On April 23, the NBA playoffs began.

In Seattle, Zhou Quan was training at a private boxing gym when Roger Phillip approached him.

"Zhou, your external mobile phone was turned off, and David Stern contacted me."

"Oh."

Zhou Quan didn't ask Stern what was the matter with Philip, and he didn't have to guess what he knew for, what else could he do besides inviting him back to the NBA?

Philip didn't mean to go on, but said: "The Jazz and the Bulls are both 65 wins this season, but the Jazz have home-court advantage in the playoffs. By the way, the second place in the East is the Pacers. ”

"Oh? Did Reggie Miller's luck come? Zhou Quan said happily.

Philip laughed: "Larry Bird's coaching ability is still good, he reuses Dutch center forward Rick Schmitz, who was not reused by the previous manager.

Behind are the Heat and the Hornets, the former Eastern powerhouse Knicks are no longer good, and they fell to seventh in the East after Ewing was seriously injured, with only 43 wins. ”

"How many games has Ewing played this season?" Zhou Quan didn't know too much and asked casually.

Philip said: "More than twenty, I don't know the specifics. Another serious knee injury, he can't do it. In addition, the Jazz are first in the West, with 65 wins, and Barkley's luck came. ”

Zhou Quan said with a smile: "The Jazz shouldn't be able to beat the Bulls, and Barkley is estimated to be hugging the black and white thighs again." ”

Philip nodded: "The Lakers are second, the Suns are third, the Spurs are fourth, and the SuperSonics are fifth." ”

"It's nice for the SuperSonics to make the playoffs, but that Rodman guy has been lazy this season, only playing 47 games." Zhou Quan said with a smile.

Philip said: "The Tim Duncan selected by the Spurs is really good, his debut is the peak, averaging 39.1 minutes per game in the regular season, 21.1 points, 11.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 0.7 steals and 2.5 blocks, nicknamed the basic skills, the style of play is very stable, and the media say that it is a top offensive and defensive integration." ”

"So strong? It seems that David Robinson's luck has come, and he and Tim Duncan have teamed up, and it seems that O'Neill has teamed up with the Postman. Zhou Quan said with some surprise.

Next, the NBA league entered the playoffs, and Zhou Quan continued to practice boxing.

The unification battle is approaching, and golf training has almost completely stopped, that is, playing a dozen and adjusting when you relax.

On May 24, Zhou Quan and Zeng Li, as well as the boxing team and security personnel, a group of more than 20 people came to Las Vegas.

MGM Hotel hosted several boxing matches for Zhou Quan, making a lot of money, and many times the increase in room rates alone has tens of millions of dollars in additional profits, providing rooms for Zhou Quan and his team for free, and his room is the most luxurious presidential suite.

Zeng Li brought two nannies from home, was sorting out the luggage, the security personnel were checking the room, Zhou Quan was fine, thinking of the ongoing Western Decision, he took out his mobile phone and called O'Neill.

The Western Conference is the Lakers vs. Jazz, the Lakers have lost three games in a row, tonight is the G4 game, there is a danger of being swept, and he intends to comfort O'Neal.

Over there, O'Neal was training at the Lakers' headquarters, and when he heard his mobile phone ringing, he came over and saw that it was Zhou Quan's phone, so he said angrily: "Call me at this time, you must be mocking me." ”

"Iron Fist, what do you want to say?" After connecting, he asked angrily.

"Shark, what else can I say, you're about to be swept away by the Postman and Barkley, I'll comfort you." Zhou Quan said with a smile.

"I knew you wouldn't say anything good when you called at this time. I'm telling you, Jordan can't sweep me, just with them? O'Neill aired.

Zhou Quan said earnestly: "Shark, Jazz can't make waves under my hands, if you are swept by them, I will be ashamed of you, you have a snack, sell more strength when you play, do a good job of defense, don't be swept by others at every turn, it's very embarrassing." ”

"Bastard, Iron Fist, how could I be swept away? Don't interfere with my training. ”

O'Neill over there listened to Zhou Quan's nonsense, his stomach hurt so much that he hung up the phone scolding.

He saw that everyone else was looking at him, and yelled angrily: "What are you looking at, go to training, we are all about to be swept away, someone called me to mock me." ”

Seeing the rare anger of the big shark, the others were very surprised and hurriedly resumed training.

Jerry West, the general manager, was also here, and then came over and asked, "Shaq, Iron Fist's call?" ”

"Hmm."

Jerry West's eyes lit up and he asked, "Shaq, you are friends with him, and he told you that it is possible to go back to the NBA to play?" ”

O'Neill shook his head and said, "How is it possible, he made hundreds of millions of dollars in a boxing match, what is he doing when he comes back?" He never said he was coming back. ”

Jerry West shook his head in disappointment and didn't speak again.

