Chapter 635 Competition and Date

"Hurry up, hurry up, the game is about to begin."

In the Kaleskaki Stadium, Tian Liang waved to Wang Hao and the others.

This time, most of the athletes from the Chinese team came to the 69kg semi-finals.

Several members of the diving team, Wang Hao, Kong Linghui, Wang Liqin of the table tennis team, Li Xiaopeng of the gymnastics team, and all the boxers and coaches of the boxing team who were not competing came to watch and cheer for Link.

"The news says that Link's opponent, Artyaev, is very strong. I don't know if Link can win."

"If Link wins this game and guarantees a silver medal, that would be great. He has won medals in three unpopular areas of the Chinese team, and the gold content is no worse than three gold medals."

"Link is really a genius. A shot put player, he can get second place in the javelin event and enter the semi-finals in boxing competition. It's amazing."

Zou Shiming, Wang Liqin, Yi Jianlian and others looked at Link who entered the room and said.

"Haozi, I bet that Link's legs will become weak for a while, and he might even lose the game."

Tian Liang looked at Link's figure with an inexplicable smile on his face.

"Why are your legs so weak? Hey, no way, did you put laxatives in Link's breakfast?"

Wang Hao looked at him with a 'shocked' look on his face and stood up to report him.

"Stop talking nonsense!"

Tian Liang grabbed his arm and pulled him to sit down, "Link is the national team's treasure, who dares to drug him."

"Then why do you say his legs are weak?"

Wang Hao asked.

Tian Liang gritted his teeth. Considering the negative impact of this kind of thing spreading, he swallowed the words that came to his lips and did not say them. He just told Wang Hao that he would know after watching the game.

The game begins.

In the boxing ring, Link wore a red sleeveless T-shirt and shorts, red head protection and boxing gloves, while his opponent wore blue equipment.

After the game started, the opponent took the lead, swinging his fists and hitting Link one after another, trying to break through Link's defense.

Link adopts defensive tactics and moves around the ring.

"Attyayev is really powerful. His combination punches almost never pause when switching and are very smooth. It will be very difficult for Link to beat him."

Zou Shiming said while looking at the confrontation on the stage.

"Why didn't Link fight back? Is he going to lose?"

Tian Liang asked.

"It's not that easy. Artyaev kept attacking Link, and Link was defending with all his strength. His opponent punched forty or fifty times, but he didn't hit him once. Link's defense was so beautiful, whether he was dodging or dodging, Whether it’s splitting moves or footwork, they are all master-level.

Tsk tsk, those world boxing champions on the tape didn't do as well as him, and I don't know how he trained. If my defensive ability were half, no, one-tenth of his, my winning rate would increase by 80%. "

Zou Shiming said enviously.

"I heard that Link used to practice shot put. How can he do boxing?"

Yi Jianlian asked.

"I heard that I learned it from video tapes, and after thinking about it on my own, I developed it. People like Link are boxing geniuses."

Zou Shiming said.

"Zou Shiming, you just said that Link's opponent missed him. Isn't that right? I saw the opponent punched him a lot on his arms and shoulders. Why didn't he hit him?"

Tian Liang asked.

"In amateur boxing matches, you need to hit the opponent's head with the edge of the fist, that is, the joint on the back of the hand. The area covered by the shirt counts as a score, and other places do not count."

"This is too much trouble."

Tian Liang shook his head.

In the boxing ring, Link concentrated on blocking Atyaev's attack.

When the opponent attacks his head with fists, he will dodge flexibly and use clever means to dodge the opponent's attack. When the opponent attacks his chest and abdomen, he will use his fists to dismantle them and use them to find out his moves.

He is faster than his opponent and punches harder than his opponent, so it is not too difficult to deal with him.

At around 90 seconds into the first round, Atyaev launched 6 extremely fast jabs and uppercuts, hitting him on the head, but he dodged them one after another.

Seeing that the attack was at a disadvantage, Atyaev became hesitant when he took action again.

At this moment, Link suddenly launched a counterattack. Taking advantage of the pause in the opponent's attack, he suddenly stepped forward, got close to the opponent, and knocked away the opponent's right forearm with a swift straight punch, and firmly hit the opponent's left rib.

Atyaev grunted after being beaten and stepped back involuntarily.

Link followed closely, hitting up and down, left jab + uppercut, right uppercut + left swing, hitting the opponent's abdomen and head one after another.

The opponent was caught off guard. In less than three seconds, he was hit three times in the chest and abdomen, twice in the chin and side of the face, and his back was hit by the rope. He was completely at a disadvantage.

However, Atyaev is also a battle-hardened and experienced amateur boxing elite. After being hit several times, he quickly moved his steps to distance himself from him, put his arms in front of him, and defended tightly.

Link practiced attacking with more than twenty punches, but only two of them hit his opponent's abdomen.

Dang, Dang, Dang!

The first round is over.

The referee scored 10:6.

Link leads by a huge margin.

"How come such a boxing master suddenly appeared on the Chinese team?"

