During the intermission of the match, the bar's betting booth allotted ten minutes for patrons to place bets, as well as for the boxers to rest.
However, for Luke's match, ten minutes seemed too generous. After he stepped into the ring, the betting booth only received 13 US dollars betting on his victory, clearly everyone knew Luke couldn't win, and nobody wanted to throw their money away.
On the boxing ring, after the rest period, Mario approached Luke and the two stood face to face, both about 186 centimeters tall. Luke was lean with muscles, but not bulky, whereas Mario was chubby with a barrel waist and round arms, resembling the hind legs of a bull.
Standing together, they looked like a bodybuilder and a sumo wrestler.
"Hehe, kid, you're dead meat,"
Mario adjusted his gloves and grinned chillingly as he sneered.
"If you're ugly, don't smile like that; it makes you look even uglier,"
Luke said calmly.
"What did you say, you skinny pretty boy!?"
Mario, enraged, swung his fist to hit him.
Seeing this, the referee hurried over to hold him back.
"Kid, you're dead meat, you little shit!"
Mario cursed, gasping for breath.
Luke shrugged his shoulders and looked at him with disdain, which made Mario clench his mouth guard in fury, wishing he could charge over and beat him up right then.
The referee began announcing the rules of the match.
"No pushing, pulling, biting, choking, no groin kicks, no use of head, shoulders, or elbows to strike the opponent... Allowed striking areas include the front and sides of the head, above the waist, and the front and sides of the upper body, but striking the arms doesn't score points... When the referee shouts BREAK, both of you must stop and step back, otherwise, you lose."
The coach primarily addressed Luke, worried that he was too amateurish and might use forbidden moves in the heat of the match.
Luke nodded, fully understanding.
"Boxing (start)!"
After the announcement, the referee swung his right hand downward and the match began.
"Mario, punch his face, I'll buy you a drink."
"Mario, knock him out in one round, or you're a wuss."
"Come on, Luke, protect your nose."
Once the match started, patrons began their wild cheers, shouting all sorts of gibberish.
In the crowd, there were some more professional spectators, such as West Corian, who was Mario's coach.
Right after the match began, he could tell Luke wasn't a rookie. Seeing Luke's relaxed body, naturally hanging arms, orderly footwork, and agile movements, he appeared to be a trained boxer.
"Mario, be careful, don't underestimate him!"
West Corian stood up and shouted loudly.
Unfortunately, it was too late.
Mario, abandoning his usual conservative style, chose to go on the offensive immediately after the match began. He pressed forward two steps in the middle of the ring, directly charging at Luke.
Seeing that Luke didn't dodge in time, Mario was overjoyed and roared as he swung his fist at Luke's handsome yet annoying face.
It was a jab, fast and fierce, and tricky to deal with; if hit, Luke's nose could likely be broken.
The moment Mario threw his punch, West Corian's eyes widened in shock; he saw Luke barely moving his shoulders, just slightly tilting his head, and narrowly, skillfully dodging Mario's fist, as if he had completely anticipated Mario's attack angle.
However, what happened next was even more shocking to West Corian: as Mario's fist brushed past Luke's hair, Luke's left fist eerily appeared next to Mario's side face, which Mario was utterly unprepared for.
"Mario..."
Bang!
Before West could shout 'watch out', Luke's swing punch slammed hard into Mario's face, causing the flesh on his face to ripple impressively.
Spit! A pink mouthguard flew out of his mouth with saliva, glowing semi-transparent under the incandescent lighting.
Mario's body skewed, staggering a few steps before crashing down on the canvas, raising a cloud of dust. (T/N: the floor of a boxing ring is called the canvas)
"..."
The venue fell dead silent.
Thousands of spectators stood in shock, necks tilted at a 45-degree angle, mouths agape in an 'O', staring stiffly at the ring.
"...seven, six, five, four, three, two, one!"
As the referee counted down from ten for the lying Mario, the audience gradually thawed from their frozen states.
Boom!
"That white-faced kid won?!"
"How is that possible? He's so skinny, how could he knock out Mario with one punch?"
"Who is that white-faced guy?"
"He's called Luke! Luke Walter! He's my buddy."
James's chubby cheeks flushed with excitement as he repeatedly shouted Luke's name, hands raised high.
"Luke won? That's incredible."
Danny also roared excitedly,
"Luke… you're the best!"
Looking at the crowded crowd beneath him and hearing their cheers, Luke's heartbeat accelerated, feeling as if he was back on the old boxing ring, with the audience, the ring, the opponent, and himself, as if nothing had changed.
He liked this feeling, loved the sensation of knocking down his opponent, and receiving the cheers.
Luke vigorously waved his fist.
"I declare, the winner of the first match is... Luke Walter."
The referee raised Luke's arm.
"For the second match, does anyone want to challenge Luke?"
"I'll go, he just got lucky knocking down Mario."
"He won by a sneak attack, he's not that great, I could take him down too."
"He isn't as strong as me, he can't be that good, if I had 100 US dollars, I definitely could beat him badly, does anyone want to sponsor me with 100 US dollars?"
The crowd was noisy, many wanting to go up and beat him, but only five people holding hundred-dollar bills came up to the ring, queuing up below the ring. The first to step up was a muscular Latin man with a boa constrictor tattooed on his shoulder.
