Chapter 408 - 364: Iron Fist and Samurai

A scantily-clad ring girl holding the sign for the second round walked around the ring, drawing whistles from some of the men.

"Fighting!"

Jackal suddenly rushed forward, completely abandoning any defense of his face. He took a straight punch from Iron Fist that snapped his head back, and blood instantly seeped from his brow ridge.

But Jackal’s charge didn’t stop. He pushed into Iron Fist’s inner guard, moving faster than Iron Fist could retreat.

Iron Fist knew this was bad. He immediately leaned forward, moving his legs back to press his weight onto Jackal, and the two began to grapple.

Seeing Jackal successfully clinch with Iron Fist, the spectators who had bet on Jackal grew excited and started cheering him on.

The spectators supporting Iron Fist weren’t to be outdone and shouted back.

In an instant, the entire venue was a cacophony of noise.

Iron Fist pressed his weight down, reaching a stalemate with Jackal. With only a one-kilogram difference in their weight and nearly identical levels of strength, they were perfectly matched.

Due to the close contact, a lot of the blood from Jackal’s face smeared onto Iron Fist’s face and body.

The blood wasn’t very noticeable on Jackal’s dark skin, but when it smeared onto Iron Fist, his blood-soaked appearance made the fight look especially brutal.

In the middle of the stalemate, Iron Fist came up with a plan. He suddenly relaxed some of his strength, allowing Jackal to push him to the ropes.

Feeling the support of the ropes behind him, Iron Fist guarded against Jackal’s wrestling techniques. As he felt Jackal’s push, he held his ground while adjusting his position.

Seeing the opportunity, Iron Fist used Jackal’s momentum, sidestepped, and instantly pinned Jackal against the ropes.

Iron Fist then pushed off the mat forcefully, giving Jackal the false impression that he was about to engage in a wrestling match.

Once his right hand was free, Iron Fist held Jackal against the ropes, then suddenly spun and threw an elbow, striking Jackal directly on the chin.

Feeling Jackal’s body go limp, Iron Fist stepped back. A left hook snapped Jackal’s head up, followed by a vicious right swing that smashed into the base of Jackal’s ear.

THUD! Jackal collapsed to the ground. The referee hurried to block Iron Fist and declared the match over.

"Iron Fist!"

"Iron Fist!"

"Iron Fist!"

...

Covered in blood, Iron Fist ran a lap around the ring, greeting the audience, before the referee pulled him to the center.

The referee, his gloved hand gripping Iron Fist’s wrist, raised Iron Fist’s right arm. "Iron Fist wins by KO!"

Bashir pumped his fist excitedly and looked at Wu Yun. "Wu! The fighters from your country are truly amazing!"

Wu Yun replied proudly, "Of course. And Iron Fist isn’t even the strongest among our professional fighters!"

Takeda Nobuyoshi, standing to the side, said with some displeasure, "Japan has more good fighters! At least, right now, there are far more active Japanese boxers on the world stage than there are from Huaxia!"

Wu Yun couldn’t really argue with that, because what Takeda Nobuyoshi said was true. Japan was indeed ahead of Huaxia in this regard.

’At least in the lighter weight classes of world boxing, Japan’s number of champions far exceeded Huaxia’s. Huaxia only had Xiong Chaozhong, Zou Shiming, Xu Can—wait, no! According to the timeline, Zou Shiming and Xu Can wouldn’t win their championship belts until next year, in 2016.’

’In other words, the only professional boxer Huaxia could boast of right now was Xiong Chaozhong.’

’Even in the heavyweight division, before my rebirth, Huaxia’s Zhang Zhilei had only just won the WBO interim heavyweight world champion’s belt. But Zhang Zhilei was already 40 years old at that point. That’s the price you pay for serving the country and entering the professional boxing world too late!’

’If Zhang Zhilei had turned pro earlier, he probably would have had a heavyweight championship belt in his hands long ago.’

But Wu Yun couldn’t lose face. He said, "There are still many top fighters within Huaxia’s state system. They achieve excellent results in national-level competitions like the Olympics! If they were all allowed to participate in professional matches, I believe Huaxia’s achievements in the pro scene would be much greater than they are now!"

Hearing Wu Yun’s words, Takeda Nobuyoshi said contemptuously, "With your training system? I doubt very many of them could ever make a name for themselves!"

