Domination in America, Starting from being a Boxing Champion

"Miami is great, the sunshine feels so warm on the skin."

At Miami International Airport, Link put on his sunglasses and looked up at the clear blue sky. The sun was fervently bright, and even in October, there was not a trace of coolness to be felt. Wearing a jacket, Link had been off the plane for only a few minutes and was already feeling a bit stuffy.

The atmosphere in Miami was livelier than in New York. In front of the airport terminal, many men and women in T-shirts and shorts boldly displayed their curvaceous figures and wheat-colored skin under the sun.

"Haha, I also think Miami is nice, it's full of hot chicks. I should've come to Miami earlier."

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Dino took off his shirt, revealing all his tattoos—a picture of the Statue of Liberty entwined by Medusa. He wore a gold chain around his neck, looking more like a gangster than the Miami gangs.

"Be careful, the robbers in Miami are several times more numerous than in New York."

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

"With you two boxing experts by my side, do I even need to worry about robbers?"

Dino said, draping his arms over their shoulders.

"They have guns."

Link shrugged his shoulders.

"Hey, Link! Link!"

On the airport's express lane, a small motorbike roared up, and chubby James shouted at him, his face seemingly rounder than a month ago. He wore a Miami Heat cap, and his curly hair spilled over the brim. Dressed in a baggy letter T-shirt, he looked like a hip-hop youth.

"Link, is that the ride you called for?"

Dino looked at the corpulent James and then at the tiny motorbike behind him that could barely seat half a person. He pointed to their group, which included two and a half sturdy men—they wouldn't be able to ride on it.

Link pushed his sunglasses up and looked at James helplessly, "The keys to the sports car are with you; why did you come on this little motorbike again?"

"Your sports car is too fast, I'm afraid of crashing it, I've never driven it."

James scratched his face and chuckled sheepishly.

Link shook his head and didn't wait for them to call another ride. A white stretch Lincoln stopped by the roadside, Franco Duvall stepped out of the car, wearing a white casual suit, his hair neatly combed. He stretched out his arms and burst into laughter, loudly welcoming Link back to Miami.

"Hey, Franco, I'm here too, I'm your younger brother. Don't just focus on Link."

Dino Duva said uncompromisingly to his brother who was fifteen years senior.

Franco saw the tattoos on Dino's body had increased since the last time and couldn't help but twitch his mouth corners. He reluctantly wrapped an arm around his shoulder and patted it, "Dino, no more tattoos, look at Link, he doesn't have a single one on his body."

Dino pouted, "Link, why don't you get a tattoo? Many boxing champions have tattoos, Tyson and Lewis have them; tattoos make you look cooler."

"No, I don't need them!"

He originally had two tattoos, but as soon as he found them, he immediately had them removed. They can become distorted as muscles grow, looking quite awkward.

Link asked the airport staff to return James's little motorbike and then James and Link got into the stretch Lincoln.

On the way, he chatted with Franco and Simon about the championship final.

The final was co-organized and promoted by Dynasty Promotion Company and the WBA Association, set to be held at the Hard Rock Stadium in the Miami Garden District, the same place where Taylor had participated in a music festival.

In fact, there had been several rounds of negotiations about where to hold the final between the WBA, Dynasty Promotion, and the promotional company behind Mikkel Kessler, the competitor's gym. In the end, Dynasty Promotion secured the hosting rights to the event for two million US dollars.

After getting the hosting rights, to recoup that investment, it was necessary to do a lot of promotional work to attract more spectators, increasing ticket revenue and receiving a portion of the profits from nearby hotels.

Negotiations also had to be held with several cable TV broadcasters; there were three major networks that broadcasted and streamed boxing events in North America: HBO, SHOWTIME, and ESPN.

Television broadcast rights and pay-per-view (PPV) revenue were the main sources of income. Detailed negotiations were needed to secure a larger share of the pie from these companies.

Then there was income from advertising sponsorships.

With Link's extremely high reputation in Miami, surpassing even Roy Jones Jr. and trending towards becoming the number one boxer in Miami, dozens of brands were willing to sponsor his fight. However, with limited advertising spots, the promotion company could only work with the highest bidders.

Currently, advertising and sponsorship income are at over 600,000 US dollars. Including PPV shares, ticket sales, and related revenue, projected earnings are estimated to be over 5 million dollars.

