Mutombo has also attracted a lot of teams, such as the Hawks and Bulls.

The Eagles offered Mutombo a five-year, $56 million contract, which immediately attracted the mountains of Africa.

But at this time, Bulls general manager Jerry Krauss contacted his agent, which made him hesitate a little.

However, the Bulls couldn't offer the Hawks a big contract, and only offered a five-year, $35 million contract with an annual salary of $7 million.

At the end of the old contract, Jordan entered a new contract, with a three-year salary of $72 million and an annual salary of $24 million, but his annual salary last season was only $3.82 million, so this season only occupies less than $6 million in salary space, which is about the same as Zhou Quan.

At this point, the Bulls still have to free up 5 million space first, and they have to trade Kevin Willis and one other important rotation player to make up the space.

It's $21 million less, but the championship is also very attractive, and Mutombo can't decide for a while.

Michael Jordan didn't wait for the big dream, and the expectations for Mutombo were strong, so he put pressure on Jerry Krauss.

After much consideration, Jerry Claus offered a contract of 45 million for 5 years, so that he would free up 7 million space.

Mutombo also thought about it for a long time and agreed to the Bulls' contract.

Then Kraus began to clear his contract and prepare salary space for signings.

Kevin Willis, Luke Longley, and Randy Brown were put on the shelf, and the three of them combined had exactly $7 million in space.

Fortunately, the Bulls still have Bill Winnington as a center backup, and Randy Brown is only a fringe man and has not excessively weakened the depth of the lineup.

In New York, David Stern received the trade request and hesitated.

If the Bulls get Mutombo, the difficulty of the supersonic three-peats will increase exponentially, and he knows that very well.

The question he considered was whether the deal would be good for the league, and the situation in the last Finals was actually a bit one-sided, the Bulls only won one, and if it wasn't for the Bulls fans messing around, maybe they would have been swept away, which was not good for the balance, so in the end he decided to pass this deal.

On the afternoon of the 20th, the deal was completed, and the Bulls officially announced the signing of Mutombo.

This free signing immediately shocked the whole league.

Lakers general manager Jerry West spoke to Los Angeles TV about the deal:

"The Bulls' roster is frighteningly strong, which is not good for the development of the league, and it can lead to vicious competition and lead to superstars in their prime. This time Mutombo joined the Bulls, which was even worse than Barkley being traded to Mosaic. ”

"It's a huddle, it's an absolute huddle."

When Whithitt learned the news, he immediately contacted a reporter he knew well and expressed his opinion to the media.

After many people expressed concerns, Bulls general manager Jerry Kraus stepped up and explained: "Our trade is within the league rules, and there is nothing illegal about bringing in Mutombo from the free market, it is not a huddle, it is just a normal reinforcement."

And as we all know, Deacbe is weak in attack and strong in defense, and we mainly strengthen the interior defense, and the offensive end has not been strengthened, and even weakened. ”

But no matter how the Bulls management explains, the Bulls' strong lineup has made the entire league uneasy, and even suppressed the fear of supersound.

Supersonic has won two consecutive championships, and now it is going to hit three consecutive championships, which is the public enemy of the league, and the whole league wants to stop it, but now this deal of the Bulls has attracted firepower for supersound.

On this day, Whithitt contacted Zhou Quan, who was doing his best boxing training, and said: "Iron Fist, now the Bulls' lineup is much stronger than last season, especially the defense on the inside, with the gate of Mutombo, it is much more difficult for us to get in." ”

Zhou Quan said: "Mutombo, Tony Kukoc, Pippen, Jordan, Ron Harper, this defense, that is, Kukocic is worse, the other four, the Bulls have created an iron bucket lineup!" ”

"yes, now we're a little bit passive, there's not much room to bring in players, it's hard to be a good role player." Whithitt was embarrassed.

