Almighty Coach

“Li, I watched the match this weekend. Congratulations to you guys on the victory!” Stephen said as he edged closer. He then assumed the look of an insider and lowered his voice before saying, “Taylor sure has good luck!”

“Good luck?” Dai Li looked at Stephen with a baffled expression and wondered if “good luck” was some new congratulatory remark used in American culture.

Stephen then continued, “We all wanted Kevin Taylor to win the first match of his comeback, but we didn’t think that his opponent would be so nice, easily ‘giving’ him a win.”

“What do you mean? I don’t understand.” Dai Li felt that the match Stephen talked about and the actual match were two entirely different things.

“Oh, God, I’ve practically spelled it out, but you still don’t understand.” Stephen laughed bitterly, then said, “Don’t tell me you didn’t read Mason’s post-match commentary? It’s about the match between Taylor and Saunders.”

“Mason, I think I’ve heard that name before, let me think…” Dai Li started looking for this name in his mind.

“It’s that famous boxing commentator, ‘The Light of Betting’ of the boxing world. I’m sure you’ve heard his name. He is a professional boxing commentator, and he’s always able to make accurate predictions. A lot of people follow his articles, winning money from listening to his judgment, including me!” Stephen said.

“I remember, I’ve heard of this man. I’ve read some of his articles.” Dai Li nodded. “What did he write about Taylor recently?”

“I’ll find it for you.” Stephen walked towards the computer and quickly found the article. The first line read, “Kevin Taylor’s victory was only a coincidence.”

“This is the one. Mason wrote it. He analyzed in detail the reasons for Taylor’s win. It makes sense, and a lot of websites have already shared it around,” Stephen said.

“Let me see what he wrote.” Dai Li became interested, lowered his head, and began reading the article in detail.

After a few minutes, Dai Li looked dumbfounded.

The content of the article corresponded with the first line well. The boxing commentator called Mason found all kinds of reasons from different angles to prove his point, which was that Taylor overflowed with luck, his victory was an utter coincidence, and it was the consequence of several low probability situations occurring at the same time.

Mason’s theories all made sense and sounded plausible, at least, someone of Dai Li’s level could not find any clear loophole. After all, Mason was one of the best boxing commentators in the US, and his professionalism was top class. It was way too simple for a professional such as him to deceive an ordinary person, whether by supporting or denouncing an athlete, everything he said would make perfect sense. It was impossible to refute.

If it were someone else, they would have undoubtedly believed the content of the article, just like Stephen. It was inevitable; his article was just that well-written. It had a clear point of view with a well-defined structure, as if the article was describing the truth. However, Dai Li knew that the seemingly sensible article was basically bullsh*t.

“This Mason sure is good. Even I almost believed what he wrote. Taylor’s victory was just a coincidence!” Dai Li said as he unconsciously curled his lips.

Dai Li had used an age-reduction card on Taylor, so Dai Li knew very clearly the reason behind Taylor’s victory. It was because he had the body of a 27-year-old. It wasn’t the coincidence that Mason mentioned. It didn’t matter if Mason found ten thousand reasons, it didn’t matter if the world thought that Taylor’s victory was only a coincidence, Dai Li would hold to his point of view.

That was because Dai Li was the initiator of Taylor’s victory.

Taylor himself believed that his body was at its peak when he was 27 years old, but no one in the world knew exactly how strong a 27-year-old Taylor was. That was because Taylor was in prison when he was 27 years old. Dai Li’s age-reduction card showed the answer when he recreated a Taylor who was at his peak. The current Taylor had defeated Saunders in one round, and Dai Li wouldn’t be surprised if that Taylor defeated any other heavyweight boxer in the world in just one round.

At that moment, Stephen’s voice came from his side. “And there’s this, Saunders’ post-match interview. Have you watched it?”

“Nope.” Dai Li shook his head. “After the match, we didn’t really stay before heading back. You know Taylor’s situation; he’s currently in the bankruptcy protection period and his spending is restricted, so we couldn’t organize any celebratory activities. I don’t want Taylor to be called to court for something like that.”

“Then you should watch it. After watching it, you will realize just how lucky Taylor was,” Stephen said.

Dai Li immediately searched for news related to Saunders. Sure enough, his latest interview was available, and there were text descriptions as well as video recordings.

Dai Li first clicked on the video. A clip of Saunders’ interview appeared.

“… I’ve had some bad luck. As I prepared for defense when Taylor came at me, my eyes were distracted by the flashing lights, so I didn’t see Taylor’s fist clearly. By the time I avoided the lights, Taylor’s fist had reached me, and by then, it was already too late to dodge…” Saunders put up an act of innocence as he spoke in the video.

He blamed the lights after losing the match? At least find some better excuse. Stupid excuses like this just sound like a joke! Why don’t you complain that the mat was too hard or too soft, or that the air conditioning was too cold or hot! Dai Li shook his head, he had no interest in listening to Saunders’ nonsense. The guy was only looking for excuses for losing the match.

