“Exactly, I want him to lose!” a white-bearded old man shouted in anger.
He was called Fraser, and he was the president of the World Boxing Association. He looked exactly like the stubborn old man that he was.
“Is there a vendetta between the president and Kevin Taylor? Why does Fraser get so angry whenever Kevin Taylor is brought up?” a young man asked quietly.
The middle-aged man beside him made an “Shh” gesture, and said in a whisper, “You just wait. Fraser will say it himself. This guy has become old now, so he’s also become naggy.”
Sure enough, without anyone asking, Fraser began a thorough explanation of why he was mad.
“Back when Taylor first debuted, I was so optimistic about him. I invested so many resources into cultivating him. Promoting him, creating momentum for him, making him into the world’s most popular ultimate boxing champion… and how did he repay me? He was like a beast in season. He couldn’t control the lower half of his body, and he actually raped a Miss America! Going to prison during his peak, all the effort that I poured into him completely wasted!”
“Later, he got out of prison. I thought that he would repent and become a new person. I forgave him and gave him a large number of resources. I promoted him and helped him create momentum again, and I arranged the most advantageous matches and opponents for him. I once again groomed him into the top boxing champion of the WBA, but what did he repay me with? He bit the ear off Highfield in such an important match!”
“We, the WBA, invested more resources than ever before in promoting that match. I used up almost all of my media connections, and we sold the broadcasting rights of the match to over ten countries. We did a massive live broadcast, we successfully attracted the attention of the whole world, but that damned Kevin Taylor, he turned the match into a farce! Biting someone’s ear off just because you couldn’t win? Bastard! Because of this, I am still the subject of ridicule amongst my peers!”
“If I could, I would have sent someone at the level of a boxing champion to teach that Kevin Taylor a lesson. To remove this damned bastard from my sight once and for all!” As Fraser spoke, he took in a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down. He then ordered, “You guys, go and inform Nicholas that if he beats Taylor, we of the WBA will provide him with more resources. We will support him in becoming the next boxing champion. Tell him that it’s from me!”
…
“Did President Fraser really say that? The WBA is willing to invest more resources in me?” Nicholas asked with surprise.
His agent nodded. “President Fraser promised personally, so in the next match, you must defeat Taylor. As long as you win, it’ll be smooth sailing for us in the WBA. You will have the chance to become the ace boxer of the WBA.”
No sports organization had unlimited resources, so when it came to distributing resources, fairness did not exist. There would always be the few chosen athletes who had the support of the organizations; they would become the flagships of these sports organizations and receive more resources and better treatment.
In the NBA, for example, there would always be a player among the athletes to receive the title “Godson of the CEO,” and this player would be the “Number One” in the NBA. The NBA would also devote more resources in him, giving him preferential treatment.
Soccer was the same. Whether it was the Spanish La Liga, the English Premier League, or the Italian Serie A, in every soccer league, there would always be one or two star players who were popular across the world. This fame would even include non-fans, which meant that even if a person were not a soccer fan, he would know their name. That was the result of a bias in the distribution of promotional resources by sports organizations.
It was the same in other sports, one or two sports stars would get packaged, a lot of advertising resources would be poured on them, and when it came time for the competition, they would receive preferential treatment. After that, they would make use of these sports stars to drive the development of the entire sports league, or better yet, to encourage the development of the particular sport. It was a movement to “create a king” through artificial methods, put him in front of the public, and allow everyone to admire him.
Taylor used to enjoy this sort of treatment. He received the most resources, so his name was known throughout the world, and everyone had heard of him before.
These kinds of things were opportunities that were hard to come by. There were so many exceptional boxers in the world, but how many of them could encounter opportunities like this? After all, resources were limited. In truth, even many of the championship belt holders never received the support of their boxing organizations. So to Nicholas, the promise made by the WBA President, Fraser, was like a giant meat pie that fell from the heavens.
“Relax, I’ll win. I will definitely win! Taylor is old, he is only a paper tiger right now.” Nicholas’s eyes glittered.
“You shouldn’t become complacent, don’t forget that he just defeated Saunders in only one round,” his agent reminded him kindly.
“That was just a coincidence! The post-match commentary by Mason, you’ve read it, right? Lady luck doesn’t always visit the same person.” Nicholas clutched both his fists as if he was filled with the desire to battle. “Besides, I’ve lost to him once. This time, I definitely won’t lose!”
