Chapitre 2: Beginning (2)
"Hey. Now that you know, start studying from now on. Aren't you a high school senior?"
"Oh! Uncle! I dropped out of middle school. What high school senior are you talking about?"
Yu Jung-ak was holding his head. Cho Yong-il was watching this scene with interest.
"Anyway, the father and son are both putting on a show. How come you're exactly like your father? No, you're even more reckless than him."
"Is that right, uncle?"
Yu Jung-ak looked at Cho Yong-il with raised eyes.
"Who told you to disappear? Your mother and I searched every temple in the country looking for you!"
Cho Yong-il could understand the sentiment to some extent. After Yu Jung-ak and his father disappeared, they searched the entire country for a year to find them. Despite this, they never contacted anyone.
At first, worry took precedence, but as time passed, it started to become irritating.
"Ah. Ah. Ah!"
Yu Jung-ak was showing symptoms similar to a seizure.
"The selection is already over. What are you going to do now? You didn't go to school, so you probably don't know anything. Do you even know what a set is?"
"I know what a set is!"
"You do?"
"You learn about sets in 7th grade. Who are you calling an idiot! And I read a lot of books there too. Don't you know me? I was called a gifted child when I was young."
"Gifted my ass. You've gone crazy. Right. A so-called gifted kid pulls this kind of absurd stunt?"
"You don't know the results of my physical transformation project, uncle. I'm telling you, it's no joke! A non-Asian body! You don't know?"
"Stop talking nonsense about Asians. What are you going to do now?"
"Well, what can I do? I have to change my event."
Yu Jung-ak gave up surprisingly easily. Well, what else could he do if he didn't give up? The event itself had disappeared from the Olympics.
"What?"
Yu Jung-ak immediately knelt down.
"I've always respected you, uncle. I will be the first Asian to win an Olympic heavyweight gold medal."
"Hah... This is insane. Is boxing a joke? And Korean boxing died a long time ago. Stop talking nonsense."
"Don't you know me, uncle? I'm the type who does what he says he'll do. An iron-like mentality! An extraordinary physique! And look closely."
"What am I looking at?"
Yu Jung-ak stood up and stretched his arms to the sides.
"Can't you see?"
"What, you brat!"
"Can't you see my reach? This long reach that's hard to find in Korea! I should use this blessed body for boxing!"
"You've gone completely mad from the shock. Do you think boxing is that easy?"
"Let's aim for 2020 and give it a try!"
"You've done wrestling your whole life, right?"
"I have."
"Do you think it's easy to get rid of the habits you developed then? Those don't go away easily. Many elite athletes try to transition to MMA or whatever, but very few of them actually do well. Do you know why? Because it's hard to get rid of habits that are already ingrained in your body. Even changing one or two rules can have a big impact on performance. And now you want to challenge a completely different sport? Kid, do you think boxing is child's play?"
"I'm quite serious! My original ultimate goal was to become a wrestling legend, retire around 30, and then transition to MMA."
Yu Jung-ak said with a serious expression.
"You're talking nonsense. Where do you get off trying to sell this?"
"It's true! I was planning to learn some boxing from you before that. And learn kicks and stuff bit by bit too. I was going to prepare slowly."
"It still won't work! You think you can go to the Olympics in just 4 years? You're really asking for a beating."
"If you say it can't be done, then it can't be done. If you do it, it can be done! Don't you know that?"
"This is really... You don't know anything about boxing. It won't work."
"Why won't it work?"
"You don't have the sense for it."
"What do you mean I don't have the sense? What does sense have to do with boxing?"
"Sense is very important in boxing. Do you think you dodge punches with your eyes? No. You dodge with sense. But you lack that sense. You need to have good intuition, especially for fast sports like boxing."
"Ha. Uncle. Do you think I'm a fool because I was in the mountains? I know the principle of dodging punches. Rhythm, step, pattern. You dodge by figuring out these three things, right?"
Cho Yong-il looked surprised at Yu Jung-ak's words. It was because Yu Jung-ak's words were true. It was almost impossible to see and dodge a top-class athlete's fast punches with just your eyes. It might be possible once or twice, but not throughout an entire match.
Then, what is the principle by which combat sports athletes dodge their opponent's attacks?
The biggest part of it is figuring out the opponent's preparatory movements.
Everyone has their own unique habits. The same goes for athletes. Especially boxing athletes tend to develop unique movements due to repeated training.
Athletes dodge attacks by analyzing comprehensive information about their opponent.
"And why do you say I don't have good sense!"
"You didn't even know you were getting kicked out of wrestling. That's lacking sense. And what's the point of training you for 4 years to send you to the Olympics? I don't have time to waste on that."
Cho Yong-il took out a drink from the refrigerator. Then Yu Jung-ak clung to Cho Yong-il.
"Oh come on! Uncle!"
"What's wrong with this kid? Let go! You're freakishly strong."
It's hard to shake off Yu Jung-ak when he's determined to hold on. Even though Cho Yong-il is a boxing legend, the sports are different, so the way they use strength is different.
"No, uncle! You should at least check my innate talent before making a decision. It's not right to cut me off so abruptly like this."