Later, Dai Li asked Stephen, “You coming here today, it can’t be you’re only here to congratulate us, right?”

“Of course, I know that you are still hiring, so I’ve brought a resume with me. I think he would be of help to you. You should take a look and see if you’re interested.” Stephen grabbed a resume from his suitcase and passed it to Dai Li.

“A Masters of Business Administration? This is a physical fitness training center, it needs coaches. What’s the use of an MBA?” Dai Li asked.

“You’re all coaches here. Even you, the boss, personally trains people too. Don’t you feel that this place of yours is missing a manager?” Stephen said earnestly.

“You’re trying to find me a CEO!” Dai Li sighed lightly.

“Management is important.” Stephen shook his head and continued, “If you’re satisfied with this place, then it is enough with just you, the boss. However, if you want to expand, then you will need specialized management personnel. Of course, you can also become the manager personally, but can you guarantee that you can perform better than someone with specialized training for the position?”

“Makes sense, professional tasks should be done by professionals,” Dai Li agreed.

At that moment, there was a knock on the door, and Taylor walked inside.

“Coach Li, I just received a call from the WBA. My opponent has been confirmed,” Taylor said.

“That fast? Your match against Saunders just finished, aren’t you resting for a few months?” Stephen asked first.

“That was a match with the WBC, this is a match with the WBA,” Taylor explained. “I’m registered in multiple boxing leagues, so after the ban, I’ve submitted applications to participate in matches with all four of the big boxing leagues.”

“Which means that this is your first opponent with the WBA after your comeback?” Stephen nodded as if he realized something. “Looks like the aftereffects of your victory against Saunders!”

“What aftereffects?” This time, it was Dai Li who asked the question.

“Taylor beating Saunders has certainly attracted attention, and the WBA is hoping to capitalize and arrange a match for Taylor as soon as possible before that attention wanes. That way, regardless of whether it is broadcasting or sponsorship, they can maximize their earnings.”

“Which means that the WBA is jumping on the bandwagon,” Dai Li said.

“You could say that.” Stephen changed his tone, turned to face Taylor, and asked, “Who did the WBA arrange as your first opponent?”

“Nicholas,” Taylor answered.

“You are talking about that ‘Hurricane’ Nicholas?” Stephen clarified.

Taylor nodded. “Yes, that’s him.”

“God, good luck to you! Hopefully lady luck is still on your side,” Stephen said as he looked at Taylor with pity.

“Is this ‘Hurricane’ Nicholas very strong?” Dai Li asked.

“Of course. Just listen to his nickname. Hurricane. You should know what a hurricane is, right? A person who dares to use this as a nickname, do you think he would be a weakling?” Stephen stated.

The US had experienced many hurricanes, more than 20 hurricanes in a year in the northeastern Pacific, enough to fill the entire alphabet. There were fewer hurricanes in the North Atlantic than in the northeastern Pacific, but it was still enough to go from A to W. For Americans, hurricanes caused the more financial loss than any other natural disaster.

Taylor provided a more detailed answer. “Nicholas fought against me three years ago. I was the WBA championship belt holder, and he was the challenger, attempting to take the championship belt from me. He lost in the end, but I had a hard time winning that match. I was also hit quite a few times, and if I hadn’t avoided getting hit in my vitals, I might have been the one losing.”

“This Nicholas is really strong, then!” Dai Li said lightly.

“Although Nicholas hasn’t won a championship belt yet, among all the current active heavyweight boxers, I think he is the closest to a championship belt. He is the fourth-ranked title challenger in the WBA rankings, and the fifth-ranked title challenger in the IBF rankings. All the boxers who are ranked higher than him have previously possessed championship belts. If you ask me, among the title challengers who have not won a championship belt before, Nicholas definitely has the best chance,” Taylor said.

“Then what about his fighting style?” Dai Li continued asking.

“Very similar to mine. He’s also an attacking type, and his attacks are very fierce. His combination punches integrate technique with power perfectly. The only difference is that his footwork isn’t as agile as mine in an attack, and he uses fewer feints. His attack is a simple continuous attack, constantly putting pressure on his opponent, not allowing them any time to breathe. If you can’t take the pressure in defense, it is easy to get knocked down by him.”

“For the WBA, this should be your first match after your comeback, right?” Dai Li asked. “If that’s the case, your opponent might seem a little too strong. This ‘Hurricane’ Nicholas should be a high-difficulty instance.”

“Perhaps it’s because the WBA hates me. They can’t arrange for a boxing champion to fight me in the first match, so they sent this quasi-boxing champion, Nicholas. They must really want to see me get knocked down.” Taylor laughed bitterly.

“Why? Did something happen with the WBA?” Dai Li asked.

“Two years ago, the match where I bit Highfield, that was the championship boxing match of the WBA! The WBA invested a lot of resources into that match, but in the end, it became a laughing stock in the boxing world. I think that to this day, the WBA president still hates my guts!”