Capítulo 29: Give It All!
For the days preceding the fight, Johan trained hard and diligently. His speed, strength and skills increased exponentially. Tommy allowed for Johan to use his dumb bells and weight machines to augment his training which increased Johan's raw strength considerably. Johan obsessed non-stop about methods he could use to win the fight and things he could and could not plan for.
Johan needed a win and he didn't want to end up crippled like he had in the alternate timeline. Currently, he wasn't confident in his abilities to win this match. His match with Beiber, had been an eye opener. He'd gotten in the ring extremely confident and been destroyed. Who knew what Kimura might scheme.
The day of Johan's first real planned fight arrived. Johan didn't know what to expect. Gracie had trained him to be as good a boxer as he could be in a month, and unbeknownst to others, Johan had also trained hard in Ju Jitsu and Kick Boxing.
Johan knew he had to end this fight fast in order to maximize his opportunity to win. Johan figured that regardless of what Gracie said, a month of proper training wasn't enough time to become better than someone who had trained consistently for several years regardless of how hard you worked and the supplements you consumed. Even with memories of fights from his future self, his body hadn't had those lessons ingrained into it, and that made a big difference.
Johan sat on a stool in a corner of the gym's boxing ring, attempted to ignore the glares of everyone in the gym. The bright lights seemed more blinding than usual.
But today, Johan was determined to win.
At the other corner of the gym, Kimura stood next to a large muscular fighter sitting on a stool. Johan had never seen this fighter before. He was at least 30 kg heavier than Johan. Johan assumed that word had gotten back to Kimura of his friendship with Tommy so Kimura picked a different fighter in this timeline.
"Hombre," said Gracie, "I've never had a student like you. You are a prodigy. You've improved at an unbelievable pace. Trust in what you've learned and give it your all. But remember, Ivan is an fighter who is well versed in more than just boxing. If I knew it would be him fighting, I would have altered your training. I didn't expect Kimura to train a pro-kick boxer in boxing outside this gym."
Johan nodded. Most people would have been upset by this. But Johan wasn't just pursuing a win, he was pursuing strength. An unexpected turn of skillsets didn't matter because he'd been training in everything.
Gracie checked that Johan's boxing gloves were on properly.
Guang Chong walked into the middle of the ring.
"Corner's out!," yelled the Guang Chong, "fighters, come to the center."
Johan put his mouth piece in his mouth.
"Good luck," said Gracie, "its normal to be scared, but don't let it effect your performance."
"I'm not scared," said Johan standing up, "I've been fighting my entire life, how is this any different?"
Gracie smiled at Johan and said, "You are going to be alright kid."
Gracie grabbed the stool and climbed out of the ring, leaving only Ivan, Johan and Guang Chong.
Johan walked to the middle of the ring and stared up at his hulking opponent, Ivan with Guang Chong standing to their side. The massive muscular man growled down at Johan.
"Listen," said the Guang Chong, "This is an anything goes match. The rules have been agree upon by both sides and the gym isn't responsible for injury or death if it occurs. Winner is by knockout or judge decision. I am the referee and juge. Are the contestants aware of this?"
Johan and the growling muscular man grunted in agreement.
"Okay," said the referee, "the fight starts at the bell. Tap gloves and go back to your corners."
Johan held out his hands to tap the Ivan's gloves, but Ivan turned around ignoring Johan and walked to his corner.
"I guess he doesn't like me," muttered Johan.
"READY TO DIE KID!?," yelled Kimura from outside the ring. "I'M GUESSING YOU HEARD WHAT HAPPENED TO GRACIE'S LAST STUDENT THAT STOOD IN THE RING AGAINST MINE! THAT IS IN YOUR FUTURE!"
Johan heart hardened and any lingering sympathy he had for his opponent disappeared. He knew he had to win this fight at all costs, otherwise, they'd cripple him.
Johan walked back to his corner and jumped lightly on his feet warming himself up and loosening up his body in preparation for the fight.
"I got this," whispered Johan to himself, "this is what I wanted."
"BUZZZZZZZZZ!!"
The bell rang indicating the start of the round.
Ivan walked towards Johan, with his guard down aggressively and confidently as if to say Johan couldn't hurt him no matter what he did.
Johan sucked in a large amount of air and yelled as loud as he could, stunning everyone in the gym.
Surprised Ivan stopped temporarily.
Next Johan released a large light burst. The same technique Neil had taught him to use in order to create light. It blinded everyone in the gym.
With that, the muscles in Johan's legs tightened as he launched himself into the air with everything he had kneeing Ivan in the face. A sickening crack could be heard throughout the gym as Ivan's nose collapsed.