Zhou Quan said: "Bob, we must find a better center, and a center with a mid-range shot, we have to find a way to pull Mutombo out of the basket, otherwise we can't fight the Bulls." ”

Whithitt said: "Mutombo is sitting under the basket and is too much of a threat to our breakthrough, but Rodman can't pull him out, how can we bring him out? ”

Zhou Quan said with a smile: "This depends on tactical positioning, and it can still be adjusted." Rodman doesn't attack, Mutombo can't defend him, what he's best at is protecting the basket, whoever has the strongest offense on the inside, he will mainly defend whom, as long as the person he defends pulls out of the penalty area, he can only follow out, and there are few opportunities to change defenses. ”

Whithitt smiled wryly: "So, looking for a center like Sam Perkins in the past?" ”

Zhou Quan smiled: "It's almost, you must invest well, and of course it's better to have a long-term investment." But Sam Perkins is too inefficient, I need to find a center who is more accurate in the middle of the shot, good at shooting open positions, and I can't shoot too slowly, as long as Mutombo doesn't follow, or if he comes out slowly, my ball will reach him. ”

"Alright, I'll talk to George Carl about it again." Whithitt said.

At this time, Dawson contacted the postman's agent and sent a trade offer to the Jazz in exchange for Barkley for Karl Malone.

The postman was a little moved when he learned that Mosaic wanted to trade himself.

He teamed up with Da Meng, such an inside combination, the absolute first in the league, but the outside line was too bad, so bad that it couldn't be seen, and it was swept by supersonic speed when there was a glider, and he and Da Meng were not sure.

When Jerry Sloan received this offer, he was unmoved and rejected it directly.

Barkley is no longer good, but the postman is at his peak, and the value of the two is not at the same level at all, how can he agree?

Then he called the postman and said clearly: "Karl, Mosaic doesn't have the chips to trade you at all, and Barkley can't do it anymore, unless they use Big Dream as a bargaining chip, but then the trade is meaningless." ”

The postman fell silent, and then Jerry Sloan continued: "Carl, you still have three years left on your contract, and if you don't work, I'll let you go freely, okay?" ”

"Three years?"

The postman smiled bitterly, he is already 33 years old, he will be 34 next season, and he will be 37 years old after three more years.

Jerry Sloan said toughly: "In short, I can't trade you for Barkley, if you leave, this lineup that has been polished for many years will be wasted." ”

The postman said angrily: "Then let the boss increase investment, we still have a middle-class regulation, we have no reinforcement, how to play supersonic, do you still want to be swept by an iron fist?" ”

Jerry Sloan was silent for a while, the ball market in Salt Lake City is so big, it is impossible for the boss to increase investment, and it is good not to draw money out.

……

At 9 a.m. on August 25, the NBA league announced the list of the top 50 superstars, and Zhou Quan was among them.

The league also announced that it will have a ceremony for the top fifty superstars at All-Star Weekend '97.

On August 28, Zhou Quan and Holyfield jointly held a press conference, which was a warm-up before the title defense.

"Zhou, Don King has been contacting us and he wants to arrange for you to fight Michael Tyson. Oh, and you're defending your title with Holyfield No. 1, who challenges current WBA leader Bruce Selden on No. 7, and if he wins, he'll hold the World Champion title again. After the press conference, Philip said.

"If I lose to Holyfield this time and don't have a title, will he still fight me? It's better to play Holyfield then, right? Zhou Quan asked.

"He said that he wants to fight you whether you win or lose or not. Zhou, even if you lose this title defense and you don't have the title, your popularity is still there, and I don't think it's going to fall, he thinks that way, and so does Mr. Arum and Mr. Dewar. Philip said.

Zhou Quan thought about it for a while, Tyson's popularity is indeed very high now, and he doesn't suffer a loss in a fight, it would be better if he could beat him, so he nodded and said: "I only have one request, I can't give in, I don't want Tang Jin to suck blood on my body." ”

"Of course, your current popularity is definitely no worse than Tyson's, how can we give in?" Philip nodded.

From this day on, major gambling companies opened a handicap for this boxing match.

In terms of odds, there is no big gap, and it is obvious that the major gambling industries are generally optimistic about this boxing match, believing that the strength of the two is equal, and everyone has a chance to win.

Overall, more gambling companies give Holyfield lower odds.

In other words, most gambling companies believe that Holyfield has a better chance of winning.

