Chapitre 152: Chapter 152: Boxing Match
"Link, what are you looking at?"
On the highway outside Kennedy International Airport in New York, agent Simon Curtis asked while driving.
Link looked out the window at the drizzling rain, which made the road wet, like a woman in spring.
"Before I came, I checked the weather forecast, and it said New York would be sunny. But as soon as I got off the plane, it started raining. I feel like New York's weather is against me."
"Haha, it's just a passing shower. It'll stop soon."
"I hope so. How's the match schedule?"
Link leaned back in his seat and asked.
This trip to New York had three main purposes: to participate in the MJ concert rehearsal, to record his second album, and to have a boxing match.
"There are expected to be three matches, two of which are confirmed to be held within the year. Here are the materials, take a look."
Simon took out a folder and handed it to him.
Link opened it and looked.
The first match was the WBA title challenge. The opponent was Andre Dirrell, the 2004 Athens Olympics middleweight bronze medalist. In March, in the title challenge qualifier, he defeated Jermain Taylor to earn the right to challenge Link.
This match would be held in New York in June.
The second opponent was Roy Jones Jr.
After defeating Tyson last year, Franco started contacting opponents for him.
He sent out match invitations to Roy Jones Jr., Joe Calzaghe, Bernard Hopkins, James Toney, John Ruiz, Floyd Mayweather, and other boxing stars.
Currently, only Roy Jones Jr. had accepted the challenge.
Calzaghe was preparing to retire and was unsure whether he would fight Link.
Hopkins said he wanted to see Link's match with Roy Jones before making a decision.
The others hadn't responded yet.
As for the match between Link and Roy Jones, they were currently discussing the hosting rights and prize money for the match, and the date was yet to be determined.
The third match was originally scheduled to be a title unification fight between Link and WBO-WBF double champion Andre Ward.
However, during the discussions, the four major organizations proposed a plan called "Super Six."
It involved having the super middleweight champions from each organization compete against each other, similar to the "Four Kings" round-robin tournament in the middleweight division in the 1980s.
Link had heard of this tournament before. The boxers participating in "Super Six" included Mikkel Kessler, Carl Froch, Arthur Abraham, Jermain Taylor, Andre Ward, Andre Dirrell, Lucian Bute, Allan Green, and others.
They were all top three ranked boxers in the super middleweight division of the four major organizations, known as the "Clash of Champions."
After three years of competition, Andre Ward won all six fights and all the gold belts, which also raised his ranking in the P4P rankings to second place, only behind Floyd Mayweather.
Now, because of Link's appearance, Mikkel and Jermain had been defeated by him, and he had taken the WBA gold belt. None of the other champions were as famous as him, and the super middleweight division was in a "one superpower, multiple strong contenders" situation.
However, the four major organizations still proposed the "Super Six" concept.
This clearly showed that they didn't think Link had the strength to dominate the super middleweight division alone.
"Simon, the round-robin tournament is very troublesome, and the competition cycle is too long. Communicate with the four major organizations. Either it's a Super 1+5, where several champions with gold belts challenge me, or we proceed with the original plan for the title unification fight. I plan to win all the gold belts from the four major organizations within the year."
"Okay, I'll talk to Franco later."
Simon nodded.
---
As expected, it was just a passing shower. As the car traveled from Queens to Manhattan Island, the sky gradually cleared up. The sun peeked out from behind the clouds with a bright, silly smile, as if playing hide-and-seek with Link.
After the sun came out, the streets of Manhattan became bustling again. The skyscrapers revealed their sturdy figures, standing tall under the clear sky. Pedestrians put down their colorful umbrellas and walked on the damp but spring-like streets, no longer in such a hurry.
After returning to Manhattan, Link first went to Link Music Company in the metropolitan area and handed over the materials for more than ten songs to Mr. Graeme Goodall, asking him to adjust the music arrangements. Then, they could start recording the second album.
"Link, these aren't love songs?"
Mr. Graeme asked after looking through them.
"No, they're mainly about life experiences. See how you like them. If you think they're good, we can put them on the third album."
Link pointed to a few songs marked with a red marker.
Graeme looked at them for a while and praised, "They're very good. These songs are all of very high quality, Link. I have to say, you're truly a creative genius."
Link laughed. "You're too kind. I'm a newcomer in music and still need to learn a lot from you and my peers."
Graeme waved his hand and smiled. "You're growing very fast. This is your talent, and it has little to do with us. However, the style of these songs is similar to 'Give Me Everything,' lyrical and alternative rock. They can be released as a separate album."
Graeme paused for a moment, then pondered. "Currently, 'Give Me Everything' is very popular, and the controversy between you, Kanye, Lil, and others hasn't completely subsided. The heat is still there. My suggestion is to release this album first and then release the 'love' album next year. Love is an eternal theme, and it's never too late to release it."
Link thought for a moment. This arrangement was also acceptable. The songs he copied were mostly released after 2013, so delaying them for half a year wouldn't be a big problem.
"Okay, there are two rap songs here, a new attempt for me. I'm planning to invite Eminem to collaborate. What do you think?"
Eminem was a famous white rapper who debuted in 1996 and had released six albums with global sales exceeding 100 million copies. His representative works included "My Name Is," "Lose Yourself," and the movie "8 Mile."
He was a very skilled rapper. In the song "Rap God," he rapped 1,560 words in 6 minutes and 3 seconds, setting a Guinness World Record.
Graeme shook his head after hearing Link's words. "It's difficult. Eminem has a good relationship with Kanye, Lil, 50 Cent, and other rappers, and they have released several albums together. But your relationship with Kanye and the others is very bad, so he probably won't agree to collaborate with you."
Link also understood this, but this song had a lot of rap parts and needed someone who was good at rapping to cooperate. Besides the famous Eminem, he couldn't find a suitable candidate for the time being.
"Link, don't just focus on Eminem and those few people. There are many rappers in the United States, such as Snoop Dogg and Akon. They are West Coast rappers. East Coast and West Coast rappers are rivals and hostile to each other. These two rap songs are of good quality, I think they would be interested."
Mr. Graeme suggested.
Link nodded, agreeing with the suggestion.
East Coast rappers were mainly from New York and Chicago, with representative figures like JAY-Z, 50 Cent, Eminem, Kanye, and others.
The West Coast rap base was in Los Angeles and San Francisco, with representative figures like Snoop Dogg and 2Pac.
In the 80s and 90s, East and West Coast rappers briefly joined forces, creating a global rap music trend and promoting rap music worldwide.
However, due to differences in style and mutual hostility, the two representative figures, 2Pac and Biggie Smalls, were both shot and killed in 1996 and 1997.
Link had some conflicts with the East Coast rap group, so the West Coast rappers were also potential collaborators.
(End of Chapter)
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