Domination in America, Starting from being a Boxing Champion-Chapter 940 - 658: In the Blink of an Eye, a Year Has Passed

After finishing his work, Link returned to the Capital City on Christmas Eve.

The new album "The Fighter," after a period of promotion, started releasing in domestic and overseas markets.

Since it’s an English album, domestic sales were average, with only 285,000 copies sold in the first week, among which 194,000 were sold in Hong Kong Island and Taiwan Island, while Mainland sales were below 100,000.

In Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, and other regions, the sales were relatively good, selling 420,000 copies in the first week. It ranked third on Japan’s Oricon Weekly Chart and fifth on South Korea’s Album Sales Chart.

"Unstoppable," "Chasing the Sun," "Fight Song," "The Fighter," and other eight songs made it to Asia’s English Pop Songs Hot 20 Chart.

In Europe and the United States, sales were neither great nor terrible. First-week sales were 72,000 copies in the United States, ranking sixth on the Billboard Album Chart; 33,000 copies in Britain, ranking seventh on the album sales chart; 20,200 copies in Canada, while sales in other regions were below 20,000.

The total first-week sales in Europe and the United States reached 278,000 copies.

For the previous Link, this number would have seemed poor. But for a Huaxia singer, achieving top 10 on the U.S. and U.K. album charts with first-week sales was considered a remarkable accomplishment—something never done before.

Warner Records planned to organize autograph sessions and TV appearances for him in Europe and the U.S. to increase the album’s exposure.

Link didn’t object. He needed to earn as much as possible before 2008, and being busy now didn’t bother him.

At the end of the year, Link traveled to Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong Island, and Shanghai, hosting autograph sessions and fan meet-and-greets to promote his new album.

During the first month of release, the album sold 1.837 million copies in Asia and 826,000 copies in Europe and the United States, showing decent results, outperforming first albums by many debuting Western artists during the same period.

After celebrating the Spring Festival at home, Link continued hosting autograph sessions until the end of February.

Upon returning to the Capital City, Link resumed boxing practice at the training gym or trained in various track and field events on the athletics field, preparing for the 2008 Olympics.

While he was busy training, Zhang Zilin was also occupied with competing in the Miss World pageant. To help her achieve a good ranking, Link funded the establishment of Zhang Zilin’s personal studio, hired international top-tier image designers, aesthetics consultants, and fashion designers to enhance her appearance and demeanor.

In April, the WBC Middleweight World Boxing Champion challenger qualification match concluded, with Ugandan-American boxer Casim Oma defeating numerous opponents and earning the qualification to challenge Link.

Casim Oma was a well-known boxer. When he was five years old, he was kidnapped by rebels and trained as a child soldier, forced to take up arms and fight.

Later, due to his notable boxing talent, he was recruited into the rebels’ boxing team, starting his amateur boxing career.

At the age of 12, while touring the United States with Uganda’s amateur boxing team, Casim successfully escaped and eventually gained U.S. citizenship through political asylum, becoming a professional boxer.

With a professional record of 32 fights, 30 wins, and 2 losses, he was a boxer with solid speed and power, though his technique was average.

The WBC Middleweight World Boxing Champion match was held at Reeves Stadium in San Francisco, USA. Link defeated his opponent within 102 seconds in the first round with consecutive heavy punches, winning by KO.

For this match, Link earned $18.8 million in prize money, slightly more than the last match, mostly thanks to decent album sales in the U.S.

"The Fighter," after five months of release in the U.S., sold 483,000 copies. The singles "Unstoppable," "Fight Song," and "The Fighter" each made it to the top 20 on Billboard’s Singles Chart, while the other nine songs briefly entered the top 100 on Billboard’s Singles Chart.

Top-tier promoters labeled him as a pop singer during marketing campaigns, garnering support from many fans.

Before the boxing match, he wore a suit and performed "Fight Song" at the piano, earning applause from the live audience.

Just a month later, Link returned to the U.S. to participate in the IBF-WBO dual-title boxing match.

The opponent for this match was "Next Generation" Cory Spinks. His father, former Heavyweight Boxing Champion Leon Spinks, famously defeated Muhammad Ali in 1978, taking the WBA-WBC heavyweight Golden Belts from Ali.

Cory Spinks’s uncle was Michael Spinks, who won the WBA-WBC-IBF World Boxing Championship Golden Belts but retired in 1988 after being defeated by Tyson with a record of 32 wins and 1 loss.

The Spinks brothers, Leon and Michael, made Olympic history as the first brothers to win boxing gold medals in the same Olympics, achieving this at the 1976 Montreal Olympics in two different ranks.

Due to his father and uncle’s legacy as World Boxing Champions, Cory Spinks drew significant attention upon entering the professional boxing ring in 1997. He went on to become the champion of three major organizations in the Welterweight rank and WBA Light Middleweight World Champion, with a professional record of 38 fights and 2 losses.

Link’s match against Cory Spinks took place in Toronto, Canada. After one round of technical exchanges, Link defeated his opponent within 52 seconds in the second round by KO. freeweɓnovel-cøm

For this match, Link earned $15.2 million, including a $6 million appearance fee, along with earnings from pay-per-view splits, ticket sales, and merchandise.

After the match, Link stayed in the United States for a while.

During this time, he invested the $52 million he had earned—with income from boxing match prizes, record sales, and endorsement deals—through Beethoven Investment and Hong Kong Island’s Golden Shell Asset Management Company into the U.S. stock market. This led to acquisitions of 0.58% of Amazon shares and an initial 15% stake in Facebook.

In June, during summer vacation, Link returned to China to attend the premiere of "Curse of the Golden Flower."

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