinary people was worth boasting about. There was no need to get too excited.
If he had beaten a current champion of the WBA-WBC-IBF-WBO, fulfilling his dream from a previous life, he would definitely have roared out in excitement.
"West, I have two prison records. Will that affect my amateur competitions?"
Link pointed to the criminal record section on the data card, which listed two entries: his former self had been sentenced to three months in jail and 200 hours of community service for theft and fighting.
It was his predecessor's crimes, and now he had to take the blame.
West looked at it, also somewhat surprised. He had thought Link was a good kid, but seeing the criminal record, he could only sigh that appearances can be deceiving.
"It won't affect the amateur competition, but if you later achieve notable results in boxing, these records will be exposed by the media and add some scandals to your name."
"Scandals are fine, notoriety is still fame," Link replied nonchalantly, not caring about how becoming famous would affect him. He continued, "West, I plan to fight in amateur competitions for six months and enter the professional boxing scene next year. What do you think?"
"Only six months of amateur competitions?"
West was taken aback for a moment and said, "Link, isn't that too hasty? Although amateur boxing isn't as tough as professional boxing, there are still some strong contenders there. Competing in amateur fights is also a form of training, just like Holyfield. He fought in 160 amateur competitions and honed his skills significantly, which is why he performed so remarkably in professional matches."
"West, I understand what you mean, but I am confident in my abilities," Link asserted.
Seeing West was about to advise further, Link raised his palm to stop him and said, "West, I have a suggestion. Let's set a period of six months, and I will participate in as many amateur competitions as possible. If I lose any match, I'll delay going into professional boxing, but if not, then we will proceed as I suggested, entering the professional scene after six months."
West Corian thought for a while, and decided that this arrangement could work.
If Link managed to continuously win in the next six months, it would show that his abilities were enough to handle professional matches. Staying in the amateur circle would be a waste.
But he didn't believe that Link would last six months undefeated, and once Link stepped into the professional ring, he would realize just how many skilled fighters there were.
"Alright, I'll arrange for you to participate in the amateur competitions as soon as possible. Use this time to train hard," West encouraged.
Link nodded affirmatively.
Boxing is divided into amateur and professional competitions.
Amateur competitions include Olympic boxing, continental sports competitions, world championships, and the Golden Gloves event among others.
Professional competitions mainly refer to matches initiated by international professional boxing organizations and are regulated and managed by them.
The four major boxing organizations with the heaviest gold content in the boxing world are the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC), and International Boxing Federation (IBF), and the World Boxing Organization (WBO).
There are also many smaller professional boxing organizations like the IBO, WBF, IBA, NBA, and so on.
Each professional boxing organization has its own distinct rules, constitutions, and forms of competition.
Amateur competitions are supervised and managed by the sponsors of the sports events, whereas professional events are regulated by professional boxing organizations.
Additionally, a clear difference between them is their degree of commercial involvement.
Amateur competitions are not highly commercialized and boxers mainly compete for honor.
However, professional boxing is highly commercialized, involving extensive promotion and advertising before matches, ticket sales and pay-per-view fees during events, and post-match publicity—all are part of the commercial operations.
The competition between boxers is mainly for monetary rewards; honor is secondary. Just like boxing champion Floyd Mayweather once said to his old opponent De La Hoyle, 'You want to fight me? Sure! But if it's not for a hundred million US dollars, please don't bother calling me.'
The promotional boxing companies take their profit-maximizing mindset to the extreme; without money, one shouldn't even dream about competing against their boxers. This approach is also why the American boxing scene has experienced a decline in recent years.
Link wants to move into professional boxing sooner, to make the most of the North American boxing scene before it's beyond salvage, and earn more US dollars. With enough money, challenging other champions would also be easier.
—
"Mario, are you alright?"
On the boxing ring, Link put on his boxing gloves again, practicing boxing. When he suggested doing sparring, Mario volunteered to be his sparring partner.
Link said his punches were quite heavy and asked him to wear a boxing headgear for protection. Mario insisted he didn't need it, confident he could handle it, inviting Link to attack at full strength.
But it was only a little while before Mario was sent sprawling.
"I'm fine, I can do this,"
Mario shook his head to clear it, struggling to rise from the ground, his knees almost giving out as he nearly collapsed again.
"Mario, put on the protective gear. If you don't want to, let Reggie spar with Link," Coach West called out.
Mario snorted disdainfully and reluctantly put on a high-elasticity foam headgear and body armor, protecting his head and body. With the protective gear, Mario's already substantial frame looked even bulkier.
