A big and muscular black man, who used to be an amazing boxing champion, was suddenly hugging him and sobbing. Dai Li had no idea what to do.
Dai Li wanted to push him away, but how would Dai Li push away a heavyweight boxing champion with his strength? Dai Li tried to push him away all day but to no avail.
What the heck. This guy must be drunk, or he must have taken too many drugs! Dai Li complained in his mind.
Both were true. The stench of alcohol emanating from Taylor’s body made it evident that he had drunk a lot of liquor; apart from that, he had also smoked a significant amount of marijuana, which deluded one’s consciousness and brought about illusions, hallucinations, and thought disorders.
Taylor sobbed like an aggrieved child. Not only tears, but his saliva and nasal mucus were all smeared over Dai Li’s body.
“Angie, I’ve really missed you. I was wrong, I am really an idiot. Your advice to me before you died, I ignored it all. If you were still here, I wouldn’t become like this,” Taylor said while he choked.
Angie? Advice before death? What the heck are all these things? Dai Li thought in confusion.
Perhaps it was the alcohol. Taylor sobbed for a while, then went back to sleep. Not long after, he cried again as he talked in his sleep, then drifted back into deeper slumber again.
It continued going on just like that for at least another hour. Taylor finally quieted down. He snored. After another hour or so, Taylor was finally awake. He opened his eyes, sat up, and looked around him with a blank expression.
Taylor was obviously a person who frequented the police station. After a short period of stupor, he immediately realized where he was.
This is the holding cell at the police station! Taylor then looked at Dai Li beside him. He mumbled to himself, “There’s even a Chinese guy.”
While looking at Dai Li’s face, Taylor suddenly remembered a dream he just had. He saw Angie who died a few years ago, and in that dream, Angie had looked like a Chinese guy. Just like the guy in front of him.
It can’t be, I hugged and sobbed in front of this guy? Taylor suddenly realized. Oh, God! Please don’t let that happen, that’s too embarrassing! He shook his head as he attempted to sober up.
“Do you want some water?” Dai Li passed the half-empty water bottle to Taylor.
Taylor did not speak, just took the bottle and drank everything in one gulp. For a big guy like him, the water was just enough to moisten his throat.
After that, Taylor threw the bottle to the side, looked at Dai Li awkwardly, and whispered a question, “Just now, did I do something foolish?”
Dai Li did not answer directly. He thought for a few seconds and asked, “Is Angie your friend?”
“As expected! This is embarrassing…” Taylor lowered his head to show his shame and said, “Angie was my coach, he was also my father.”
“I’m sorry,” Dai Li apologized immediately. Bringing up one’s deceased relative was considered very rude.
However, Taylor quietly said, “I was born in the slums of Brooklyn. When I was nine, I was put into a juvenile detention center. It was difficult living in a juvenile detention center. Fighting was a part of life, and in that, I was born stronger than the rest. Even the older kids were afraid of me back then.”
“Later, I met Angie. He was an instructor at the juvenile detention center. He cared about me. He would take me out to eat at restaurants, teach me about boxing. He later became my guardian and brought me out of the detention center. He gave me a home. Angie was like my father. He raised me, educated me, and guided me.”
“Just before I became a professional boxer, Angie died. Before he died, he asked me to come to his bedside and told me that I was too impulsive, and I would suffer great losses because of it. That was why he wanted me to change that bad habit of mine. He told me to stay calm, to think and reason, and to control my emotions.”
Taylor looked to be in pain as he spoke, “But I did not listen to Angie. I’ve let him down, that’s why I’ve become like this. I think that if Angie saw me now, he would be gravely disappointed.”
As Taylor finished his sentence, his head lowered further. He looked like a frightened ostrich, the kind that likes to bury their heads in the sand, to hide from the cruel reality.
Dai Li immediately changed the subject. “Then do you remember why you are here today?”
“Probably a fight. I probably hurt someone again.” Taylor looked at the dried blood on his hand and continued, “I drank liquor and smoked some weed. So I don’t really remember the specifics. I only remember that someone came and scolded me, so I gave him a punch…”
As Taylor finished speaking, he lifted his head. “Why did you end up here?”
