Chapter 100： The eve of the decisive battle

Chapter 100 The eve of the decisive battle

“It’s better to go to Miami, the sun is shining on you and it’s really hot.”

At the Miami International Airport, Link put on his sunglasses and looked at the blue sky above his head. The sun was hot and bright. Even in October, he still couldn't feel a hint of coolness. Link wore a jacket and only got off the plane for a few minutes. Something muggy.

The atmosphere in Miami is also livelier than that in New York. In front of the airport plaza, many men and women wearing T-shirts and shorts boldly showed off their curvy figures and wheat-colored skin in the sun.

“Haha, I also think Miami is good. There are hot girls everywhere. I should come to Miami earlier.”

Dino directly took off his shirt, revealing all his tattoos. It was an image of the Statue of Liberty entangled by Medusa. He wore a gold chain around his neck and looked more like a gangster than a Miami gangster.

“Be careful, there are several times more robbers in Miami than in New York.”

Morales glanced at the designer necklace around his neck and said.

“With you two boxing masters by my side, why should I worry about robbers?”

Dino said, putting his arm on their shoulders.

“They have guns.”

Link shrugged.

“Hey, Link! Link!”

On the express lane of the airport, a small motorcycle rumbled over. Fatty James shouted at him, "We haven't seen him for a month. His face has become rounder again. He is wearing a Heat ball cap, and his curly hair is hanging down from the brim. Wearing a large lettered T-shirt, he looks like a hip-hop young man.

“Link, is this the car you called for?”

Dino looked at the obese James, and then at the small motorcycle behind him that could only seat half a person. He pointed at the people on his side with his finger. There were two and a half strong men, and everyone could not carry him while standing on it. Walk.

Link pushed up his sunglasses and looked at James helplessly, "You have the keys to the sports car, why did you come here on a motorcycle again?"

“Your sports car is too fast. I’m afraid of crashing, so I’ve never driven it.”

James scratched his face and chuckled.

Link shook his head and did not wait for them to call for a taxi. A white extended-length Lincoln stopped on the side of the road. Franco Duva opened the door and walked out. He was wearing a white casual suit, his hair was combed meticulously, and he stretched out his arms. He laughed loudly at Link and shouted welcome back to Miami.

"Hey, Franco, I'm here too. I'm your brother. Don't just worry about Link."

Dinotua looked at his brother who was fifteen years older and said with dissatisfaction.

Franco couldn't help but twitch his mouth when he saw that he had a few more tattoos than last time. He reluctantly put his arm around his shoulder and patted him, "Dino, don't get any more tattoos. Look at Link. Not a single tattoo on my body.”

Dino curled his lips and said, "Link, why don't you also get a tattoo? Many boxing champions have tattoos, including Tyson and Lewis. Tattoos look cooler."

“No, I don’t need it!”

He originally had two tattoos on his body, but he washed them off immediately after he discovered them. They were easily deformed after growing muscles and looked very awkward.

Link asked people at the airport to send James's scooter back, and took James to sit in the extended Lincoln.

On the way, he talked with Franco and Simon about the finals.

This finals was jointly organized and promoted by Dynasty Promotions and the WBA Association. It was held at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, where Taylor originally participated in the music festival.

In fact, when deciding where to hold the finals, the WBA held several rounds of negotiations with Dynasty Promotions and the Arena Promotions company behind Mikkel Kessler. In the end, Dynasty Promotions won the game for US$2 million. the right to host.

After obtaining the hosting rights, if you want to recover the cost, you need to do a lot of publicity and promotion work to attract more viewers to watch. With more viewers, you can increase ticket revenue and get part of it from surrounding hotels. divided into.

We still need to negotiate with several cable television broadcasting companies. Currently, there are three TV stations in North America involved in broadcasting and live broadcasting boxing events, HBO, SHOWTIME, and ESPN.

The majority of the TV broadcast share is PPV. If we want to get more shares from the three companies, we need to talk carefully.

There is also advertising sponsorship income.

Due to Link's high reputation in Miami, he has already surpassed Roy Jones Jr. to become the number one boxer in Miami. There are dozens of brands willing to sponsor his matches, but advertising space is limited, and promotion companies can only follow the price. The higher one cooperates.

