Cultivating through increasing my stats in America

Chapter 147 - 135: Getting Beaten is a Form of Wisdom_2

"John and the others are of a different caliber. At just sixteen last year, he’s already clinched the championship title. I estimate he’s been receiving professional training for about seven or eight years now and is surely going to leverage his talents in this field to get into a good university. Don’t take him lightly,"

Li Ang nodded, but didn’t really take it to heart.

It wasn’t that he was overly confident, but that his strength was clear for all to see, no longer hindered by a barrier that could be crossed through technique alone.

Even the strongest amateur boxers have a gap between themselves and professional boxers, not to mention the gap between a common professional boxer and a champion one.

Li Ang didn’t believe these guys could inflict any substantial harm on him, considering just his defense alone.

Not to mention his recently greatly improved dodging and response skills. As long as he intended to dodge, if they could land even a single hit on him, he would consider it a loss.

The victories from his previous fights had already swayed many of the audience members, who had initially been completely doubtful of Li Ang, to start leaning towards the possibility of Li winning the final championship.

Of course, more people tended to be conservative, believing that John, who had already won the last championship, was the more unfathomable one.

After all, the man had a past record of brilliant performances to back up his strength, while this was Li Ang’s first public appearance, with his only record being the previous three matches.

The heavyweight finals, as the match that garnered the most attention from everyone, was naturally scheduled for last.

Actually, the results they had achieved till now were already more than sufficient, securing at least a runner-up and a top four finish.

However, due to a change in plans, the goal was now clearly set on the championship.

With the help of Blant, Li Ang donned his mouthguard.

Although a boxer’s fists, once wrapped in gloves, have less lethality, the huge impact was not reduced, and compared to other parts, the teeth, due to their structure, were actually one of the few weak points on Li Ang’s face.

Looking at Li Ang’s opponent on the stage, even his teammates from the boxing team couldn’t help but remark on the opponent’s physique signaling formidable strength.

John was last year’s champion, and this year, he had managed his weight to be just at the upper limit of the heavyweight category. The weight difference between the two was immediately obvious, and the disparity in their builds was huge.

"Come on, Li Ang, play to your strengths in agility and try to exhaust his energy,"

The advice from Blant was very pertinent. Li Ang’s ability to dodge was something he had witnessed firsthand, and not to mention his stamina.

Therefore, it seemed that a head-to-head confrontation wasn’t a good choice, using agility and guerrilla tactics offered the highest chance of winning.

"Ding! Ding!"

As the match began, John didn’t say any trash talk and even the audience behind Li Ang could feel that John’s eyes were filled with fighting spirit when looking at Li Ang.

The moment the referee stepped away from between them, John advanced to launch an attack, obviously aiming to keep the rhythm firmly in his hands.

His jab was incredibly fast, but Blant wasn’t too worried because he could throw punches at such speed too. The result, however, was that they couldn’t touch a hair on Li Ang.

Strangely, Li Ang seemed as if he’d been hit by a freeze spell, facing John’s probing jab with only a slight block from his gloves, showing no intention of dodging at all.

"Thump!"

Their gloves collided, making a huge sound.

Clearly, John had felt Li Ang’s lack of dodging and put more strength into that punch.

Although they had their gloves on, the impact still transmitted a fair amount of force to Li Ang’s head.

John was very confident in the strength of his punches; he couldn’t believe that such a punch wouldn’t hurt.

"One."

After that punch, not a hint of expression was on Li Ang’s face, but his mouth seemed to move slightly, as if he was counting numbers.

The audience was taken aback; this response didn’t seem typical of Li Ang.

"Is he throwing the match?"

"How come his performance is worse with each round? It’s like he’s on drugs, and now, as the effect wears off, he’s not doing so well."

Although most of the comments from the crowd were guesses, they seemed logical, with a well-constructed narrative already set.

"Quit spouting bullshit, I’ve never heard of any drug that can instantly let someone KO their opponent upon taking it."

"Heh, I was just making a wild guess. For a small competition like this, doping wouldn’t make sense; the prize money wouldn’t even cover the cost."

"In any case, John’s punch isn’t something that can be easily taken. This Asian kid doesn’t look like he’s in a good condition."

After landing a hit and seeing Li Ang showing no intention of counterattacking, John naturally wouldn’t pass up the chance to extend his lead.

He continued his assault, throwing a combination of punches that had the audience cheering incessantly.

The most exciting moments on the ring were naturally when the two fighters exchanged blows, but since such scenes were rare, watching one side taking hits was also quite satisfying.

"Six, seven, eight."

At this point, John finally confirmed that Li Ang was indeed counting, seemingly keeping track of how many hits he was taking.

Although he didn’t understand why, it didn’t stop him from continuing his attacks.

What was crucial was that Li Ang’s defense seemed quite sloppy and didn’t adjust according to his attack directions; instead, it was as if he casually placed his hands there, allowing John to attack at will.

This caused almost every third punch to break through his defense, striking him in the head.