“Because I ate lunch with a companion.” Dai Li shook his head weakly. “My companion might have got into trouble, and we just happened to be eating lunch at a restaurant. When the police came to apprehend him, I was brought along.”
“Don’t worry, if that’s the case, you should be released soon,” Taylor consoled him.
“Maybe you will get out earlier than me, you are a celebrity after all. Once your lawyer gets here, you will probably be released on bail,” Dai Li said.
“Lawyer? Hahaha…” Taylor smiled bitterly. “I can’t afford a lawyer anymore.”
“Can’t afford a lawyer? That’s impossible!” Dai Li looked at Taylor in shock. In his mind, since Taylor made his debut, he should have at least made 200 to 300 million dollars. He was considered a super-rich athlete even among American professional athletes; how could he not afford a lawyer?
“Don’t you think it’s funny?” Taylor shook his head in a self-mocking manner. “I’ve made 500 million dollars in the past few years, but I’ve spent 520 million, that means that I’m currently 20 million in debt. Don’t even mention lawyer fees, I don’t even have the money to buy liquor! I’ve already started filing for bankruptcy. Later, I’ll go and apply for relief funds; if not, I might not even be able to eat anymore!”
“How could this be?” It was hard for Dai Li to imagine that the strongest heavyweight boxing champion in the world had become like this.
500 million dollars, that’s enough money to pile up a mountain. Even if someone gave me 500 million dollars now, I wouldn’t know what to do with it. But this guy, not only did he spend it all, he owes another 20 million, Dai Li thought.
In front of him, Taylor let out a long sigh. “Now that I think about it, it’s all self-inflicted. Back when I was rich, I was surrounded by people who called themselves ‘friends.’ I bought them stuff, bought hundreds of sports cars for them to drive, I even took them gambling in Las Vegas. We’ve lost tens of thousands of dollars in a single night! And when I went broke, every one of them disappeared. They wouldn’t even answer my calls!”
“Even my agent was scum. He kept cooking the books, and he almost made away with all my money. For example, the towels I used in my matches cost only one or two dollars, but he would record them as costing 8000 dollars. 8000 dollars for a towel, can you imagine that? If I had found out his true colors earlier, I definitely would have fired him, and I wouldn’t have fallen so far, not even having the money to eat. Ah… my poor sweetie, you’ll have to starve with me…”
“Sweetie? Looks like there is still someone with you, accompanying you through all this,” Dai Li consoled him.
“Sweetie is my pet tiger, a beautiful Bengal tiger. I’ve raised him since he was a cub, he’s like my son…” Taylor explained.
Dai Li was speechless. One would typically think that someone called “Sweetie” was a woman, but instead, it was how Taylor referred to a pet tiger. It was really the behavior of a wealthy person.
“You can still raise a tiger in your current situation.” Dai Li sighed and continued, “But it’s alright, you are 32 years old this year, right? For a professional boxer, 32 isn’t old. You can make a comeback.”
“Make a comeback?” Taylor shook his head helplessly. “It’s no longer possible. I’m not the Kevin Taylor I was back then. I can no longer throw out those fast and deadly punches, so I’m old. Yeah, 32 isn’t that old for many boxers. Some of them are even still in their prime at 32, but I’m different from others.”
“I don’t know if you understand boxing, but my fighting style requires me to finish the fight within the first few rounds. I’m not the kind of fighter that does well in a fight of attrition. If my opponent manages to drag the fight to more than ten rounds, my stamina drops significantly, and I lose the match. The only fight I lost in the first five years of my career was one where my opponent successfully dragged the match beyond the tenth round. After that, I became passive and took a beating.”
“So 32 years old is too old for me. I am no longer the world’s greatest boxer. I’m not even sure if I would still be considered within the top-class, perhaps a younger top-class boxer would be able to defeat me. I’m old, and I can’t fight anymore.”
Dai Li nodded. When he used the detector on Taylor, he had already seen the characteristics of his techniques.
Compared to other boxers, Taylor’s arms were a bit short. His technique was also not the best, or at least, he couldn’t be regarded as a technical boxer. However, his punch was without a doubt the best. His basic fighting style was to quickly rush towards his opponent. Once his opponent was within his attack range, he attacked swiftly with a combination of fast punches.