…
In high-level professional boxing matches, the chances of meeting a past opponent in the boxing ring were far and few between. Many boxers wouldn’t fight the same opponent twice in their entire career, so a “revenge match” was rare. The moment a revenge match appeared, it became the focus of the media.
That match was exactly such a match. Three years ago, Nicholas challenged for Taylor’s WBA championship belt, and Taylor knocked him down. It could be said that Nicholas was now making a comeback. However, Taylor, who had been banned for two years, had zero points. He had to start everything from scratch. So, their identities had switched somewhat; Taylor had become the challenger.
Standing on top of the boxing ring and looking at Nicholas, who was taller than him by a full head, Taylor’s expression was like still water.
Throughout the arena, unfriendly voices were the majority. The win against Saunders clearly had not changed the views of the people. Most people still didn’t favor Taylor; they wanted him to get knocked down by Nicholas and lose the match.
Finally, there was a ding, and the match began.
…
The operating room of the bookmakers.
As the match started, the operator clicked a button to stop all further betting transactions. The computer automatically generated a report on all betting information concerning the match, then displayed the data on the computer screen.
“There’s another huge bet, buying for Taylor to beat Nicholas in two rounds. Could this be the guy from last time? But this time, I’m afraid lady luck won’t be revisiting him. Coincidences don’t happen twice,” the operator said sourly.
“That’s not for certain.” Another operator on the side poked his head over and looked at the computer screen, then said, “Maybe Kevin Taylor will win this one too!”
“How is that possible? Didn’t Mason state in his post-match commentary that Taylor’s victory was only a coincidence? That commentary made a lot of sense. Besides, the reason our company gave out these odds was because we referred to his opinion,” the first operator refuted.
“I don’t think so. The match between Taylor and Saunders ended in the first round. To be precise, the match only lasted around one minute before Taylor knocked Saunders down to the ground. The match ended too quickly, so the amount of useful data is insufficient. In my opinion, Mason’s post-match commentary was more like guesses and deductions. There wasn’t enough real evidence,” the second operator said.
“So, you think Taylor will win?” the first operator asked while he laughed.
The second operator shook his head. “No, that’s not what I mean. What I mean is, Mason’s opinion might not be correct. I studied statistics, so I only believe in statistics, not guesses.”
“But looking at the data from these bets, it seems like most players think that Nicholas is better.” The first operator pointed towards the computer screen.
“Perhaps they were misguided. They believed the conclusion of the experts, instead of making a judgment based on their personal understanding,” the second operator said intelligently.
“Alright, I can’t convince you, and I don’t want to debate with you anymore. The truth is better than a great debate. You just wait and see. I think that not long from now, news of Nicholas’s victory will reach us.”
As the operator spoke, the phone suddenly rang. He immediately made a gesture that signaled to the others to keep quiet before he picked up the phone.
“Hello, it’s me. What did you say? Export our revenue results? Isn’t this something we do after the match? What? The match has already ended?”
The first operator glanced at his watch and said, “I didn’t hear you clearly, do you mean the match between Nicholas and Taylor? That’s the match? It’s over? How is that possible! I just closed off the bets, it has only been around a minute! How is the match already over? Was there an accident, and the match was canceled?”
From the other side of the phone came an anxious explanatory voice, and the expression of the operator became stiffer as time went by. When he put down the phone, he looked like a statue in a garden.
“What happened?” the second operator asked.
“They said that the match has ended. Taylor won, he defeated Nicholas in the first round!”
…
When the match began, Nicholas didn’t even try to gauge anything. He immediately initiated his first round of attacks.
Nicholas was nicknamed “Hurricane,” because his attacks were intense and destructive. When his punch combo was in effect, even a boxing champion with a championship belt would choose to move back three steps. They wouldn’t want to fight it out against Nicholas directly, but would instead defend diligently.
However, Taylor didn’t know the word “defense.” To Taylor, to attack was to advance, to defend was also to advance. Using offense as defense was his primary strategy.