"Wu Yunsang, you’re so wealthy and you love fighting. Why don’t you start your own tournament or open some martial arts gyms to train athletes? Look at me. Even though I’m just in charge of my family’s organization, I’ve opened my own gyms—many of them! It’s quite fulfilling to see athletes you’ve trained win awards!"

Hearing Takeda Nobuyoshi’s words, Wu Yun’s heart stirred. ’He’s right. I have the money and the time now. Why not start a tournament or train some athletes?’

So, Wu Yun filed the idea away, planning to see if it was feasible when he returned home.

"Yes! You have a point!" ’If I can spend ten or twenty million US dollars to host the Titan Game, I can definitely put some more toward improving the domestic combat sports environment.’

Takeda Nobuyoshi smiled. "I knew it! Wu Yunsang is a combat sports enthusiast, just like me! If your gyms open, our two schools can have frequent exchanges! And of course, if Wu Yunsang decides to host a tournament, I can offer some support!"

Takeda Nobuyoshi was quite confident in the strength of the men from his gyms.

Wu Yun nodded and said, "I’ll try opening a gym when I get back home! Alright, let’s watch the match!"

At that moment, the announcer stood on the cleaned-up ring and introduced Fighter No. 3, Viper, and Fighter No. 13, Samurai.

The match began. To the expert eye, both were masters of jiu-jitsu. They continuously probed during the standoff, occasionally tangling up in a man-on-man pile.

But to the layman, the two just looked like they were rolling around and wrestling on the ground without any rhyme or reason, completely lacking the aesthetic of violent beauty.

Watching the two burly men panting while plastered to each other on the ground, the referee had no choice but to separate them and restart the match from a standing position.

The first round ended with the two of them still entangled. However, Samurai was ahead on points because he had landed several hits to Viper’s face, chest, and abdomen during a brief exchange of punches, whereas Viper’s attacks had all missed.

Just as the second round began, Wei Wu returned to his seat and whispered in Wu Yun’s ear, "Hawkeye and the others spotted a few Mexicans drinking coffee in the hotel lobby. We don’t know if they’re watching us or waiting for their boss!"

Wu Yun asked, "Hawkeye and his team weren’t exposed, were they?"

Wei Wu shook his head. "No. I called them and told them to follow behind us when we leave tonight, not to meet up with us, and to monitor any activity behind us."

Wu Yun nodded and was about to speak when he heard gasps from the audience, followed by a roar of cheers. Beside him, Takeda Nobuyoshi had also leaped to his feet, pumping his fists furiously.

Wu Yun turned to look at the ring. He saw Viper clutching his liver, kneeling and curled up on the canvas, while Samurai was excitedly waving his fists at the crowd and even did a backflip.

A fight can be like that; victory and defeat are often decided in an instant.

Wu Yun asked, "How was it a KO?"

Takeda Nobuyoshi, beaming, pointed at the screen above the ring. "Wu Yunsang, look at the replay! My karate’s ultimate move, the Three-Phase Moon Kick!"

On the replay, which the casino had deliberately slowed down, Samurai was first shown in a fighting stance. The moment Viper threw a rear straight punch, exposing his side, Samurai’s left foot shot up through the opening. The ball of his foot, right at the base of the big toe, struck Viper’s ribs right over the liver.

In the slow-motion video, everyone could clearly see the skin rippling from the force of the impact.

From Wu Yun’s perspective, the move had incredible penetrating power. Combined with the direct hit to Viper’s liver, it had instantly "burst his liver," robbing Viper of his ability to continue fighting.

’That move’s angle is vicious and insidious,’ Wu Yun thought. ’It’s fast and almost impossible to defend against. It feels like a variation of a groin kick.’

Viper was carried off the stage by medical staff. Even during the two or three minutes it took to announce the winner, he hadn’t recovered from the excruciating pain.

"Wu Yunsang, you should just bet on Samurai to win in the semi-finals! He’s definitely stronger than your Huaxian Iron Fist! I won’t laugh at you!"

Seeing Takeda Nobuyoshi’s smug expression, Wu Yun waved Wang Hao over.

Wang Hao came over and asked, "President Wu, what are your orders?"

Wu Yun glanced at Takeda Nobuyoshi’s smile and said, "Go. Find this Iron Fist. Tell him if he KOs that Samurai in his next match, I’ll give him a US$ 200,000 bonus!"