Global Film Emperor

Chapter 181 "The Boxing King" (The End)
On November 1st, blood and urine tests were conducted, and height, weight, and reach were measured. Then, a draw was held, and sixteen light heavyweight boxers participated. According to the tiered competition rules, the winners moved up one step, and the losers were eliminated.

"Red team: Wang Zewen; Blue team: Lü Yafei."

After the draw, Wang Zewen's opponent was officially determined. The two were seated not far apart, exchanged a glance, and then went their separate ways. The match will be broadcast live on November 7th, which is this Saturday at 8 pm.

He was in excellent form. He was a natural heavy hitter, and with several months of intensive primal strength training, his punch sent the sandbag shaking violently.

The gym also had a heavyweight boxer participating, but he was considered a technical boxer in the heavyweight division, not a heavy hitter. He looked very envious when he saw how powerful Wang Zewen's punch was.

Although six years have been wasted, a genius can still quickly catch up with a mediocre fighter and surpass those who can consistently compete in just a few months of hard work.

The fight was rushed. That night, they studied their opponent's past matches together. Perhaps Wang Zewen's only advantage was that he had never fought in an MMA match; his previous kickboxing match was six years ago.

After studying his opponent's video at 9 p.m., everyone went home to rest. The lights in the boxing gym were turned off, leaving only one yellow light. Under the light, he continued to hit the punching bag with white bandages on and practice his footwork.

On November 7th, the competition officially began. The cameramen first entered Lü Yafei's training room, where he demonstrated his wrestling and leg techniques to the television audience. As a young 22-year-old, he was eager to show his skills.

When another team of cameramen arrived at Wang Zewen's room, Wang Zewen was simply doing warm-up exercises, jumping rope to maintain his physical condition, while the training partners sat on the side watching. The atmosphere in the room was very oppressive, with only the sound of feet landing and the rope hitting the ground.

The match is the third one. The heavier the weight class, the more exciting it is. Unless it's a star boxer, it's rare for a lightweight match to be placed after a heavyweight match.

Blue Team went first. Wang Zewen, with his bandages in place, put on his boxing gloves and looked up at the live TV. The colorful lights went out and then turned into a dazzling golden yellow. Amid the shouts of the eight thousand spectators, Lü Yafei jogged out of the tunnel. The audience around him kept patting his body, making his fighting spirit even higher.

"Wang Zewen is here!"

As the little red devil braces were stuffed into his mouth, the head coach, sparring partners, target master, nutritionist, and the dozen or so boxers from the Golden Tiger Boxing Gym who were scheduled to fight next week all stood up, pushed open the door, and walked into the underground passage.

The boxers carried the Golden Tiger banner, and Wang Zewen draped it over his body. The photographers began to back away, constantly taking pictures of Wang Zewen's face.

As the entrance music began, Wang Zewen suddenly stopped and glanced at Coach Song behind him. This song, "Ode to the Tes River," was his entrance music six years ago. As a child with a Mongolian bone marrow, his fighting spirit was ignited at this moment.

"What are you standing there for? Hurry up and get going!"

The music was loud. Coach Song gave Wang Zewen a push. Wang Zewen's eyes were very combative and full of fighting spirit. He took two small hops and strode into the clubhouse.

How long had it been since he heard the cheers of his fans? Two thousand and sixty-six days. The feeling of returning to the ring was hard to describe. He simply raised the flag on his shoulder and showed it to the audience.

A golden tiger with a huge mouth. Simply wearing the golden tiger banner is a boxer's glory, because so many outstanding boxers have been born here. It is a holy place in the hearts of domestic boxing fans. For more than ten years, it has been competing with several other well-known boxing gyms for the title of the strongest boxing gym in the country.

The audience patted his back hard, but the more they patted him, the more excited he became. Today, he was going to smash his opponent's head to pieces.

During the inspection, he took off the baseball cap with the boxing gym logo, pulled off his sports pants with both hands, revealing Jin Hu's sports shorts, took off his hoodie, and took off his slippery vest, revealing his strong and standard boxing muscles.

He gently took off the sachet that his mother had obtained from the temple, put his hands together in his palms, closed his eyes, and muttered some incantations. When he opened his eyes, he kissed the sachet and handed it to the fellow boxer behind him.

He clenched his fists, extended two index fingers pointing to the sky, looked up at the ceiling for a few seconds, then patted his chest with both hands, opened his arms for the referee to check if he was wearing the correct protective gear and if he was carrying any illegal weapons. Finally, he applied Vaseline to his eyes and the corners of his mouth, and strode onto the field.

The ground was covered in blood from the previous two matches, indicating that the fights had been fierce. The entire ring was stained with blood. I rubbed my feet on the blood-soaked ground a couple of times before moving to a corner to wait quietly.

After the host read out the information of the two contestants, he left the octagonal cage. The referee announced the start of the match, the octagonal cage was closed, and the match officially began.

After exchanging punches and striking each other several times, Wang Zewen roughly understood how heavy his opponent's punches were. His initial tension dissipated, and his movements became increasingly powerful.