In the front row of the audience, a middle-aged man with a beard looked at Link on the ring, frowning tightly.

"Teacher, Link is indeed very strong, but I am by no means worse than him."

Lennozzo Aragon clenched his fists with high fighting spirit.

Felix Savon was silent. Before coming to Athens, he thought that there were only two opponents for Aragon, Atyaev and Todorov, who was eliminated in the previous game.

Unexpectedly, during the quarter-finals, news suddenly came out in the media that an extremely skilled boxing master appeared in the Chinese team.

In the 16-to-8 match, the opponent won by direct KO in the second round. In the 8-to-4 match, he used his technique to crush the opponent. In the second round, he caused his opponent to fall to the ground three times in a row, causing the opponent to surrender before the third round.

He didn't believe it at first, and didn't think there could be any boxing masters from China.

But after watching the video of Link's match, he was speechless. The media said that Link was "extremely skilled" and "a near-perfect boxer." This evaluation was not an exaggeration at all.

Link's boxing skills and boxing quality make it impossible for him, a man who has won three Olympic boxing gold medals, to see any flaws or shortcomings.

It’s just that he couldn’t understand why a top boxer suddenly appeared in China, which has no boxing soil.

This is very unscientific.

Now that there is a master like Link in the 69kg category, it will be difficult for Aragon to win the championship. He can only find a way to keep the silver medal.

"Lenozzo, watch Link's style of play carefully, he will be a stumbling block for you to win the championship."

Dang, Dang, Dang!

After a minute's rest, the second round begins.

In this round, his opponent Artyaev adopted a defensive posture and took the initiative to distance himself from Link before he could attack.

According to this situation, Link only needs to play passively, drag the game to the end, and prevent his opponent from scoring, so that he can win the game with his advantage in the first round.

But defeating his opponent is not his goal. His goal is to attract the attention of the media and the boxing circle through exciting games, improve his reputation and commercial value, and let boxing promotion companies wave big checks. Find yourself a contract.

So when he saw Atyaev retreating, he quickly chased after him, swung his fists to fight hand-to-hand, straight punches + swing punches, and hit the opponent's defense with both arms one after another.

At first, his opponent relied on his flexible pace and rigorous defense to catch more than thirty punches from him.

It's just that Link's heavy punches landed one after another, without giving his opponent any chance to breathe.

At 72 seconds of the second round, Link struck up and down, left and right in succession, shaking off the opponent's defense.

Bang!

His fist hit his opponent's cheekbone firmly, and the opponent was knocked backwards. He couldn't help but take two steps back and hit the rope.

Link followed closely and punched his opponent's face and head one after another.

At 87 seconds, when his opponent was avoiding his fist, his center of gravity was unstable and he stumbled to the ground.

"Whoa!"

There was a burst of exclamation from the scene.

"Is this what you said about Link's weak legs?"

In the audience, Wang Hao raised his eyebrows and said.

Tian Liang scratched his forehead and didn't quite understand. He remembered that after doing something to his girlfriend, his back would be sore and his legs would be weak. Let alone the competition the next day, he would even have trouble climbing the stairs.

Link was playing so wildly in the dormitory yesterday, and the girl kept yelling, which sounded very strong.

It stands to reason that Link's legs should be weak today, or even perform abnormally.

But after the game started, Link was still very strong, his steps were very flexible, and there was no sign of weakness in his legs.

why is that?

Tian Liang stared at Link and decided to ask him for advice sometime.

Bang bang bang!

"Come on Link!"

In the boxing ring, after Artyaev got up, he no longer passively defended. He took the initiative to launch a strong attack on Link.

Link also did not give in, fighting with his opponent in close quarters, punching to the flesh.

In less than ten seconds, Link hit his opponent five times and was hit once.

At 102 seconds, Link used a rough right swing to knock away the opponent's left arm defense and hit the opponent's side of the forehead hard.

His opponent Artyaev was punched in the head, and his head involuntarily swung to the right, spitting out a stream of sweat and saliva.

Then Artyaev stumbled and fell heavily to the ground.

"Hiss~"

Under the ring, Aragorn took a breath of cold air and couldn't help but tilt his head to the right, as if Link's punch also hit him on the head.

"Don't worry Lorenzo! Link is very powerful, and we have ways to deal with him. Your wingspan is longer than him, your body is stronger than him, and your speed is not much slower than him. Compared with him, we still have Some advantages.”

Savon persuaded.

"I know, I'm not afraid of him, I can definitely defeat him."

Aragorn bared his white teeth and said viciously.

"Yes, we can definitely win."

Savon murmured softly, as if he was comforting Aragorn or comforting himself.

"It's great! This punch is so great. I dare say that even in the professional boxing world, there are not many people who can beat it. Link's boxing skills are definitely the best among the best."

Zou Shiming waved his fist excitedly.

"You are a professional and I believe what you say."

Yi Jianlian smiled.

"So Link can win?"

Wang Liqin asked.

"It's hard to lose even if you want to."

Zou Shiming smiled.

On the ring, when the referee counted down to 8, Atyaev slowly stood up and continued to defend with his fists raised.

