Chapter 8: The Dragon Bends and the Snake Stretches Out (8)
After returning to the Warriors Muay Thai gym, the owner of the gym was furious and scolded Coach Zhang to the blood, the boss not only collected the black money of the boxers in the boxing stadium, but also made a big bet on Shanbaka, but the bamboo basket was empty, not to mention the loss of the bet, but also had to return the bribes of the gamblers, and bear the condemnation and threats of the gamblers.
The Warrior Muay Thai gym couldn't stay any longer, he didn't want to always become a victim of gambling boxing, and he didn't want to always lose the face of Chinese and Chinese martial arts in a foreign country, so he rolled up the cover and left the Warrior Muay Thai gym.
In the first year of coming to Thailand, Coach Zhang has already made some fame, especially the battle with Shin Baka, which made many Thais remember this Chinese name. So, he quickly found his next home, he left Bangkok under the introduction of a Thai friend in the Warrior Muay Thai gym, and came to Pattaya Hunt Bosang Ma Boxing Gym, this gym has three shareholders, of which the major shareholder is a Chinese, named Sonny, his ancestors are from Chaoshan, Guangdong, he married a Chinese girl as his wife, because of this relationship, plus Coach Zhang has adapted to Thai culture and life, so he quickly integrated into the Posang Ma Muay Thai gym and became a highly praised boxer.
The Warrior Muay Thai gym has arranged a lot of fights for him, most of which he has won, and the hard training and a lot of actual combat matches have made his Muay Thai level higher and higher, and the traces of sanda on his body are getting fading more and more. As a very rare Chinese middleweight fighter, he became more and more famous in Thailand, conquering many Thai fans, and with the active maneuvering and promotion of his boss Sonny, he was invited to participate in Lumpinee Muay Thai in the spring of 1999, in the third year of Coach Zhang's arrival in Thailand.
He really lived up to expectations, in the ring of the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium, which was full of masters, broke through layer by layer, fought a bloody way, won the first place in the Lumpinee Muay Thai 80kg class, became a seeded fighter in this class that year, and had the qualification to challenge the 1998 80kg Lumpinee annual champion Kenyu, which is the first Chinese to attack the Lumpinee annual championship since the establishment of the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium, and for a while, shocked the Thai boxing world, I'm afraid that even the gym owner Sonny, who recommended him to compete, didn't expect this result.
His rapid rise in record and rankings has caused him to be dissatisfied in some Thai rings.
As the bettors made bigger and bigger bets on Coach Zhang, someone approached Sonny, the owner of Bosangma Gym, hoping that Coach Zhang would lose the Lumpinee gold bout, otherwise, if he defeated Muay Thai king Kenyu and won the match, the ring would lose a lot. Sonny called Coach Zhang into the office, explained the situation, and told Coach Zhang that if he lost the gold bout, he would be paid 10,000 baht. In the 90s of the 20th century, 10,000 baht was a lot of money, Coach Zhang didn't know how many games he had to play to earn this money, but Coach Zhang flatly refused, he wanted to use the Lumpinee championship belt to break the Thai people's prejudice and contempt for Chinese martial arts and Chinese fighters, he wanted to let Thailand's oldest and sacred boxing stadium flutter the five-star red flag, which was his wish after coming to Thailand. Seeing that he had made up his mind, Sonny sighed and shook his head, his face pale.
On December 6, 1998, the Lumpinee Championship was held at Lumpinee Stadium as scheduled, which was the first time Coach Zhang walked into Lumpinee Stadium, a famous stadium built in 1956 that exudes a special smell under the sweat of the fighters for 42 years. The boxing stadium is like a small gymnasium, there are many seats in the stands, almost none of the seats are empty, except for a few foreigners sitting in front of the stands, most of the fans are Thai locals, and there are many fans standing behind the stands who have not bought seat tickets, and there is not a single woman in the entire boxing ring.
The previous rounds have been played, and it is the turn of Coach Zhang and Kenyu in the 80kg class to appear. When the host read Coach Zhang's name, Coach Zhang walked along the track to the ring in the center of the ring. On the walls on both sides of the track, there are wonderful pictures of the fighters fighting, and there are also some landscape pictures, which play a somewhat diluting role in the brutality and gore of Muay Thai matches. He heard someone shouting at him, but some fans reached out their palms and high-fived him.
This match is very important for both the gym and the individual, but none of the three shareholders of the gym have Sonny accompanying him, and the Thai coach of the gym will serve as his sideline coach. The Thai coach carried a plastic bucket and followed Coach Zhang, which contained mineral water, braces, towels, Vaseline and other items.
Kenyu, who appeared first, had already finished his apprenticeship, wearing red fist gloves, a red headband and armband on his arm, his back against the strap, and he stared gloomily at Coach Zhang as he walked into the ring like a crocodile lurking in the water to hunt its prey.
The first round began, and the shouts of cheering for Kenyu almost drowned out Coach Zhang, and many people got up from their seats, waved their fists, and gestured to cheer for Kenyu. Most of the fans who came to the gym bet, and the vast majority of the fans bought Kenyu, and no one was optimistic about a Chinese fighter, and they didn't believe that Coach Zhang could win the match.
Even if he goes all the way and qualifies to challenge last year's 80kg Lumpinee championship, in the eyes of these Thai fans, this is just the strength of Chinese fighters, this is just Coach Zhang's luck, his luck can't always be so good, Chinese martial arts and Chinese fighters are not in the stream, and they will definitely not be able to defeat Muay Thai, which has been undefeated for 500 years. Presumably, Ken Yu and these Thai fans think the same.
However, to everyone's surprise, more than two minutes after the opening of the first round, Coach Zhang seized on the Muay Thai fighter's slow heat, found Kenyu's flaw, cut in quickly, and slammed his forehand on Kenyu's right cheek, Kenyu immediately fell to the ground like a sawn tree, and the referee immediately pushed Kenyu away and counted him down. The pace of the countdown is very slow, like a snail's step. Everyone was holding their breath and waiting for Kenyu to get up from the ring, and the referee even pushed Kenyu's shoulder with his hand when he read eight, and Kenyu used his strength to get up, and the stadium remembered the noisy shouts.
After Kenyu got up, Coach Zhang launched a crazy attack on him, and Kenyu was forced into the corner by Coach Zhang, holding his head tightly and fighting to a crumbling point. Seeing that Kenyu was about to be knocked down by Coach Zhang's heavy punch again, the bell rang in time, allowing Kenyu to escape for the time being.
Kenyu lowered his head, gasped and looked at Coach Zhang, and then raised his head to look at the nervous fans in the stands, with a solemn face. The balance of victory seems to be tilting in favor of Coach Zhang, Coach Zhang returned to the corner, although his sideline coach had been silent just now, did not help him shout tactics, but had already set up a chair for him in the ring, Coach Zhang sat on the chair with his buttocks, recuperating his physical fitness, the sideline coach standing on the right hand side of Coach Zhang handed him a bottle of mineral water, he opened the lid and drank two big sips in one go, when he closed the lid and put down the mineral water bottle, he felt a piercing pain in his right thigh, and he screamed loudly in pain, Blood came out of the painful place, and he hurriedly pressed the bleeding place.
Yes, someone shot him in the thigh.