"Haha, Link, come hit me now, I can definitely take your punches," Mario taunted, tapping his padded headgear with his fists and smiling.
Link smiled lightly, raising his fists, and continued to attack Mario.
With the protection of the sponge headgear, Mario's resistance to being knocked down greatly increased; he wouldn't easily fall anymore.
Bang, bang, bang!
Link swung his fists recklessly, using straight punches, hook punches, jabs, swing punches, and throwing punches, five basic punching techniques, along with combinations of these punches, one move after another, as he delightfully hammered away at Mario.
After more than an hour of training, Link's muscular back was drenched in sweat, and Mario lay straight out on the ground, gasping for breath.
"Link, are you a beast? Why are you so strong?"
Mario said weakly.
Previously, when Mario had competed against Link, he thought Link's strength was just ordinary. Having trained with Link for over an hour, he realized just how terrifying Link was. His fists were like hammers, fast and ruthless, and even with protective gear, one would be forced to keep retreating.
This guy is a beast.
"I'm just naturally strong."
"You rest for now; I'll go train on the rubber target."
Link handed Mario a bottle of water and stepped down from the boxing ring.
The other boxers saw Mario, even with protective gear, being thrown around by Link, and they couldn't help but look at him with admiration.
Mario weighed 208 pounds and was a heavyweight boxer, while Link weighed 168 pounds, fitting into the super middleweight and light heavyweight class, yet he still managed to knock down Mario across weight classes, showing incredible strength.
Coach West saw Link knock down Mario and laughed happily.
The power Link had demonstrated was greater than he imagined, and his speed was faster. His execution of combination punches was also very proficient, akin to that of a seasoned old boxer. His mindset and boxing awareness were extremely savvy too.
West felt like he had struck gold, a mine with vast reserves.
"West, you've seen my technique; do you have any suggestions for improvement?"
Link wiped the sweat from his neck and chest with a towel.
West pondered for a moment,
"Link, your combination punches are fantastic, but there are a few minor issues. Have you noticed them?"
"What issues, West? Feel free to tell me."
"When you compete, you have these little movements like lifting your knee, swinging your elbow, or stepping up. Have you trained in mixed martial arts before?"
West asked.
Link nodded his head.
These weren't habitual movements from practicing mixed martial arts, but behaviors formed from fighting too long in underground boxing rings.
Underground boxing matches focus more on visual spectacle and are laxer in regulation; as long as there aren't any major fouls, most things aren't considered violations.
This tolerance led to boxers frequently using dirty tricks. Having fought in underground rings for nearly ten years, Link had developed some bad habits.
But he was also trying his best to restrain them.
"West, I used to fight a lot on the streets where I didn't pay much attention to rules, but I'll be more careful from now on."
"Good, keep practicing."
Feeling he still had strength to spare, Link continued practicing his boxing on the human-shaped rubber target.
The human-shaped rubber target was harder than a human body; only wearing hand wraps, it was tough on the hands, yet the rubber was quite durable and needn't worry about breaking, making it very satisfying to practice on.
As Link practiced his punches, West and the boxing apprentices stood at a distance watching him. Seeing him unleash furiously on the rubber target with loud bangs, watching the target keep shaking, they couldn't help but marvel.
Legend has it that back in the day, Tyson often knocked out his sparring partners and shattered the targets during practice. Link was almost doing the same—could Link become a boxer as formidable as Tyson?
Mario watched with a twitch in his eye; it was too brutal. If Link had fought like that in the ring just now, he would have probably been knocked down long ago.
"Everyone, stop watching and go train."
West waved his hands and shooed away several boxers and boxing apprentices.
"His build doesn't look very strong, how is he so formidable?"
Mario said enviously.
"That's talent, something you can't envy."
West also felt envious. If only he had Link's talent back in his day, he might not have spent ten years boxing without even winning a single Golden Belt.
"Mario, you've seen Link's strength; his power and speed are outstanding even among professional boxers. If you could train with him for three years, winning a continental boxing championship in the future wouldn't be difficult."
West said.
Mario scratched the flesh on his face, "West, have you considered another possibility? If I train with him for three years, I might end up getting killed by him?"
"It's possible, so whether you want to be his sparring partner is up to you."
West patted Mario's shoulder and then left to arrange a match for Link.
Mario watched Link's retreating figure, clenching his fists tightly, annoyed at himself for being too weak to withstand Link's attacks, forcing him to use the rubber man, which was a failure of a sparring partner's duty.
"Link, I'll continue to be your sparring partner tomorrow."
Mario shouted with all his might.
"Heard you, no need to shout that loud!"