One minute and seventeen seconds later, he accurately dodged his opponent's punch. Wang Zewen's kicking skills were beyond doubt. His standard high kick landed on his opponent's chin, and the opponent fell to the ground. He quickly followed up with a punch and an elbow that slammed into his opponent's chin and neck. The opponent's neck was twisted to a terrifying angle and began to convulse, with his legs shaking uncontrollably.

Gasps of alarm rose from the arena, fearing that Wang Zewen had killed someone right in front of them. But Wang Zewen didn't think much of it. He straddled the octagonal cage, stretching out his arms to enjoy his victory. As for a dead person? That was impossible. But his opponent was immediately put on a neck collar and carried away on a stretcher.

After a month's rest, he faced off again. The schedule was like that: high intensity, high pressure. If you were seriously injured, even if you won, you wouldn't be able to fight in the next match, even if your opponent automatically advanced. This time, his opponent was very strong. He was also a professional boxer who fought in the United States and returned to China to participate in the competition this year.

He won the match again, but his weaknesses were exposed. His ground technique was rough; after all, he had only practiced ground technique for four months and couldn't compare to veteran wrestlers with wrestling ears. He was pinned to the ground and beaten badly until he knocked his opponent down with a standing technique in the third round.

However, he was already covered in blood, with a split eyebrow that was bleeding profusely. His opponent kept attacking the wound, causing his eye to quickly become congested and swollen. Fortunately, the wound was not a major problem, and he could still play in the next match.

In the third match, he faced a veteran domestic boxer. He had good technique and smooth footwork, but his punches were very light. He was the kind of guy who basically won by points. He was hit in the liver area by Wang Zewen's heavy punch, which caused him to fall to the ground in severe pain. Wang Zewen followed up with a punch that made him go into shock.

He advanced to the finals and gained considerable popularity. Although the domestic combat sports culture is not very developed, the promotion of this competition was extensive, and the ticket prices were not high. Many laymen who enjoy excitement did not mind spending some money to experience the adrenaline rush. Drinking beer and watching the fighters bleed in the ring was a very exciting thing.

Until he met his final opponent, Xue Yong, the 31-year-old MMA cruiserweight world champion. He was a boxer who switched to MMA, with strong striking skills, a super heavy hitter, and comprehensive ground skills. His arms were so strong that he could easily choke his opponents.

Wang Zewen felt he couldn't win. One was a boxer who hadn't fought in six years and was returning to the ring, while the other was a rising star boxer whose strength matched his fame and who had a huge following abroad. He seemed to have no chance of winning.

So his lack of confidence resurfaced. When he felt he couldn't win, his belief plummeted and his mind became fragile. When he met Xue Yong's gaze at the hotel scale, he ignored Xue Yong's provocation instead of retaliating.

He chickened out, but many people expressed their understanding, including fans who liked Wang Zewen. After all, it was Xue Yong, the cold-blooded killer nicknamed "Skull Crusher," one of the most perfect hand-to-hand killing machines on Earth. It was already an honor for Wang Zewen to be able to compete against him.

However, some people couldn't accept it. Coach Song couldn't accept Wang Zewen's weakness. On the night of the competition, he flew into a rage in the training room, physically assaulted Wang Zewen, and angrily drove away the cameraman. As a result, the backstage footage that had to be shown before each competition was switched out by the program director.

"Don't be self-conscious, okay? You can do it. You may not win this match, but I hope you can beat yourself, just like six years ago. I don't care about winning or losing this match, but I believe you will, and there are still people who will care. Whether you beat that son of a bitch on stage to death, or you get beaten to death on stage! Your mother came to me. You know what kind of person she is. She doesn't just talk about her concern, but she told you something you've probably never heard before. "She has never blamed you. She loves you."

As soon as those words were spoken, the audience in front of the screen suddenly felt a lump in their throat. Some girls who accompanied their boyfriends to the movie burst into tears instantly, and the sound of faint sobs and wiping noses could be heard in the theater.

When the entrance music "Let it Burn" (sung by Avatar), created for Xue Yong by foreign musicians and boxing fans, started playing, Wang Zewen showed no fear. He only wanted to fight a good match for his mother, who was still talking about watching her son's match before she died.

After the inspection was completed, they stepped into the boxing ring. The host read out the information, and the referee announced the start of the match.

"Let me see what you're capable of, kid."

"Okay."

In the first round, Xue Yong may have underestimated his opponent and was knocked down by Wang Zewen, sitting on the ground. But the match was not over because Wang Zewen dared not play ground with him and got choked. With his terrible ground skills, he was sure to be tied up.

However, Xue Yong was still on the defensive in the first round. Blood began to flow from his brow, revealing a very obvious wound. Until the end of the first round, to everyone's surprise, he was being suppressed by Wang Zewen.

In the second round, the match returned to its original course. Wang Zewen was hit in the corners of his eyes, nose, and mouth, and bled profusely. This was because he was entangled on the ground and Xue Yong repeatedly hit his face with his elbows.

