As the referee ran through the rules, Tang Yan"s eyes were on Lopez. The latter"s eyes were fixed on the ring as he patted his head from time to time seemingly pumping himself up before the fight. When Lopez"s ritual was over. He reached out and touched gloves with Tang Yan and then backed away.After retreating back to his corner, he put up his guard.
...
Ding! Ding! - Round 1
Tang Yan glided towards Lopez with his razor-sharp left hand; darting in and out and circling to his left; he jabbed out with his left mainly but mixed in a right every now and then.
Lopez trailed him closely, patiently, rationing his strength, until Tang Yan committed a technical mistake.
Tang Yan tried to cleverly work him into his own corner but Lopez slyly sidestepped him reversing their positions and Tang Yan delayed a fraction of a step sliding out of the corner, took a whistling left hook from Lopez to his midriff.
It should have dulled some of Tang Yan"s spark. But it didn"t, Tang Yan drove needle-point lefts into Lopez"s face, stinging him as he spun to the left, out of range, sliding away from the ropes, back to the middle of the ring.
Lopez grinned at Tang Yan and reigned in his impulse to launch forward, he got into a defensive posture again.
The throbbing in the back of his head quietened.
Tang Yan moved toward him again, a light grin on his face, confidence behind that sniping left hand. Lopez half-crouched and shuffled forward, letting a hail of jabs rattle high across his forehead as he bulled Tang Yan into the ropes. He ground a half-dozen murderous lefts and rights into Tang Yan"s stomach before they clinched and the referee pulled them apart.
Ding! Ding!
With the bell Tang Yan dropped his gloves and headed toward his corner, a swash in his walk, because the champions.h.i.+p was one round nearer. Lopez turned to his corner more slowly, economizing on strength, as he sat down.
His cornerman, sloshed water into his mouth and made him raise his hands to make room for deep gulps of air. Lopez casually gazed forward. Nearly a full house.
"This compet.i.tion should be enough to buy the house." he thought as he pictured his wife watching from back home, alone and anxious.....pulling for him to win.
Lopez felt good, strong, as he sat in his corner. His cornerman was working over him hard, kneading his legs. His eyes wandered out over the crowd again.
By nine, life had taught him how to fight — with every weapon on hand, fists, feet- brains and even fingernails. At eleven he had discovered he had an ally, an ungovernable temper which shot dynamite into his fists and coated his pain with adrenaline.
His circ.u.mstances and the allure of money had drawn him into the ring. He was a good fighter, almost a great fighter. For the past year he had stood as the insurmountable obstacle between newcomers and veterans acting as somewhat of a gatekeeper. The challenger but never the champ.
Tang Yan was pretty good, Lopez had to admit. A lean, hard young battler, a prodigy with an unmarked face, at least for now.
Lopez smacked his wine red gloves together in grim determination as he glared at the crowd.
.....
Ding! Ding! - Round 2
Tang Yan moved towards Lopez, cautiously; he had to be cautious. His midriff glowed red from the pounding he"d been sucked into during the last round, but it hadn"t slowed his blinding speed, his rapier of a left, still had Lopez cautious.
After throwing swings from the left and right, forcing Lopez to open up his defense, Tang Yan seized the opportunity and followed up with a sudden left uppercut.
However, Lopez deserved to be a battle-hardened veteran. After realizing Tang Yan"s intention, he pressed his hands inwards and tilted his head back.
Bam!
Tang Yan hit Lopez"s arms with his uppercut and he couldn"t push it further.
The feeling was the same as. .h.i.tting an iron plate.
Lopez defended against Tang Yan"s attack but didn"t launch a counterattack. After taking a step back, Lopez got into a defensive stance before working forward.
Tang Yan"s left jabs were small charges of dynamite exploding into Lopez"s guard but Lopez kept trying to work in close. Tang Yan locked his elbows and shot out a sharp jab but Lopez tilted his head aside in the nick of time to dodge the main brunt of the blow but Tang Yan"s jab still managed to catch him slightly slicing at his cheek, causing a small cut under his cheek bone and blood to flow.
Lopez ignored it and clipped Tang Yan alongside the chin but before he could get forward again, Tang Yan went on his bicycle again, circling to the left and pecking punches at Lopez and slowly the cut grew as blood flowed more freely.
Lopez flickered his gaze over to the timekeeper, as his coach yelled at his back for him to bore in, to fight.
Tang Yan tossed some rights, hard and sharp but Lopez s.h.i.+fted past them and worked over his stomach with both hands before switching to a clean uppercut.
Tang Yan took a lesson from what happened when he tried to swap punches and went back to his educated left hand. Tang Yan circled, always backing away to his left, trying to lead the fight over in that direction but Lopez deliberately stopped in the middle of the ring and waved him in. Tang Yan merely smiled before he suddenly moved in swiftly to bounce two knife-like lefts off Lopez"s face.
Tang Yan was working even faster now. Swift, like a surgeon, in and out.
But Lopez huddled up like a turtle, blocking Tang Yan from doing significant damage as he suddenly launched forward after Tang Yan, blocking him into a corner. His face sopped up a dozen snake-like lefts in doing so.
Blood flowed freely from Lopez"s cut and Tang Yan tried to out-maneuver him, by staggering him with a right cross and then dancing free but Lopez knew the punch was coming so he flexed his knees slightly to let it slide past his jaw and over his left shoulder. He then curved a looping left hook against Tang Yan"s ribs.
Tang Yan grunted and tried to retaliate but Lopez clinched, wrapping him up before he could fire off a hard right.
Ding! Ding!
As the referee separated them, the second round came to an end.
Estchenko, who was watching the fight off court, couldn"t help but shake his head. It seemed like Tang Yan was paying the price for his arrogance.
Lomachenko, who was further away, also smiled disappointed, it seemed that he would be fighting against his old opponent, Lopez, in the final at this rate.
"Don"t be drawn in by him, he just wants to irritate you and consume your physical strength. Fall back into defense." Qin Hailong instructed as Tang Yan came to his corner.
Tang Yan nodded, but determination was still burning in his eyes. Choosing to shrink back was a sound tactic, but not his style.
........
Ding! Ding! - Round 3
Lopez dropped into defense with the start of the round. His cut had been treated by his team"s cutman and was sealed.
Tang Yan sighed at this. The veteran in front of him was a turtle snake in the truest sense, huddling in his sh.e.l.l before pouncing out suddenly, only to retreat back into his sh.e.l.l at the first sign of danger.
When the referee signaled the start of the fight, Tang Yan immediately launched a stormy attack.
His oppressive and full offensive immediately drew cheers from the audience, and shouts of KO rang through the boxing hall.
However, the worry in Qin Hailong"s eyes was getting stronger and stronger. Tang Yan would suffer a loss like this. He was too young and eager, and didn"t heed his advice!
Sure enough, a moment later, a loud uproar came from the audience.
Throwing a set of punches, Tang Yan failed to control his center of gravity as he launched a heavy right hook at Lopez"s jaw but Lopez avoided it in one fluid motion and not making conection Tang Yan tottered forward slightly due to the momentum behind his punch, leaving him vulnerable for a split second but he quickly adjusted.
"d.a.m.n a huge looping miss by Tang Yan, that was a risky move!"
"Tang Yan is still too young. His style of fighting is really too exhausting. This time, fortunately, Lopez didn"t get the chance to capitalize, he needs to pay more attention!" Yang Jian said, anxious.
However, Tang Yan didn"t seem to hear, as he was still attacking with a combination of punches. He didn"t conserve his strength and once again, his punch swiped past Lopez, and he left his body exposed
But Lopez seemed to hesitate for a second on whether to capitalize or not.
"Defense! Get into defense!" Qin Hailong shouted anxiously to Tang Yan from the side of the ring.
But Tang Yan still didn"t listen.
He went at Lopez, always stabbing out jabs, moving away from Lopez"s right, his chin hidden behind a raised left shoulder. He was tough and fast.
"Dammit! Tang Yan is still too young! He"s not heeding his coach"s words at all! If he makes such mistakes again, Lopez will definitely capitalize!" Liu Xinyu said with concern.
His voice hadn"t fallen, when Tang Yan threw a set of combo"s and once again didn"t control his follow through, offsetting his center of gravity.
This time Lopez bit down on his mistake and punched out.
"Careful!" Yang Jian and Liu Xinyu exclaimed almost simultaneously.
Lopez"s punch was fast, a sharp right hook headed for Tang Yan"s jaw.
Lomachenko shook his head, the outcome seemed settled.
But just as he was about to sigh, he stopped.
Whoos.h.!.+
Just then, there was an uproar at the scene.
Tang Yan had avoided the punch!