"What innate talent? Kid! Do you think God gives out multiple talents? You've already used up all your talent on wrestling. There's no more talent left."
In reality, Yu Jung-ak's aptitude was outstanding. From a young age, he had the skills to compete with lightweight high school athletes without losing. People around him even said he had talent surpassing the wrestling legend Song Gun-ho.
Even when he was forced to move up to heavyweight in 7th grade, Yu Jung-ak showed good results.
"Ah, geez. Uncle! Do you think I only focused on wrestling? I went to the mountains to transform my body, not just to practice wrestling non-stop. I already mastered wrestling techniques when I was a little kid."
"So is there anything you can actually do? Striking?"
"I can learn from now on. I'm a quick learner, I'm telling you."
Cho Yong-il shook his head at Yu Jung-ak's words. As Yu Jung-ak said, at his age, you can learn anything quickly. Especially people who have been elite athletes learn things quickly no matter what they do. However, that's only within the realm of learning.
The realm of the elite is where one must go beyond learning and pioneer their own domain. Such a realm is not something that can be reached in a short period just because one has talent. Cho Yong-il was someone who had tread that domain.
That's why he couldn't believe Yu Jung-ak's words.
However, there was something Cho Yong-il didn't know. Yu Jung-ak really hadn't just done wrestling in the mountains. Although he hadn't formally learned striking, he had read many books that would help him understand combat sports. What he had told Cho Yong-il wasn't a lie.
"Let him try once, Dad. I'm curious to see how good he is."
"Yun-mi."
Cho Yong-il looked towards the office entrance. It was the girl who had been teaching the aunties earlier. Diet boxing. She was about 160cm tall and didn't look much like Cho Yong-il.
"Is that Yun-mi?"
"You didn't even greet her? Sheesh."
"Dad, let him try. Let's see how good he is. It's a time when all the members have left anyway."
As Cho Yun-mi suggested, Cho Yong-il decided to test Yu Jung-ak.
"Three rounds of three minutes each. If you can hit me properly within that time, I'll acknowledge your potential."
"Come on, uncle. How can a boxing beginner hit you properly in three rounds? Let's do it without time limit, unlimited?"
Yu Jung-ak was somewhat aware of his own level.
"You want to go for an endurance match?"
"I'm betting on my stamina."
"I really won't go easy on you."
As Cho Yong-il started taping, an inexplicable tension filled the air. Cho Yun-mi helped Yu Jung-ak with his taping.
Cho Yong-il took an orthodox stance. A style with the left hand slightly lowered.
During his active years, Cho Yong-il was a thorough out-boxer. He enjoyed scoring points with flashy footwork and upper body movements.
While not freakishly long, his reach was on the longer side for his weight class. A traditional style boxer with very good defense.
Up to this point, anyone could understand. Any top-class athlete would have this level of talent.
So why was Cho Yong-il able to win gold medals at the Olympics twice in a row? It was because Cho Yong-il's punching power was too strong to be called an out-boxer. Especially, the size of Cho Yong-il's fists was comparable to that of a heavyweight.
The left jab coming from those big fists was so powerful it was called a jab-straight rather than just a jab. With a fighter possessing such powerful punches also having good technique, KOs came one after another in Olympic boxing where headgear is worn.
"Uncle, do you know 'Tomorrow's Walk'? It's a manga where the protagonist who was taking a walk meets a boxer and becomes a world champion. Have you heard of the Dempsey Roll?"
Yu Jung-ak imitated the Dempsey Roll, swaying his body left and right. Cho Yong-il leaned on the ropes, watching with an exasperated expression.
"You've never had your jaw dislocated, right?"
Cho Yong-il warned. The sparring began. Yu Jung-ak had a decent boxing stance, as if he had seen it somewhere.
He had his gloves tight against his chin, just as he had seen in books. However, boxing never goes exactly as you read in books.
Papang!
A lightning-fast one-two combination flew in with almost no preparatory movement. Even though it hit above the guard, it was a punch that cleared the mind.
The explosive power of a boxer's one-two is completely different when experienced directly versus just watching. A proper one-two feels like a bullet exploding right in front of your eyes.
"How is it? Do you still want to continue?"
Yu Jung-ak was surprised but tried to bluff.
"It's not bad? Now I'll start too."
Yu Jung-ak rushed at Cho Yong-il. That day, Yu Jung-ak couldn't even land a proper hit on Cho Yong-il and got thoroughly beaten up.
It was an expected result.
"Huff. Huff."
Cho Yong-il was breathing heavily. Although he had been taking good care of his body, age was still undeniable.
"Let's stop now, okay?"
"Not yet... Not yet."
"Persistent bastard."
Yu Jung-ak had been getting beaten by Cho Yong-il for over 30 minutes. Cho Yong-il thoroughly dominated Yu Jung-ak.
It was natural that he was no match.
Even a layman could imitate the motion of a boxing one-two after seeing it once.
However, doing it properly was never easy.
It took countless repetitions to be able to remove the so-called tension in the shoulders.
The effective range in boxing is shorter than one might think.