But there is a Las Vegas gambling company that unexpectedly did not open a market for this boxing match, but instead opened a surprising market.

Iron Fist is hit once, twice, three times, three times or more, and the odds are 1.15, 1.09, 1.06, 1.03, respectively.

As soon as this market came out, it unexpectedly received a lot of follow-up from gamblers and became the most popular market.

All of a sudden, other gambling companies followed suit and opened similar markets.

For example, there is a handicap opened by a company that bets on Zhou Quanquan to defend the title without injury, and there are specific standards for this injury, and it will not be effectively hit once.

There is a company that offers a bet on how many punches Zhou Quan can dodge in a wave at most.

This type of handicap is a more attractive bet than a regular handicap.

Zhou Quan himself couldn't help but spend tens of thousands of dollars to buy himself to defend his title without injury.

On the 29th, Barkley couldn't help but call Jordan and asked, "Michael, are you going to watch the Iron Fist guy defend his title?" ”

“NO。”

Jordan was very adamant.

As long as he remembers that he lost $2 million last year, he is distressed to death, and he has long vowed not to watch Zhou Quan's boxing match again.

"Hakim isn't going either, I'll ask the postman and Larry Johnson and Oakley." Barkley muttered.

He kind of wanted to go, wanted to see how Zhou Quan lost, and he felt that Holyfield's strength was stronger.

"Hey, postman, are you going to Las Vegas?"

"Fliggy, what are you looking for me?"

"What about you?"

"No, what am I going to do there? My farm needs me to take care of it. ”

"Iron Fist's title defense, don't you want to see how he loses?"

"No, it doesn't matter to me whether he wins or loses."

"Damn, you've been broken by him off the court, beaten by him in the ring, have you forgotten?"

"Shut up! It's been a long time off the ring, I've hurt other people, and it's not a grudge in the ring, it's a match.

In fact, that professional boxing match with him was to break our festival, but I lost, but our festival was over. ”

"You guy, you're actually afraid of him?"

"It's not that I'm afraid, I kind of go to the ring with him, do you have a kind of going up and fighting him? You and Big Dream are cowards. ”

"You bastard!"

Barkley was furious, scolded and hung up.

He was so angry with the postman that he didn't want to call anyone else or go to Las Vegas, but when he thought of the postman's words, his feelings were a little complicated.

In fact, when it comes to grievances, there is no grudge between him and Iron Fist at all, but there is a good start at the beginning.

It's just that later he supported Jordan in person, ignored Iron Fist, and did not take a neutral position, which led to the relationship between the two quickly deteriorated.

Of course, he didn't think it was his fault, he and Jordan were good friends, and at that time he and Iron Fist were just nodding friends, there was no friendship, and there was nothing wrong with supporting Jordan.

Thinking of his wife's persuasion again, he couldn't help but think that in the future, he would be less involved with Iron Fist, and the postman would be able to let go of the festival with Iron Fist, and he, a person who had no festivals, would have no need to maintain that kind of rival relationship with Iron Fist.

……

From the 31st to the 1st, a large number of private jets arrived at various airports in Las Vegas, more than 200, all of which were wealthy people from all over the United States and even all over the world.

Many of these people are bringing their families and girlfriends and planning to spend their vacations here and can watch two World Title defenses in a row within a week.

September 1, 1996, Las Vegas, MGM Arena, WBC World Boxing Title Defending Challenge.

The stadium of 20,000 people was packed, and all the seats that could be added were added, with an average ticket price of $6,200, the lowest summit ticket was as high as $800, and the price of the first row ticket was as high as 100,000, far exceeding the ticket price of the NBA Finals.

Excluding PPV revenue, the box office revenue of this boxing match alone is as high as 124 million US dollars, plus on-site advertising and sponsorship revenue, up to 200 million US dollars.

Because of the heat, the promoter sold $20 million in just three pre-match matches.

More than 300 media outlets attended, and at least two-thirds of the cameramen had to set up their cameras in the aisles, even on the top of the hill, and there was not that big place under the ring.

The front row, half of which are top and first-line celebrities, half of which are the world's richest people, and the NBA also has many stars present, but none of them have grabbed the front row.

(End of chapter)