Tang Yan nodded.Ding! Ding!
The bell rang and he was back out. They sparred for a moment and then Lomachenko moved in quickly, stabbing with a left. Tang Yan rolled away and circled.
Lomachenko followed and Tang Yan moved into a corner, letting Lomachenko trap him.
Lomachenko stepped in, expecting Tang Yan to slip away, down the ropes. But Tang Yan set himself and threw a straight overhand left to the bridge of Lomachenko"s nose.
Lomachenko snorted, dodging but Tang Yan followed in with a right to the pit of his stomach before Lomachenko could recover.
The audience seeing this became rowdy.
Lomachenko smothered Tang Yan"s lead and tied him up in the neutral corner. He tried with a short uppercut but Tang Yan counterpunching, flickered out his left towards Lomachenko"s jaw.
Whoos.h.!.+
Close!
Lomachenko was forced back, as he narrowly dodged out of range.
"This is definitely the best matchup of the compet.i.tion so far. The purest form of boxing!" The main CCTV commentator declared excitedly.
"If there is a knockout, this is destined to go down in the books!" The guest commentator echoed.
"There will be a KO, there must be a KO!" The main commentator replied affirmatively.
Tang Yan slipped out the corner as Lomachenko came in like a cyclone.
Lomachenko drove both hands towards Tang Yan"s stomach, like twin sledge-hammers. Tang Yan gasped and started to lower his guard to his midsection but he saw Lomachenko"s right arm s.h.i.+ft and start a deadly drive towards his jaw.
So he crouched, covering, then uncorked both hands in a series of fast and furious, rights and lefts that carried all the pent-up steam from the previous rounds.
Pow! Bam! Bam!
Lomachenko"s head rocked back then snapped forward, as a left flicked into his face and a right smashed to his heart.
Gritting his teeth Lomachenko snarled and bore in.
He rocked Tang Yan to his heels with a one-two that Tang Yan could neither duck nor block. Tang Yan tried to clinch but Lomachenko clipped him with a right hook then pounded at him with murderous rights and lefts almost forcing Tang Yan to his knees.
But Tang Yan forced himself to stay up and staggered into a clinch.
Then it was Lomachenko"s turn to gasp as Tang Yan fought his way out of the clinch and backed away opening up a gap again
"Get him, Lomachenko! Don"t let him get away!"
The crowd again became wild and rowdy.
Lomachenko charged in like a bull but was sent back on his heels, swaying like a tree, as Tang Yan rattled off sharp jabs and hooks, pounding relentlessly at his heart.
Lomachenko grinned. He was a born fighter.
Tang Yan battered, pounded, danced here and there, moving in and out.
His fists worked like pistons as he flicked out his left like serpent tongues and he struck at Lomachenko"s face,
But Lomachenko bore it and drove Tang Yan to the ropes and snuck in with a right to Tang Yan"s relaxed stomach. He stepped inside and battered him about the head.
Then he fired off a wall of punches! The crowd was in an uproar, bellowing for the kill.
Tang Yan could see the blows coming and raised his guard. But some landed, sapping his strength. His arms sagged slightly to his side and Lomachenko mauled at him unmercifully.
Tang Yan dropped, rolled to his back, rolled to his stomach then to his hands and knees, he tried to pull his hands loose from the floor — but flopped down!
The referee was counting and the count seemed fast.
But Tang Yan was back up by six!
At that, the crowd roared:
"Come on, Tang Yan! Stand up to him!
"Knock him out!"
"Knock him out!"
"Knock him out!"
"Knock him loose from his feet, Lomachenko!"
Shouts from the crowded stands rang out, the blood-l.u.s.t was real.
Lomachenko straightened Tang Yan with a blow to the chin, a blow that rocked Tang Yan and made him sway like a flag in the wind but as his head snapped back. His head miraculously, cleared.
The blow whirled him around. He saw his team signaling, making mad motions with their hands, saw their lips moving, he knew they were shouting encouragement. But then he saw a towel in the hands of Qin Hailong.
He whirled and drove Lomachenko against the ropes, close to his corner.
"Don"t throw in the towel," Tang Yan snapped, "I"m gonna win this!"
Qin Hailong who held it folded the towel and sat upon it, grimacing.
Bam!
Lomachenko took a hook to the stomach from Tang Yan but he had steeled himself already so it did limited damage.
Tang Yan shook his head with regret.
And sure enough, Lomachenko, gaining a breather from Tang Yan"s distraction re-adjusted his positioning and drove Tang Yan off him and towards the centre of the ring.
But Tang Yan also showed no weakness, blocking Lomachenko"s follow up blows one after another, retaliating when viable.
Tang Yan started bicycling as Lomachenko drove at him unmercifully, launching off a flurry of blows at his head and body. He drove Tang Yan into a corner and Tang Yan doubled up, covering his stomach and head with his hands and forearm.
Lomachenko had stepped back, measuring his man when Tang Yan uncorked like a jack-knife, coming out of his corner like a projectile from a catapult, both arms moving in and out like rapiers.
Lomachenko"s grin faded as Tang Yan came in and would not be denied.
Tang Yan smirked and shot a feint at Lomachenko"s stomach and in spite of years of training, Lomachenko instinctively lowered both his arms to guard, leaving himself open up top.
And capitalising like a hound on a trail, Tang Yan shot forward and fired off a powerhouse of an uppercut straight into the bottom of Lomachenko"s jaw.
He knew Lomachenko was likely leading by a mile on points, so with only one round left he had to pull off all the stops to clinch this one.
He needed a series of knockdowns or one clean knockout.