If you think from the start that your range is as far as you can stretch your arm, you're in for a rude awakening. When throwing a ball at a target, is it easier to hit from close or from far?
It's obvious that throwing from close is more accurate.
That's why when first learning boxing, you practice hitting from short range. It's not done on purpose, but because you gradually increase the range from there.
A distance where you can reach without tension and without preparatory movement.
Striking that starts from that point.
That was boxing.
Without knowing these principles of boxing, he got on the ring for sparring. Yu Jung-ak was imitating boxing based on what he had read in books, but it was just an imitation after all.
Just because you raise your guard high and avoid the common beginner's mistake of pulling your arm back doesn't mean you're throwing a proper punch.
To a boxing legend like Cho Yong-il, the punches of beginners who pull their arms back to put all their strength into it, and the punches of Yu Jung-ak who was imitating boxing, were all the same - telephone punches.
Telephone punches.
It's called that because it's as if you're calling ahead to tell where you're going to hit. In other words, the movement is that big.
Boxing is a complex sport.
When boxers sway their bodies during a match, it all has meaning. They create rhythm, and through that rhythm, they give information to the opponent or leak false information. This is what's known as feinting.
Punches are mixed in while this information is exchanged.
Ordinary training isn't enough to handle this.
After facing Cho Yong-il for about 3 minutes, Yu Jung-ak realized he was no match. So Yu Jung-ak thought,
'Let's go dirty. There's no other way.'
The "dirty" method Yu Jung-ak thought of was clinching. Clinching as he had seen in books. Yu Jung-ak raised his guard high, took Cho Yong-il's punches with his body as he moved in. Then when he got close, he swung a big punch and clung on.
And in that clinched position, he hit Cho Yong-il's abdomen.
Of course, there was no power in it.
Moreover, this was something never done in sparring. At first, Cho Yong-il ignored Yu Jung-ak's dirty boxing. He was confident he could put Yu Jung-ak down before he could do it many times anyway.
Headgear doesn't make a person invincible. It's merely a temporary measure that can prevent major injuries to some extent.
But Yu Jung-ak clung on disgustingly. And disgustingly, he wouldn't fall. Cho Yong-il, who had been hitting lightly at first, started hitting seriously from the middle.
Yu Jung-ak cleverly protected his chin desperately. So Cho Yong-il switched to hitting the body.
A left body punch that looked like a smash.
Yu Jung-ak clung to Cho Yong-il as if he had been waiting for this. Whenever he sensed a punch coming to his abdomen, he reflexively went for a clinch. This way of clinging prevented proper punches from being thrown. No matter how hard a puncher one was, hitting the abdomen without space couldn't deliver a big impact.
'This guy, he's got a really dirty style.'
Cho Yong-il thought Yu Jung-ak had learned this really dirty boxing somewhere. It was natural to think so. Yu Jung-ak had learned boxing from comic books. No matter how professional a comic was, it was bound to have some exaggeration for entertainment purposes due to its nature as a comic.
The dirty boxing Yu Jung-ak was doing came from those comic books. A strategy of conserving energy through clinches to launch an all-out offensive in the later rounds.
Yu Jung-ak had no intention of going on the offensive in the later rounds. He was just hoping for Cho Yong-il to get tired.
If Yu Jung-ak had done this in an actual match, he would have been disqualified immediately. It was blatant, too blatant.
From the middle onwards, he started spreading his arms and clinging on. While clinched, he hit Cho Yong-il's body or the side of his face.
Cho Yun-mi was looking at Yu Jung-ak as if he were a bug.
Cho Yong-il thought Yu Jung-ak had no talent for boxing. His body was full of tension and above all, his punching power was poor compared to his good physical condition.
But an interesting thought occurred to him. A complete novice doing his first sparring is trying this desperately to win.
Yu Jung-ak was really trying to win within the rules.
Cho Yong-il thought this was Yu Jung-ak's true talent.
An iron mentality that doesn't know how to give up.
Even after Cho Yong-il's short uppercut landed properly more than three times, Yu Jung-ak was still hanging in there. At this point, his durability was also considerable.
"Let's stop."
Cho Yong-il said, pushing away Yu Jung-ak who was trying to cling on with his left hand.
"What do you mean stop!"
"I said I'll teach you, so let's stop."
"No. Let's continue."
"What?"
"I won't learn boxing. So let's continue."
Cho Yong-il had misjudged. Yu Jung-ak was a guy with insane competitiveness. Due to Yu Jung-ak's constant pestering, Cho Yong-il had to spar for 3 more minutes.
And Yu Jung-ak ended up sprawled out in the ring.
Cho Yong-il's signature move from his active days.
Creating distance with a left short uppercut, followed by a powerful right hook. Cho Yong-il's hook, accurately planted behind the ear, was enough to make Yu Jung-ak lose his senses.
Nevertheless, Yu Jung-ak got up, stumbling. Cho Yong-il and Cho Yun-mi shook their heads, thinking he was like a cockroach.
"What a filthy, disgusting guy!"
Cadeaux
-- Cadeau
reçu État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone