novelraw Chapter 144 - 134 The Boxing Match Begins_2
Chapter 144 - 134 The Boxing Match Begins_2
"You better put on a good show later!"
A familiar voice came from behind, adding another female spectator.
Li Ang turned his head when he heard Sofia’s voice, only to realize he had misjudged the situation; there should be two female spectators added.
"Teacher Sofia, and Miss Sheila, how come you’re here too? Along with my homeroom teacher, I thought you were busy these days."
Sheila glanced at Sofia beside her and then replied:
"If my best friend Sofia hadn’t told me about your boxing match today, I would have had no idea."
"So, you two are best friends?"
Li Ang had to admit, he truly hadn’t anticipated that connection.
"What, is there a problem?"
Facing Sofia’s retort, Li Ang could only respond awkwardly:
"No, not at all, it’s just that Hillsboro really is quite small, isn’t it?"
He had no idea what the two of them had talked about privately, nor was he certain if it was just his impression, but he always felt their looks were somewhat strange.
The three female spectators from their school had all come specifically for Li Ang, which to some extent also reflected the status of their school’s boxing team.
"Hey, Bob, you here to take a few more punches this time? I sure hope you don’t get knocked out before you face me."
A contestant from another school took the initiative to step forward, looking at the boxing team’s former captain and sarcastically taunted.
"You might’ve miscalculated this time, I’m not participating in this competition, and I’ll send the same message to you, hope you don’t get eliminated too early, or you might miss some surprises."
Bob countered without any pressure.
Although the guy who came forward to mock was very strong, that was relative to himself; from what he had experienced, he definitely wouldn’t be a match for Li Ang.
Xiao Hei, the one who came forward to jeer, glanced at several teammates behind Bob and still couldn’t spot a heavyweight boxer of similar build.
"Are you joking? You’re not trying to say that your boxing team is going to send one of these guys to compete in the heavyweight division, are you?"
"You can talk all you want now because I’m afraid when you come down from the ring, you might not be able to talk at all."
With newfound confidence, Bob’s words were much sharper than before; at least he didn’t have to worry about being beaten up on stage after too much taunting.
"Alright, alright, then I wish you good luck."
Xiao Hei couldn’t get the upper hand in the verbal clash and could only pretend not to care and walked away disgruntled.
Soon, the competition was about to start, and the large screens inside the venue also announced the portraits and order of the contestants.
Unsurprisingly, Li Ang once again became the most attention-grabbing contestant of the event.
The main reason was still his skin color; as the only Asian contestant, it was natural for him to receive some extra attention.
That included the international boxing scene as well, where it was quite rare to see Asians compete.
It was only recently in the heavyweight division that Zhang Zhilei suddenly emerged, somewhat redeeming the reputation for Asians.
Then, when they spotted Li Ang in the venue, it sparked a new round of heated discussions.
Because of Li Ang’s physical density, which was naturally on the larger side, his middleweight build made him look almost as big as some of the lightweight contestants.
Yet, he was competing in the heavyweight division.
The absurdity of this news was comparable to the appearance of a 14-year-old contestant in the previous competition.
"It seems like Hillsboro High School wants to give up on boxing."
"If they had let Bob compete, maybe he could have made it into the top eight."
"Looking at his build, I bet he won’t last the first round."
"That’s also normal; even if they didn’t give up, it’s been several editions since they achieved anything noteworthy."
"The last time they got a result was several years ago, I think. It was Blant from their school who got the runner-up."
"Yes, since then the best result their school has had is only making it to the semi-finals."
...
Li Ang was already used to such comments.
But it was different for the other members of the boxing team; they had witnessed Li Ang’s strength and knew that this edition of the competition was their best shot at achieving something significant.
However, with so many people discussing and mocking, they couldn’t out-argue them all, so each of them was holding back a surge of frustration.
Soon it was their boxing team’s turn to compete.
According to everyone’s judgment, the lightweight division bout was evenly matched in terms of strength, and at this point, it all depended on how well each side performed on the spot.
"Come on, we have to achieve something in this competition; it might get publicized, and you don’t want your knockout in the first round to be the talk of the entire school, do you?"
Former captain Bob cheered from the sidelines.
In the last two editions, due to very poor results without any highlights, the school’s attitude toward the competition was to act as if it had never happened. With little attention from everyone, hardly a few people knew their scores.
But this time, with Li Ang present, they’re likely to at least place in the competition; getting into the top sixteen and having that publicized would be quite embarrassing.
Li Ang watched the match on the field, and they were not very lucky, as the opponent they met was middle-of-the-pack in terms of strength. Otherwise, with his capabilities, his chances of advancing would have been quite good, but now it was hard to say.