Although it is a significant gap compared to the incomes from fights with Tyson and Mayweather, for a boxer who had recently turned professional, earning money from this fight was already quite an achievement.

According to a survey by Business Daily in June, the total annual output value of the U.S. sports industry in 2007 was 441 billion US Dollars, accounting for about 3% of GDP.

Boxing industry's annual revenue was 10.2 billion US Dollars, making up only 2.3% of the sports industry's income. This is a 45% decrease compared to 1997, and an 87% decrease compared to 1987, which is a larger declining trend compared to other sports industries.

The industry is not thriving, and making big money is not easy.

Moreover, Business Daily reported that of the 10.2 billion US Dollars in revenue, 95% was generated by the top 1% of professional boxers, with the remaining 5% created by the other 99% of professional boxers.

That is to say, in the current professional boxing matches, the vast majority are losing money, calling out for attention at a loss. The purpose of this is to promote the sport of boxing, expand the boxing market, and serve the 1% of boxers and boxing matches.

Therefore, under the current industry situation, a professional match that can earn more than 1 million US Dollars has already exceeded 99% of boxing matches.

"Link, it doesn't matter if you don't make money, the key question is can you KO Mikkel Kessler within 100 seconds?"

Franco looked at Link with some concern.

Recently, there has been a lot of discussion about the WBA Super Middleweight final in the North American and European media.

Whether it's traditional media reports or new media news, they are discussing whether Link can knock out Mikkel completely within 100 seconds. 90% of the media think he cannot.

The reason is clear. In the North American region, it took Link 98 seconds to completely knock out his opponent Jermain Taylor, nearly breaking the 100-second barrier, and in the semifinals, it took him 91 seconds to completely knock out Tony Dodson.

And Tony Dodson had challenged Mikkel Kessler two years ago, and was defeated by a TKO in the 10th round by his opponent. It took Link 91 seconds to deal with Dodson, which by all accounts, is not enough to defeat Mikkel within 100 seconds.

In addition, Mikkel Kessler's professional record is 41 wins and 1 loss, with 28 victories by KO. His only defeat was last November, when he was beaten by Joe Calzaghe.

After Calzaghe moved up to Light Heavyweight, Mikkel was considered the number one in the Super Middleweight division among the four major organizations.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

For Link to beat such a person within 100 seconds seems impossible.

Link had seen those news stories, and after fighting Jermain Taylor, he realized he had indeed underestimated the heroes of the world.

But the bragging was already out there, floating up to the sky, and it was too late to take it back.

Now, all he could do was to prepare well for the match, focus on the competition, and try to defeat Mikkel Kessler in the shortest possible time, instead of hesitating and doubting himself because hesitation and doubt are of no use at all.

"Don't worry, Franco; I will fight hard as soon as the match begins, and try to keep it within one round," Link said.

"One round is good, as long as you can win," replied Franco, nodding. A thought suddenly occurred to him. "Link, do you know Mr. Thomp?"

"Mr. Thomp?"

Link thought for a moment, then nodded.

Mr. Thomp's reputation was known to all, and he was one of the few role models Link had. Suddenly, Link remembered that he seemed to have seen Mr. Thomp's daughter, the famously influential Ivanka.

"A few days ago, I saw him at a cocktail party held at the city hall, Mr. Thomp mentioned you. He said in front of many people that he likes you a lot and is a fan of your boxing."

"Is that so? That's an honor for me," Link laughed.

After the car returned to Miami Beach, Link looked at the familiar scenery in front of him—the sea, the sun, the white sandy beaches, the palm trees, the colorful umbrellas, the hot-bodied bikini girls, and the surfing boys tumbling in the waves.

And there was Baker's little store by the beach, covered in graffiti, onto which someone had drawn a giant beast holding a Golden Belt.

Bang bang bang!

"Everyone come out, our boxing champion is back!"

Suddenly, several firecracker blasts rang out at the entrance of the store.

Daniel and Michael shouted loudly, and suddenly a crowd of people emerged from the surrounding shops—Reggie, Mario, Jim, Coach West, and the neighbors, passionate boxing fans, strangers, tourists, and reporters with cameras.

Link smiled at everyone. If his dream wasn't to become the unrivaled world boxing champion, a billionaire, living here for life wouldn't be a bad choice either.