Taylor’s lack of height and reach were disadvantages in heavyweight boxing. His attack range was smaller than his opponent’s, which meant that as soon as he moved into a defensive battle, he would be at a disadvantage. It was like a fight between a man with a spear and a man with a dagger. The one with the spear would continuously thrust at his opponent, and if the one with the dagger only retreated and defended, he would never achieve victory. If the one with the dagger wanted to win, he had to get close to his opponent to move within the attack range of the dagger.
Taylor, of course, knew his weakness. His arms were not long enough, so whenever he fought, he would advance. Faced with Nicholas’s attack, he didn’t choose to retreat and defend. Instead, he dodged, swayed, and shuffled forward using feints.
Bam! Nicholas’s fist returned quickly, but he could feel it. The punch had landed on something.
I’ve hit! Nicholas’s heart leaped in joy, but his fists never stopped. He attacked once more towards Taylor’s head.
Taylor once again dodged getting hit in a vital area. He was not hit in the head, but his body received a substantial blow. It was a heavyweight boxing match after all. If it were an ordinary human, even if the person were hit in a meaty area that had good resistance, they would still go down easily.
“Effective hit!” The commentator couldn’t help himself as he shouted, and the live audiences also followed suit as their enthusiasm rose. At that moment, it was as if they had already seen Nicholas winning.
The scoring system of professional boxing was different from amateur boxing. Amateur boxing used a point accumulation system; for example, hitting once meant getting a point. Professional boxing, however, used a point deduction system, so getting hit would mean that a point was deducted. After 12 rounds, it was not uncommon to see two 110 point scores, which meant that both sides hadn’t had a lot of points deducted. This also meant that in a high-level professional boxing match, it was extremely difficult to get an effective hit in.
In the boxing ring, although he received two hits, Taylor was not distracted at all. As the saying went, if one wanted to learn how to hit people, he had to learn how to get hit first. Professional boxers were good at receiving hits, and Taylor’s ability to receive hits was among the best in the heavyweight class. Getting hit twice wasn’t enough to distract him. Moreover, he did not take those two hits for nothing; he got closer to Nicholas, until Nicholas was inside Taylor’s attack range.
Taylor punched without hesitation. A combination of punches flew out.
Nicholas suddenly felt as if he had returned to three years ago. Back then, when he faced Taylor as a challenger, Taylor used the same method, charging at him before dealing out a combination of feints and punches.
Taylor’s body swayed quickly, punch after punch, and Nicholas used his arms to block as he dodged from left to right.
Suddenly, space appeared on the left of Nicholas, and Taylor’s right hook was already on its way.
“Sh*t!” Nicholas cried, quickly dodging in the other direction.
In the next moment, Nicholas suddenly felt his face hitting something.
It’s over, I was tricked, that was a feint! By the time Nicholas realized that, he felt his head go Bong, and everything went dark.
…
From the audience’s perspective, Nicholas did something stupid. He actually used his head to hit Taylor’s fist, and the result was as expected. A punch from Taylor could kill a bull. When a punch landed cleanly on Nicholas’s face, the chance of Nicholas fainting was one hundred percent.
However, for the older audiences who had watched boxing for over a decade, the scene was incredibly familiar. Ten years ago, Taylor used that exact method to conquer the world of heavyweight boxing.
Taylor’s attack was full of real and fakes, with all kinds of feints mixed in as he swayed his body, making it difficult for his opponent to judge. When his real punch came, there was nothing fancy. His opponents had already fallen into his trap; his feints had already made them dizzy.
Nicholas fell onto the ground like a dead pig. The referee once again grabbed Taylor’s arm and lifted it high into the air, declaring his victory.
“Taylor won again, just like last time, also in the first round!”
“And this time he won it much faster. In the last round against Saunders, they felt each other out at first, but this time, the both of them went on the offensive as soon as the match started, and then Nicholas fell! This match was way too fast!”
Someone glanced towards the timer on the side of the ring. On the electronic timer, the first round had ended in 37 seconds!
…
“Won again, huh. Feels like he’s winning so easily.” Dai Li couldn’t help but touch his breast pocket. His betting voucher was still there, and now, the tiny piece of paper was worth millions of dollars.
“The bookmakers should learn match by match, and on the next match, they probably won’t give out such high odds again.” Dai Li couldn’t help but laugh as he looked at the timer. “Just 37 seconds, high-difficulty instance, cleared!”