In reality, there wasn't much difference in their striking skills, and both were heavy hitters, meaning they could both be knocked out. Therefore, they fought quite cautiously, with very few heavy punches.

Xue Yong's strategy was to wear Wang Zewen down on the ground, but Wang Zewen was simply too resilient. He was covered in blood, which also stained the boxing ring, and sometimes he even slipped when he stepped on the ground.

Xue Yong was also seriously injured. Wang Zewen kept attacking his wounds, and he was bleeding quite a bit. The two of them fought until they were covered in blood. The girls in the theater closed their eyes and couldn't bear to watch. The level of gore in the scene was too much for most girls to handle.

By the third round, Wang Zewen was exhausted. The ground would consume a lot of energy, and he was always the one who wanted to get off the ground quickly, so his energy consumption was much higher than Xue Yong's. Even though he rested for a while in the third round, he was still shivering and his legs felt unsteady.

Finally exhausted, Xue Yong slowed down his punch as he extended it, allowing Xue Yong to dodge it. Xue Yong then quickly moved closer to Wang Zewei and delivered a perfectly executed and powerful Russian-style swing punch that landed squarely on Wang Zewei's chin.

Instantly, everything went black, as if I had gone blind. I couldn't see anything, my body felt light and I couldn't feel any pain. I could only feel someone punching my face hard, my head hitting the ground, and my ears ringing.
"Actually, there's no such thing as a boxing champion. Everyone loses someday. Even if you're invincible when you're young, you'll still be knocked down by newcomers when you get old. A boxing champion? That doesn't exist."

"No number of victories can prove you're a strong person, but getting back up after a defeat proves your strength. I knew years ago that I wasn't strong; I was a coward. But I wanted to get back up, even if it was just once."

"Winning or losing the match against Xue Yong isn't important, because no one can beat him, at least no one can beat him right now. I just want to play a match for my mother. Whether I smash Xue Yong's head or I get beaten to death on stage by Xue Yong, it doesn't matter. As long as I can play a great match and get through one or two quarters, or even just ten or fifteen minutes, that's fine. I want to show my mother, and everyone else, that I'm not a coward anymore."

The match is over! Xue Yong knocked out Wang Zewen to become the cruiserweight champion of the Mixed Martial Arts Championship!
Wang Zewen lay on the ground, his vision gradually returning, like an old-fashioned CRT television changing from static to signal strength. However, he had some difficulty breathing and his limbs were unresponsive.

"Can you get up? You played well, don't be a coward. You just need to practice your ground game. Come on, get up."

Xue Yong reached out and helped Wang Zewen up. He then began to read his acceptance speech. After Wang Zewen treated his wounds, he left the arena, followed by his team. As they walked through the underground passage, someone gave Wang Zewen a thumbs up, indicating that he had played a beautiful game.

He walked ahead with a limp, a tear falling from his eye. He began to sob as he walked, wiping away the Vaseline from the corner of his eye as he wiped away his tears, causing blood to flow out and mix with his tears.

A pair of large hands put their arms around his shoulders and wiped his eyes with a clean towel.

"Well played, very beautiful."

Six years later, he finally received his first affirmation. He had waited so long, and his sobs grew louder. He kept wiping away his tears with the back of his hand and staggered toward the lounge. Coach Song kept his arm around his shoulder and accompanied him as he walked.

Six months later.
Wildflowers are in full bloom, and bees occasionally land on them; some are red, some are yellow, and they are quite beautiful.

The sound of water droplets falling to the ground rang out. Wang Zewen squatted down, wet a towel, and gently wiped away the dust and raindrops from his mother's tombstone.

"Mom, I'm going to the US to fight in MMA professional boxing matches. Of course, I won't stay there permanently. I'll come back if there are no matches. If I fight two matches a year, I'll probably stay there for about six to eight months each year. I don't know if you'll be happy. I've still chosen this path. I didn't go to work or sell seafood. I'm sorry."

He talked with his mother for a long time, telling her about recent events, and laid out the fruits and vegetables she liked. He only got up after glancing at the time.

"I'm leaving now. I'll come back one more time before I go abroad. I'll come back often."

After kowtowing to his mother, he got up and went down the hillside. As he walked out of the cemetery, a woman stood at the entrance. A breeze blew, ruffling her hair. She tucked her hair behind her ear, reached out her hand to Wang Zewen, and smiled gently.

Wang Zewen took the hand, glanced at the cemetery, and then turned to leave.

The movie ended.
Lu Bo grabbed a handful of popcorn and stuffed it into his mouth, looking a little sullen. The theater lights came on, people talked about their thoughts on the movie, and then got up to leave.

"An inspirational movie? I'm fucking kidding you!"

Lu Bo slung his shoulder bag over his shoulder, grabbed a bucket of popcorn and a can of cola, left the venue, threw them in the trash, picked up his phone to call his mother far away, and then bought a new ticket.

Let's play one more game.

"."

(End of this chapter)