Ivan stumbled back shocked, grasping his bloody nose. Quickly, Johan circled around Ivan, jumping on his back while wrapped his arm around Ivan's neck. Johan's arms and trap muscles tightened and veins bulged, as he applied a perfectly executed rear naked choke with all the strength he had. The side of Johan's face pressed against the back of Ivan's head.
As the onlooker's eyesight returned, they were shocked to see a flailing Ivan stumbling around the ring, struggling to remove Johan's arm from his neck with no success. Veins bulged out of of Ivan's forehead. No one could figure out how Johan had managed to pull this off. Pushing backwards, Ivan slammed Johan into the corner of the ring, bending the ring post.
"Crack!"
The steel beam bent from the force.
"Ugh," Johan grunted.
Stubbornly, Johan didn't let go, instead, he doubled the strength of rear naked choke and a moment later Ivan fell down unconscious.
The gym went silent.
No one had expected the fight to end in less than 30 seconds.
A new fighter had beat an experienced and accomplished veteran in under 30 seconds. It was unbelieveable.
Johan let go of Ivan, got up, and walked back to his corner.
Guang Chong yelled, "DOWN! JOHAN WINS!"
"BUENO HOMBRE!," yelled Gracie.
"YEAH MAN, YOU DID IT," yelled Pedro stood next to Gracie.
"Nice job Johan," yelled Tommy.
Ivan sat up surprised. At Ivan's corner, Kimura was red, clearly upset by the loss.
Pedro, Gracie and Tommy ran into the ring surrounding Johan and raising him up.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!," boomed Ivan, "THAT WASN'T A REAL FIGHT! I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT HAPPENED! HE MUST HAVE CHEATED! LETS CONTINUE! I AM NOT DONE!"
Ivan rushed Johan pushing Guang Chong out of the way.
Gracie dropped Johan surprised and stepped in front of Johan preparing himself to counter Ivan's onslaught. Tommy and Pedro froze surprised.
As Ivan got within striking range of Johan he unleashed a punch with his right hand, Ivan's muscles bulged, and his veins seemed to be on the verge of bursting. At that same moment, with lightening fast speed, Johan stepped around Gracie, completely relaxed his body as he unleashed a perfectly executed reverse hook kick that connected with Ivan's temple effectively countering Ivan's attack. Ivan's punch didn't connect as he spun around and fell face first onto the mat.
"Hard work," said Johan looking down at an unconscious Ivan, "that is what you felt and that is what happened."
[Good job buddy,] echoed Neil's voice in Johan's head.
Johan smiled knowing that Neil was watching over him.
"Wow," said Tommy, "The heavens must love you. You lucked out with the lights flashing. I didn't think you had a chance."
"That wasn't luck," said Pedro, "there was no flash of light just now when he kicked Ivan in the head knocking him out. That battle cry, it stunned Ivan giving Johan the opportunity to attack."
"True," said Tommy, "but do you honestly think he would have won if he didn't surprise Ivan and get first attack?"
"Medic!," yelled the Guang Chong.
"Genius," said Gracie, "where did you learn to do that?"
"I am gifted," smiled Johan not wanting to give out too much information.
Two medical professionals brought a bed into the ring and lifted Ivan off the mat onto a stretcher taking him out of the ring. Kimura followed them as they took Ivan to a backroom.
"I knew I had to end it fast," said Johan, "The guy seemed aggressive, and with Kimura as his coach, I wasn't sure what he'd do to me if he did successfully launch an attack. My goal is to win the fight tournament this year, I didn't want to loose that opportunity because of that psycho."
"Ivan isn't a bad guy," said Tommy, "He is a single father with three kids. His wife passed away from cancer. He takes care of them outside of fighting, furthest thing from a psycho you'll encounter."
"Would he have crippled me if he got the upper hand?," asked Johan.
"Definitely," said Tommy.
"Strength gives you opportunities and privilege," said Pedro, "We all want to get noticed, and crippling opponents reduces the competition. Kimura isn't the only one that encourages doing it. Closer to the fight tournament, you hear of more jumpings and murders because of this. Less competitors means a higher chance of being accepted into a sect."
"Lets leave the ring," said Gracie, "shower and then celebrate. I am gonna take you out to a favorite joint of mine. You deserve it."
"Hey," said Johan, "if I didn't take Ivan by surprise do you think I'd be able to win the fight?"
Pedro, Tommy and Gracie climbed out of the ring leaving Johan behind and his question unanswered.
REFLEXIONES DE LOS CREADORES 
RatTurtle
RatTurtle Hard work pays off! But the ability to consistently win doesn't come quick. Quick wins are luck.
Hard work, might not always result in a win, but it will always leave you better off going forward.
Also, if your competitors know your plans, realize they'll change theirs.
Till next time guys!
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