"You did a good job out there. Just don"t rest up, keep on him." Qin Hailong loudly reminded Tang Yan.Tang Yan nodded, the fierce light in his eyes showed his thoughts.
Tang Yan stood up again and smiled at Takeuchi. He had grown too confident and underestimated him.
.....
A tremor shook Takeuchi. "I had him for a bit there." he growled.
"I had him going. I"ll take it if I have to get it, at least I"ll go down fighting!"
His coach looked down at him. There was a light in his eyes that only a father could correctly interpret. He glanced up.
"This is gonna be your hardest fight ever, if you plan to push through."
Takeuchi"s body went tense and rigid.
"I"ll take home this medal and then I would like to see how they"ll try to replace us then!"
.....
The commentator was talking again to his unseen audience:
"That must have been one h.e.l.l of a pep talk because except for the battered look you would never know that Takeuchi was on the floor two times during that last round with how energised he looks.
The fire is back in his eyes and he"s glaring at Tang Yan. He"s shown more sheer grit here tonight than we"ve seen here in a blue moon. He"s leaping of his stool.
Ding! Ding!
He"s jumping across the ring. His old trick, folks ! He"s trapped the Boxing Killer coming out of his corner."
With the gong Takeuchi had leaped out and he trapped Tang Yan in his own corner, close to the ropes. He was bobbing and ducking in front of Tang Yan, and his hands were flas.h.i.+ng in and out, tying him up without touching him.
Spat!
Without him knowing it, his right flashed out and jarred Tang Yan"s head back. He sank his left up to the glove wrist in Tang Yan"s middle and, stepping back, crashed another right to his jaw.
Tang Yan closed in and held. In the clinches he heeled Takeuchi under the chin with the back of his glove and the laces cut a deep gash in Takeuchi"s upper lip.
The taste of blood from his lips gave new strength to Takeuchi"s weary arms. He lashed out with a straight right, and Tang Yan slipped to one knee. The referee waved Takeuchi away and the crowd was filled with so many screeching lunatics. He stepped back, panting and eager. He felt his legs trembling and his arms were powerless.
Tang Yan was up and coming in.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.
As he lunged in, Takeuchi jabbed him to the sore nose with three rapid lefts and laughed aloud as he saw the blood spurt anew. Tang Yan was slamming away at Takeuchi"s body, each blow hurting and each blow taking some of the little stamina left in the battered body of Takeuchi.
Takeuchi knew that he was at the end of his rope.
The thought drove him mad. In another round he would not have enough strength left to drive home a finis.h.i.+ng punch, even if Tang Yan gave him the opening.
He stepped in desperately and swung.
Tang Yan swiftly side stepped it then crashed through his guard with a pounding left to the jaw.
Again the world rocked and swayed, and a shrill cheer came to him — the crowd"s cheers.
He bobbed his head and threw a right hook at the Tang Yan"s body. He heard him grunt.
Takeuchi lashed out with an over- hand left and knew that it had found Tang Yan"s jaw.
But then Tang Yan reached him with another of those pile-driving rights to the heart.
In condition and hard as nails, Takeuchi would have laughed off such a punch- Tonight they landed with a crus.h.i.+ng force. His knees sagged and his hands dropped to his sides. Quick as a flash Tang Yan leaped in, sensing the moment. His left and right thudded against Takeuchi"s jaw — even while Takeuchi was crumbling from the body blow. The world spun and the blinding lights were sickening. He felt his body lurche back and he stumbled like a s.h.i.+p at sea, rocking in the storm. Back against the ropes, he could hear his coach"s voice pleading with him:
"Straighten up, Ito! Stay up! You can"t take another count!"
Takeuchi stirred up his pain racked body.
To Takeuchi it was a t.i.tan effort to stay erect. His legs refused to work. His brain was dizzy.
His lungs were like furnaces, burning him cruelly with each indrawn breath. He knew that he was done— for the last time in his life. Out! Beaten!
He was on his feet without looking around. He didn"t even know where Tang Yan was standing. He couldn"t see. The lights were still reeling. He felt the strength of ten giants. His heart was aflame.
He groped about with his two hands. A thudding blow landed behind his ear and he whirled. Punches had lost the power to hurt him. A cras.h.i.+ng left landed on his jaw and he shook it off, waded in. He had found Tang Yan. His gloves were touching him.
His head was clearing a little. He could hear, hear the shouts and growls and cries from the crowd; hear the bedlam of noise as Tang Yan broke ground under his attack and retreated across the ring. Tang Yan had a puzzled look on his face. He couldn"t understand how he could keep going, blow after blow.
Qin Hailong gripped his seat tight watching the spectacle. In anxiety for it to be over.
The more Tang Yan looked closer to ending it and Takeuchi stayed alive, the more angsty he felt.