At present, the income from advertising and sponsorship has exceeded 600,000 US dollars. Taking into account PPV sharing, ticket and peripheral income, the revenue is expected to be more than 5 million.

Although there is a big gap in income from the matches with Tyson and Mayweather, as a boxer who has just entered the professional world, it is not easy to make money in this match.

According to a June survey by Business Daily, the total annual output value of the U.S. sports industry in 2007 was US$441 billion, accounting for approximately 3% of GDP. The total annual revenue of the boxing industry is US$10.2 billion, accounting for only 2.3% of the sports industry revenue, a 45% decrease from 1997, and a decrease of 87% from 1987. Compared with other sports industries, the downward trend is greater.

The industry is in a recession, and it is not easy to make big money.

In addition, the "Business Daily" reported that of the US$10.2 billion in revenue, 95% was generated by 1% of the top professional boxers, and the remaining 5% was generated by the 99% of professional boxers.

In other words, in the current professional boxing competitions, most boxing competitions are losing money, losing money and making money. The purpose of this is to promote boxing, expand the boxing market, and serve the 1% of boxers and boxing competitions.

So as far as the current industry situation is concerned, a professional match can earn more than 1 million US dollars, which is already more than 99% of boxing matches.

“Link, it doesn’t matter if you can’t make money, the key is can you KO Mikkel Kessler within 100 seconds?”

Franko looked at Link with some worry.

There has been a lot of discussion in the North American and European media recently about the WBA Super Middleweight Finals.

Whether traditional media reports or new media news are discussing whether Link can completely defeat Mikol within 100 seconds, 90% of the media believe that he cannot.

The reason is very clear. In the North American division, it took Link 98 seconds to completely knock out his opponent Jermaine Taylor, almost breaking the 100-second mark. In the semifinals, it took him 91 seconds to completely knock out Tony Dodson.

Tony Dodson challenged Mikkel Kessler two years ago and was defeated by TKO in the 10th round. It took Link 91 seconds to defeat Dodson. No matter how you look at it, he cannot be defeated within 100 seconds. Micol.

In addition, Mikkel Kessler has a professional record of 41 fights, 1 loss, and 28 KO wins. The only defeat was in November last year, when he was defeated by Joe Calzaghe.

After Calzaghe was promoted to light heavyweight, Mikkel was considered the number one super middleweight in the four major organizations.

 It is impossible for Link to defeat such a person within 100 seconds.

Link has also seen the news. After fighting Jermaine Taylor, he also found that he did underestimate the world's heroes.

But the cow that was blown out had already floated into the sky, and it was too late to take it back.

What I can do now is to train well before the game, focus on the game, and try to defeat Mikkel Kessler in the shortest possible time, instead of hesitating and self-doubting, because hesitation is of no use at all.

“Franco, don’t worry, I will fight hard once the game starts and try to keep the game time within one round.”

Link said.

“One round isn’t bad, as long as you can win.”

Franco nodded and suddenly remembered something, "Link, do you know Mr. Tomp?"

“Mr. Thompson?”

Link thought for a moment and nodded.

Everyone knows Mr. Thompson's name. This boss is also one of Link's few role models. Link suddenly remembered that he seemed to have met the other party's daughter, the famous princess Evaka. .

“I met him at a cocktail party held in the city hall a few days ago. Mr. Thompson mentioned you and said in front of many people that he likes you very much and is your boxing fan.”

“Yes, it’s my pleasure.”

Link said with a smile.

After the car returned to Miami Beach, Link looked at the familiar scenery in front of him: the sea, the sun, the white sand beach, the coconut trees, the colorful parasols, the **** girls in bikinis, and the young surfers rolling against the waves.

There is also a Baker's shop full of graffiti on the seaside. I don't know who painted a giant beast holding a gold belt on it.

Bang, bang, bang!

“Everyone, come out quickly, our boxing champion is back!”

Suddenly, there were several explosions of fireworks at the door of the shop.

Daniel and Michael shouted loudly, and suddenly a large number of people poured out from the surrounding shops, including Reggie, Mario, Jim, Coach West, the surrounding neighbors, enthusiastic boxing fans, strange tourists, and Journalists with cameras.

Link looked at everyone and smiled. If his dream was not to become a unique world boxing champion and a billionaire, living here all his life would be a good choice.

(End of this chapter)