Although the Lakers sit on the big ball market in Los Angeles, they are also very affected by the retirement of the Iron Fist King, one is the ratings, the second is the sponsors, and the third is that the league has passed a resolution that starting next season, 42% of the team's regional broadcast revenue will be handed over to the league and distributed equally among all teams by the league.

This last decision alone will reduce the Lakers' operating income by $20 million per year, which is a very large loss.

That night, the Lakers were swept by the Jazz.

"Ahh

At the end of the game, Barkley, who reached the Finals for the second time in his career, roared and screamed with excitement.

"Iron Fist, you said you wouldn't let me enter the finals, I'm in now!" Agitated, he yelled at the NBC camera.

Zhou Quan in front of the TV was stunned, and couldn't help laughing, this mentally retarded, if Lao Tzu is still there, can you enter the finals?

"Barkley broke the prophecy of the Iron Fist King and made it to the Finals!" New york times.

"In the absence of the Iron Fist King, Barkley hugged the postman's thigh and reached the finals!" Los Angeles Times.

"Congratulations Sir, you have finally broken through the Iron Fist King's suppression." The Seattle Post.

"Damn the Seattle Times!"

The next day, in the Los Angeles Hotel, when Barkley saw the Los Angeles Times, he said to his wife in dissatisfaction, "Damn the hotel, why did you send me this newspaper?" ”

"Because this is Los Angeles, they only have the Los Angeles Times, not the Salt Lake City Daily." Maureen smiled.

Barkley laughed dryly a few times and said, "Maureen, believe me, we have a lot of hope this time. ”

Maureen nodded and said, "If you don't have an iron fist, you really have a good chance." ”

Barkley was stunned for a moment, looking at his wife, Maureen's knife skills were refined again, this knife was inserted so accurately, I felt that my heart hurt.

Maureen sensed Barkley's strangeness and hurriedly said, "Charles, after playing this season, why don't you just retire?" Your physical injuries are too bad. ”

Barkley nodded and said, "If I win the championship, I will retire immediately." ”

Maureen decided not to speak, she actually wanted to say, with the strength of the Jazz, how to win the Bulls?

……

On May 29, the Bulls defeated the Pacers 4-2 and reached the Finals.

On June 2, the NBA League Finals began, the Bulls vs. Jazz, the home of the Jazz.

On the day of the 1st, David Stern, who was sitting in the office, was looking through some materials, and happened to see the playoff ratings, and couldn't help sighing.

In the first three rounds, the best ratings were the Bulls, with an average rating of 5.51 million in the East Finals, down 80% from last year's East Finals. The overall viewership for all series has halved from last year, approaching four million.

And now that the Finals are about to begin, the sponsorship revenue of the Finals is far less than last year, and the price of tickets to the Bulls' home stadium is only 50% of last year's. As for the Jazz's home tickets, he didn't expect it, and the ball market in Salt Lake City was too small.

"The popularity of the alliance has dissipated, and the reputation is really bad!" He sighed again.

The next day, the ratings for the finals came out, with an average of 8.53 million and a high of 9.12 million.

This rating made David Stern almost burst into tears.

The ratings of last year's finals G1 game were more than 50 million, and thinking of the difference between the two data, he wanted to kill that bastard Hughes Blake.

He picked up the newspaper on his desk, the first was the New York Times, and when he flipped to the sports section, the headline was NBA news.

"The average rating of G1 matches is only 853, which is only one-sixth of last year's G1 fights, driving out the Iron Fist King, and the NBA league is coming to an end."

"Damn the New York Times!"

He was always very elegant, and he couldn't help but burst into foul language.

It was the New York Times that led the public opinion against the Iron Fist at the beginning, and now it is ridiculing the NBA, these media are lying on the league to suck blood!

Next, the finals continued, and the unified battle between Zhou Quan and Lewis was getting closer and closer.

June 10th, boxing day.

It was also the NBA Finals G4 game that night, with the Bulls leading 2-1 in the first three games, and the G4 game was the Bulls' home court.

A few days ago, there was still a lot of news about the NBA Finals, but from the 8th, to today, there is nothing to see in the NBA news, it is all boxing news.

At half past eight, the G4 battle between the Bulls and Jazz began, and the mat game here also began.

At half past ten, the G4 battle ended, and the Bulls led 3-1.

"Mr. Stern, the average rating of the G4 battle is 6.25 million, and the highest is 7.28 million."

“……”

New York, Stern received the report and was not in the mood to speak.

The average viewership of the first three battles is 9 million, and this G4 battle was affected by the boxing match, and it actually fell to 6 million.

In the early 90s, when the Bulls won two consecutive championships, because of Jordan, the ratings of the finals rushed to around 20 million, and now Jordan is still there, but only half of it is left.

"There's got to be a way to get Iron Fist back."

He made up his mind that it would be worth whatever it took.

