“Since you kept insisting on real combat, don’t expect me to go easy on you.” Kubotori put on his headgear and carefully tightened his gloves, his expression unusually serious.
Once he entered the ring, he would go all out.
That was the basic quality of a professional boxer.
“Of course!” Yoru split his mouth into a grin, revealing a pale white mouthguard.
The muscles in his face trembled with excitement.
Now that he was truly standing in the ring, in this narrow space created specifically for combat, and facing Kubotori’s undisguised wild stare, he suddenly understood Hina.
He understood why she liked bouncing around before a fight.
There was no deep reason.
When the atmosphere was right, the body simply started trembling on its own!
“Then…
ready!” The temporary referee, Nana, raised her right hand high.
“If you can’t hold on, call stop yourself.” Kubotori stood at an angle, his weight evenly distributed between both legs.
His right hand was raised across his jaw, while his left hand hung lower to protect his waist, forming a textbook boxing stance.
He did not expect someone who had only trained for two and a half days to understand what it meant to lose on points.
So if he wanted to end this, he had to hit Yoru hard enough to make him call stop on his own.
That way, Yoru would no longer have any confidence to refuse his training plan later.
That was right!
The best way to communicate with a problem student was to convince him through fists.
“I will.” Yoru clenched both fists, spread his legs, bent his knees slightly, and took the stance he was most familiar with from bag work.
“Begin!” Once both were ready, Nana swung her right hand down.
First move!
If he lacked experience, then he had to seize the initiative!
Pa!
Yoru’s body instantly released force.
His left foot stepped forward, his center of gravity shifted ahead, and his right fist shot straight out.
Lead straight!
A straight-line attack, short distance, fast speed.
Aside from attacking, it could also be used for probing, feints, and measuring distance.
It was a basic punch every boxer had to master.
It could be further divided into speed lead straights, power lead straights, and range-finding lead straights.
With the support of Extraordinary Tendons, this punch possessed both speed and power, with force comparable to a fully charged heavy blow.
If it landed, it could even knock the opponent out in one hit.
But…
His opponent was his coach!
The man who had introduced him to boxing and had been standing beside him observing ever since he started training.
Kubotori might have understood Yoru’s punching habits, force trajectory, and fist speed even better than Yoru himself did!
So the instant Yoru stepped with his left foot, the coach reacted at the same time.
A simple, clean turn of the body and tilt of the head.
Slip!
One of the most basic yet effective evasive movements in boxing.
Yoru’s ultra-fast straight punch immediately missed, grazing past Kubotori’s earlobe.
Bang!
At the same time, Yoru’s side took an extremely precise body hook from the coach.
Thud!
Then, as Yoru instinctively bent over from the sharp pain in his waist and abdomen, another uppercut from the opposite hand slammed heavily into his jaw.
“Mm…
ah!” The huge impact snapped his head backward.
He stumbled several steps and let out a muffled groan of pain.
“Punch fast, but pull back just as fast!” “When you attack, you always have to guard against a counter.
Unless you’re certain you can end it in one blow, never throw all your power out.” After landing the counter, Kubotori did not immediately pursue.
Instead, he gave Yoru time to digest the lesson while also adjusting his own breathing.
Because that exchange had startled him into a cold sweat.
There was no other reason.
It was just too fast!
Yoru’s fist speed was seriously too fast.
Watching from the side during training and personally facing it in the ring were completely different pressures.
If he had not relied on experience and judged from Yoru’s stance to dodge in advance, he really might have capsized just now.
From here on, he absolutely could not be careless!
This concerned his dignity as a coach.
Kubotori felt his long-dormant fighting spirit ignite again, as if he had returned to the professional ring from back then.
“Thanks for the lesson!” Yoru rubbed his quickly bruising jaw.
There was pain in his voice, but his eyes were unusually bright.
Wasn’t it just getting beaten?
Because of the gap in experience, he had already prepared himself for that!