The strong man, towering over 190 centimeters, thickly muscled, and broad-shouldered like a door, approached with a daunting presence.
"Hey, kid, beating Mario by luck means nothing, believe me if I say I'll finish you in one round?"
Boa Constrictor Strong Man provocatively swung his fists and said.
"Bullshit… The only hard thing about you is your mouth; you are even softer than Mario."
Luke looked at him with a contemptuous gaze.
"Fuck! Kid, you've pissed me off," he said, "I said one round, and one round it will be—if it goes over one round, consider it my loss."
Boa Constrictor Strong Man roared, swinging his fists.
Luke curled his lips into a smile.
The referee came over, announced the rules of the match, and the match began.
"I'll wreck you down!"
Without touching gloves, Boa Constrictor Strong Man, as soon as the match began, swung his fists as large as sandbags, fiercely aiming for Luke's forehead.
"Watch this!"
From below, West Corian yelled to Mario, who had just come around.
Leaning in his chair with an ice bag on his forehead, Mario was dazed; his face was no longer fierce as he squinted toward the boxing ring.
Boa Constrictor Strong Man attacked Luke's head aggressively, but Link agilely tilted his head, dodging his opponent's straight punch.
"Look at his right hand," West shouted.
Mario's eyes widened. While he was focused on Luke dodging the deadly move, he suddenly noticed Luke's right fist had unexpectedly reached his opponent's face.
Bam!
Luke's hook punch intimately met Boa Constrictor Strong Man's jaw.
Struck in the chin, Boa Constrictor Strong Man's head jerked backward, spewing a mist of water as he stumbled three steps backward and fell onto the boxing ring, the huge man crashing down, creating an astonishing visual effect.
"...."
The crowd was silent for two seconds, then exploded with noise.
"KO, another KO."
"How is it that move again? Does he only know that one?"
"Luke, the boxing king! Luke, the boxing king!"
James and Danny were ecstatic, wrapping their arms around each other and jumping into a Cuban salsa dance in the crowd.
"Another one-punch?"
Mario stared dumfounded, his ice bag unknowingly slipping to the ground.
"Another one-punch KO! But this wasn't just any punch. His speed, strength, reflexes, boxing technique, and boxing awareness all came through in that one punch. He is no ordinary boxer."
West Corian's gaze heatedly fixed on Luke in the boxing ring, recognizing that Luke had the potential to be a top-tier boxer, possibly even a champion.
He wanted to become Luke's coach, to train him to be a boxing king, but the eagerness cooled in an instant; a boxer of Luke's caliber couldn't possibly lack coaches.
"West, is it possible that he only knows that move? If I prepare in advance and adopt a defensive strategy, he couldn't possibly knock me out with one punch," Mario said, feeling his coach might be 'switching allegiances.'
West shook his head, "I'm not sure... With Luke's speed and strength, breaking through your defense wouldn't be hard. With his capability, among amateur boxers I know, he could definitely rank in the top ten."
"West, you're exaggerating. If he were that great, would he be participating in this match?" Mario retorted with a sneer.
West furrowed his brows, puzzled why a boxer of Luke's caliber would be here.
The third match was about to start.
The third challenger was a fit, muscular black man in white shorts, bouncing around the ring, appearing very agile.
"Haha, Luke has met his match; this round he won't win so easily," Mario laughed and clapped his hands.
In the ring, the third match began. Luke touched gloves with the boxer in white shorts, who didn't wait to be hit and quickly stepped back, circling around the edge of the ring, refusing to engage with Luke.
"Johnson, keep running, don't let him catch you!"
"Johnson, you're the sprint champion."
"Luke, take him down!"
Luke smiled at the man in white shorts—except for being agile, this one was even weaker than Mario and Boa Constrictor Strong Man in other aspects; overtaking him in speed would make it easy to handle.
Taking advantage of the moment the man in white shorts reached the corner, Luke stepped forward, rushed to his opponent's side, causing him to jump and raise his fists to guard.
Luke opened up his opponent's defense with a jab, then taking advantage of his guard being down, followed up with a heavy swing punch to his face.
Bam!
The glove struck the side of Johnson's temple, causing him to stagger a few steps, crash into the ropes, struggle for a few moments, then fall through the gap in the ropes onto the floor.
"Wow!"
"Another one-punch KO!"
A gasp burst from the crowd.
The audience, realizing his formidable ability and strength, started to cheer and shout his name as they applauded. No sneaky tricks were needed for him to win.
"Luke has won!"
"The kid with the white face has won, he's really amazing."
"Fighting three opponents with just one punch each, I bet he's definitely a professional boxer."
"I declare, the champion of this month's Red Glove Bar Boxing Match is... Luke Walter!" the referee announced, raising Link's arm.
"Boxing king Luke!"
"Boxing king Luke!"
The crowd roared loudly.
Luke closed his eyes, listening to the cheer below. He felt his spirit lighter and livelier than ever.
"I am boxer Luke, not diver Luke; I should walk my own path," He muttered.
Luke's eyes snapped open, and a determined look crossed his handsome brows. He decided to continue boxing, to continue the path from his past life and fulfill the goals he hadn't achieved—to become a boxing king, earn a lot of money and become a superstar.
"Boxing king Luke!!!"
.
~~~~~
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