Although Taylor was a heavyweight fighter, his regular punches were the same strength as a super heavyweight. His punch speed was rapid, and in a fight within the same weight class, not many people could block his punch combination. That was why he was able to knock down most of his opponents in the first round.
Taylor had used that single move to conquer the world. It was like Cheng Yaojin’s three tricks utilizing the ax. Everyone knew that Cheng Yaojin only knew three tricks, but on the battlefield, they still couldn’t defend against those three tricks.
Taylor’s fighting style relied on two fundamental factors. First was his fantastic ability to take a beating. As he rushed towards his opponents, it was inevitable that he would receive one or two punches. If he had not been able to take the beating, there would have been no chance to go on the offensive later. Many experts even believed that within his weight class, he had the best ability to take a beating.
The second factor was the stunning, explosive power he possessed. At his peak, Taylor’s explosive power was undoubtedly the strongest in the history of boxing. His quick and continuous heavy punches required his body to have high explosive energy, and at the same time, his stamina consumption was also very high. So Taylor would launch a hurricane-like offense once the match began. If he failed to defeat his opponent, he would be in trouble. His remaining stamina would not be enough for him to start the second round of crazy, hurricane-like offense. And by that time, the disadvantage of his shorter arms would put him in a passive situation where he would only get hit.
The explosive power of a young Taylor was shocking. As he aged, especially after 30, his explosive energy would decay at an alarming speed, even if his strength did not. For an athlete with techniques like Taylor’s, the deterioration of his explosive power was, simply put, a disaster. The probability of him knocking down an opponent after a wave of fierce attacks like before was gradually getting lower.
…
Dai Li looked at Taylor sympathetically. He asked, “Then, what do you plan to do next? Not boxing anymore?”
“I’m not ready yet. There’s still one month left to my ban. I’ll just do things step by step and see how things go after the ban.” Taylor lifted his head and looked at the metal window with soulless eyes before saying, “If I didn’t go bankrupt, I might go and open a boxing hall and name it ‘Human Punch.'”
“You owe 20 million dollars, not two thousand. Do you think that opening a boxing hall would help you clear your debt?” Dai Li asked, throwing a wet blanket in Taylor’s face.
Of course, Taylor knew that a boxing hall would never be able to clear his 20 million dollar debt unless he could cultivate a second mega-boxing champion like himself.
“So, actually there’s only one path for you, and that is to continue boxing,” Dai Li said firmly.
Taylor looked confused. Naturally, he knew that what Dai Li said was the truth; continuing to box was the only option if he wanted to clear his debt. But deep within his heart, there was a fear.
It was the fear of starting everything from scratch!
Taylor had left the boxing world for two years. During his two-year ban, Taylor had lost all of his championship belts, and all his boxing league points dropped to zero. He was no longer the boxing champion that awaited challengers from the highest point. He had to become a challenger. Starting everything from scratch, one match at a time, would be just like ascending a high-rise building, walking up the stairs one step at a time.
Can I still do it? The question flashed through his heart, and he knew that he was not the Taylor from more than a decade ago. He was worried that he would lose. He was afraid of suffering failure.
“I don’t know why you are hesitating.” Dai Li’s voice came from the side, he then continued, “I don’t think you have any other choice. Of course, you can choose to lower your pride and go receive free food vouchers, apply for relief funds, become the bottom of the society and live frivolously.”
“I know, everything you’ve said, I know it already! I am indeed hesitating because I don’t know what to do!” Taylor shook his head violently.
“What else can you do? You are a boxer! You only have to do two things, fight and train!” Dai Li said.
“Fight? Train?” Taylor smiled bitterly and shook his head. “I used to have a luxurious training room, equipped with the world’s best training equipment. I offered the coach a monthly salary of 120,000 dollars, and I even had a few sparring partners. But now, everything is gone. My training room was emptied by the bank! No coach, no sparring partners, I don’t even have a punching bag!”
“But you’re still here!” Dai Li walked two steps forward. “Perhaps I can help you solve these problems. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Dai Li, and I’m a coach!”