At this time, Zhou Quan's boxing match with Lewis is about to begin.

This boxing match will be followed by an unprecedented quadruple champion, the unification king, the real professional boxing king, so this boxing match has attracted countless celebrities and rich people.

In the lounge, Zhou Quan had just conducted a one-minute air strike training and was doing relaxation activities.

Bob Arum happened to be here when he suddenly pointed to the TV and said, "Iron Fist, did that tall man see it?" ”

"Who?"

Zhou Quan looked at it, a white man, very tall, definitely more than two meters, but he didn't know him.

"Vitaly Klitschko, a Ukrainian, 201 cm, 110 kg, 203 cm reach, has won six world kickboxing titles, two amateur and four professional.

He won the silver medal at the World Boxing Championships in '95 and had an amateur record of 195 wins and 15 losses. In 96, he participated in the Atlanta Olympics, tested positive for drugs, was expelled from the Ukrainian national team, and changed careers in the same year.

So far, he has won 15 professional fights, including 11 knockouts and 4 TKOs, and has been awarded the WBO Intercontinental Champion in May this year. ”

"Klitschko?"

At this time, there was no Klitschko in the camera, Zhou Quan muttered a sentence and asked: "The tall fighter of 201 cm, Bob, are you very optimistic about him?" ”

"He's a control style of play, relying on his height and reach to keep the opponent on the outside, and his style of play is not good-looking, but it's very practical. And he is very resistant to blows, with an iron chin. By the way, he also has a younger brother who also practices boxing. Arum said with a smile.

Zhou Quan nodded and said: "This kind of body type matches the control style of play, it is not easy to fight, you must break into the inner circle, Tyson is good at dealing with this kind of boxer." ”

At this time, the door of the locker room was pushed open from the outside, and an assistant shouted at the door: "Iron Fist King, the time is up." ”

In the huge gymnasium, the lights went out, and two incomparably bright spotlight posts lit up.

"Invite the Black boxer, the super boxing champion from London, England, the lion, the Lennox Lewis with the sharpest fangs."

"Oh roar!"

Lewis's popularity is still very high, in the nineties, one of the four kings of professional boxing, he, Tyson, Holyfield were the three leading figures in heavyweight boxing in that era, and Riddick Bower was half a level behind the three of them.

"Lennox is 196 cm tall, has an arm span of 213 cm, weighs 240 pounds (109 kg), and has a professional record of 33 wins and 1 loss......"

With the introduction of the host, the cheers on the scene came one after another.

"Whew!"

Looking at Lewis who ran towards the ring, Zhou Quan exhaled a breath, thinking of the last unification battle that was about to take place, the adrenaline in his body began to rush wildly, and his mental state, physical state, also began to enter an extraordinary state.

"Now I have the red boxer, one of the greatest athletes in the world from China, the king of the NBA, the triple crown champion of professional heavyweight boxing, and the iron fist king Zhou Quan!"

With a huge shout, Zhou Quan walked out of the passage.

"Iron Fist!"

Seeing Zhou Quan's appearance, the scene of thousands of people cheering and shouting, Klitschko, who was sitting in the sixth row, had blazing eyes in his eyes.

"One day, I'm going to knock him out, replace him, and become the king of heavyweights." Looking at Zhou Quan, he clenched his fists.

"Diego?"

After Zhou Quan appeared, he kept cumping fists and hugging his friends, and when he saw Maradona sitting in the third row, he hurriedly stretched out his arm.

"Iron Fist."

Maradona stood up with a smile on his face and stretched out his arms.

The two met in '95, when Maradona came to see him fight McCall, who won the WBC World Title.

However, the two didn't say anything that day, there were too many people, and they didn't know each other, and Maradona left after the game.

"Do you want to come out? With them, closer to the ring. Pointing to the boxing team next to him, Zhou Quan asked with a smile.

“OK。”

Maradona didn't think about it and immediately nodded.

"Iron Man?"

When he saw Tyson, Zhou Quan said he was also surprised.

Tyson snorted and bumped fists with Zhou Quan.

"Really not going to fight me in a rematch?" Although there was not much time left, Zhou Quan couldn't help but ask.

"Don Jin, that old ghost won't let me fight you, do you think I'm afraid of you?" Tyson clenched his fists and glared at Zhou Quan and roared in a low voice.

Zhou Quan smiled and sighed in his heart: "I'm afraid of losing, old Tyson just wants to make money now, and he has no sharpness!" ”

Looking at the Iron Fist King who walked into the ring, Tyson in the audience was very complicated.

He had wanted to fight a rematch before, but Don King told him that if he lost the rematch again, his future would be completely bleak, and not playing a rematch would be the best choice for him, and he could still rely on his previous fame to continue to make money, so for the sake of money, he had to give up the rematch with the Iron Fist King, who was no longer at his peak.

(End of chapter)