Besides, Kubotori’s punching power was far weaker than that little lunatic Hina’s.
Her first punch had made his head buzz, and her second had sent him straight to a hospital bed.
She had given him no time to adapt at all.
Kubotori’s power was much lighter in comparison.
So this round was his advantage!
“Again!” Yoru shook his still-dazed head hard and quickly adjusted his posture.
His right hand rose to guard his head, while his left hand crossed his waist to protect his ribs, and he slowly pressed toward the coach.
This kid…?
His adaptation speed was way too fast.
Seeing that Yoru did not panic after his first failure, but immediately shifted to a more reasonable defensive stance with steadier footwork, Kubotori felt both relief and pressure.
At the same time, alarm bells rang in his heart.
He was worried that this kid really might club him down with wild punches!
“But you’re still too green!” Kubotori shouted and decided to attack first, taking control of the rhythm.
Step!
Just as Yoru was about to enter attack range, the coach suddenly flicked his left foot forward, stepping in by one body length.
His right straight punch rushed toward Yoru’s face.
“I’ll block!” This time, Yoru understood the benefit of proper posture.
With a thought, his raised right arm shielded his face behind his hand.
Whoosh…
At the same time, his left fist, which had been held at his waist, shot out like a cannonball, roaring through the air toward Kubotori at shocking speed.
But…
It seemed he had been tricked!
Kubotori’s straight punch had only been a feint.
He retracted it as soon as he threw it, and his left foot instantly bounced back, retreating by one body length and causing Yoru’s attack to miss again.
And at that moment, Kubotori’s movement was only half complete.
After sliding back to evade the punch, he immediately slid forward again, returning to position and firing a straight punch at Yoru’s face.
The entire sequence flowed in one breath!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
This time, it was real.
His fists hammered against Yoru’s defending right arm with repeated thuds.
Bang, bang…
And it was not just one strike, but a two-fisted combination.
Straight to the face!
Hook to the body!
Swing to the waist!
Left and right worked together, launching a fierce alternating assault.
During the combination, Kubotori’s upper body also swayed left and right at high speed.
He was both guarding against possible counters and twisting his hips to increase striking power.
As expected of a gym that could exchange with a boxing king like Kaolan!
This retired coach was seriously skilled.
Because of that, after retracting his left fist, Yoru had no choice but to raise it together with his right hand to increase his defensive coverage.
“Space!” “Whether it’s boxing or any other kind of combat, fighting is about occupying space.
That’s why control of distance is especially important!” Kubotori’s dense combination rush was like an invisible cage, directly locking Yoru down.
His technical level was naturally far below Kaolan’s, but locking down a rookie with absolutely no combat experience was still something he could manage.
“You haven’t even learned footwork yet, and you already want real combat.
You’re rushing too much!” In the face of those skillful and precise combinations, Yoru’s awkward defense was quickly torn open.
Bang!
The next instant, a tricky hook slammed hard into his nose.
“Ugh!” Blood gushed from Yoru’s nose and flooded into his mouth, while a sharp sour pain shot straight up to the top of his skull.
He snapped and threw a punch back without thinking.
“Don’t let instinct take over your head!” But Kubotori had been waiting for that opening.
His fist, already prepared, shot out like a falcon catching prey and struck Yoru’s chin with perfect accuracy.
Bang!
After taking a hit to a vital point, Yoru’s head tilted sharply, and stars burst across his vision.
“If you lack experience, then learn to endure, observe, and search!” “Endure the pain, observe your opponent, and search for a chance to counter!” As he spoke, Kubotori pivoted his foot and drove another hook heavily into Yoru’s abdomen.
“Mm…!” After his soft abdomen took the hit, Yoru staggered back several steps again.
This was why Kubotori opposed throwing beginners into real combat before their foundation was ready!
Without professional training, people were extremely prone to being driven by anger and adrenaline after getting hit, falling into wild, formless swings.
It might look fierce, but in the eyes of a professional, it was full of openings!