Dang, Dang, Dang!

The second round ends before Link can attack.

The score of this round is 10:5.

Link continued to lead by a large margin.

At the beginning of the third round, Link did not give his opponent a chance to rest, and hit his opponent's abdomen and head with extremely fast jabs one after another. In less than thirty seconds, his opponent fell to the ground twice in a row.

Seeing that there was no chance of victory, coach Artyaev took the initiative to throw out a white towel and announced defeat.

Link successfully won the game.

Entering the finals with a record of KOing all opponents in three games.

Bang bang bang!

When Link came off the stage, there was a burst of warm applause and cheers from the audience. Many Greek spectators and foreign tourists stood up and applauded him, not only congratulating him on his victory, but also applauding his wonderful performance in the boxing ring.

"10 million! Even if it costs 10 million US dollars, I will still sign Link."

In the audience, Eddie Hearn stared at Link closely and said.

"Ten million dollars? Is that too much?"

Dmitry Salita asked.

"Not much, Link is worth the price."

Eddie Hearn said firmly.

"It's not possible to sign Link for 5 million. I'm afraid it will be difficult for 10 million. Why does Link have to perform so well?"

Across from the seat, Frank Warren of Queensbury Boxing Promotions said helplessly.

Last year, Link quoted 5 million US dollars. People were worried about the risks and were not willing to spend so much money to sign Link. Now it is almost impossible to sign him with 5 million US dollars.

"Bob, Link won this game and is guaranteed to be the runner-up. With the 1 gold and 1 silver in his hand, we probably can't sign him for 10 million. Should we continue to increase the price?"

Sean Gibbons asked.

Bob Arum frowned and thought for a while. The price increase was inevitable because a boxer like Link was at the top level even in the professional boxing world.

As long as he signs him, the company will have one more world boxing champion.

In addition, Link is from China, so new faces always attract a lot of attention and have high commercial value.

As for how much money should be added to sign Link, he planned to discuss it with Eddie Hearn and Nora Duva, and it was best to limit the signing fee to a certain range.

No matter what, Link cannot be allowed to bid, the boxing promotion company must take the initiative.

——

After the game, Link did not leave immediately. After changing his clothes backstage, he returned to the front auditorium to watch the match between his opponent Aragon and Russian boxer Saitov.

Tang Yan sat next to him and said excitedly that he was very powerful and beat his opponent so hard that he was unable to fight back. He also said that he didn't like watching boxing matches before, but after watching his match, he found boxing matches to be interesting again.

Link smiled and asked how her preparations for the show were going.

At the closing ceremony of the Athens Olympics, there was the "China 8 Minutes" program, which was mainly used to showcase Chinese culture and characteristics and attract tourists from around the world to watch.

Tang Yan's show is "Jasmine", in which she will stand on the stage with more than a dozen girls wearing colorful cheongsams, holding the erhu and performing.

Tang Yan said that he had rehearsed several times in China and would continue to rehearse this time. He felt a little nervous. He asked him if he would be nervous when competing on stage?

Link said no, his opponent might.

Tang Yan covered her lips and laughed.

The game between Aragon and Saitov began on the stage. Both of them were of good quality, but Aragon was stronger. He completely restrained his opponent in terms of tactics and speed. He fought and ran at the same time, making it impossible for his opponent to hit him.

In the end, Aragon defeated Saitov with a score of 35:26 and entered the final.

The next 69kg final, between Link and Aragon, will be held on the afternoon of the 24th.

There is a three-day break in between.

Link can also prepare for the 5,000-meter track and field competition the day after tomorrow.

After the game, Link invited Tang Yan to have a French meal at the Place de la Concorde in the city.

Tang Yan heard that his English was fluent, and he said that he wanted to buy souvenirs at a nearby store after the Olympics, and wanted to ask him to be his translator.

Link didn't refuse.

After sending Tang Yan back to the hotel where the performance team was staying, Link took the car back to the Olympic Village. Before he returned to the dormitory, Kabaeva asked him where he was and if he wanted to go on a date today.

Link asked the other party to come over.

After a while, Kabaeva came over wearing a white suspender belt and jeans, with long golden brown curly hair and a bulging figure.

There is also her teammate Irina Hasina, who is also a rhythmic gymnast with exquisite appearance and good figure. Her figure is slimmer than Kabaeva's and her appearance is purer.

Link invited the two of them out for dinner, and they agreed.

Link chatted with the two of them while walking, had an Italian meal at a higher-end restaurant nearby, walked down Apollo Avenue together, bought two souvenirs for the two of them, and returned to the Olympic Village together at around 5 p.m.

The two invited him to visit the dormitory.

Link did not refuse. He took a few small bags from the self-service package pick-up machine in the accommodation area, and then entered the apartment building of the Russian sports delegation together. It was similar to the Chinese team, but slightly different in style.

Link visited the two people's dormitory for more than three hours. It would be more troublesome to return to the Chinese team dormitory building when it was dark to avoid being found out by the team for staying out all night.