Domination in America, Starting from being a Boxing Champion

At night, Kevin Merida, the executive editor of the Los Angeles Times, took off his glasses and lay down to sleep when a loud ringtone from the phone pierced the silence from outside.

His wife slapped him on the side, chiding him for not turning off his phone, and told him to quickly go and answer it.

Mr. Merida sighed, put on his thick glasses again, and went outside to answer the call.

The call was from James, an entertainment reporter at the newspaper. James informed him that just moments ago, Link had posted a tweet responding to Lil Wayne and the rumors circulating online in the past few days.

James believed this tweet was highly newsworthy and might become a major news story tomorrow. He suggested that he take a look and consider writing a report on it tomorrow.

Mr. Merida sighed helplessly. In the days before the internet, hot news came once a few days or even months.

Sometimes, for lack of good news, they would fabricate false news.

With the internet, hot topics arise daily or even more frequently, multiplying the workload for journalists like them drastically.

Previously, there were a few days off each month, but now even weekends and leisure time after work weren't guaranteed. Every day was spent in busyness, but they had no choice but to accept this change.

With the advent of the internet age, traditional media such as newspapers faced unprecedented challenges.

If they couldn't adapt to these changes, they would eventually be eliminated, and being eliminated meant losing their jobs, leading to bankruptcy, which would be disastrous.

Mr. Merida opened the Twitter application on his computer. He also followed Link, so he quickly found the tweet that Link had posted ten minutes ago.

In the tweet, Link wrote: "In response to the recent accusations from Lil Wayne and others that I excel in creating hype, I affirmatively respond.

Yes, I excel at promoting myself, which led me to visit Huaxia, win an Olympic Gold Medal, participate in the WBA Super Middleweight championship, claim the World Boxing Champion title, attend the World University Games, break four swimming records, win eight Gold medals, and seven more at the World Championships.

Yes, I excel at creating hype, which is why I specifically wrote an album to fulfill my dream as a singer. Thanks to the fans' support, 'The Fighter' sold over five million copies worldwide.

Encouraged by the fans, I wrote a second album.

Currently, the album sales in North America have exceeded 1.9 million copies. The two albums together have two singles that topped the charts, sixteen entered the Hot 100 chart, and, oh, 'I'm The One' also reached number one on the rap chart.

Yes, I excel at creating hype, but I'm even better at proving myself with my abilities."

Mr. Merida read through and felt that Link still had more to say, but Twitter's 280-character limit meant he could only write this much.

However, these few paragraphs still conveyed Link's attitude towards the recent rumors—a disdain.

With his achievements in boxing and sports alone, any one of them would make him a sports star, not to mention a popular singer with two hit albums.

Does someone like him need hype?

Yes, they do! But not him—it's the media and America that need it.

The media industry needs to use his news to attract audience attention and sell their news products.

America also needs to use his story to sell American culture and image, telling the story of the American Dream to the world, thereby attracting more talents to America to chase their dreams.

The recent media and internet hype about Link's scandals are also driven by interests.

Because Link's fame is significant recently, whether criticizing him or praising him, there will be buyers. As long as the news is linked to him, it can sell well, so the media can't possibly not report on it.

Even large newspapers like the Los Angeles Times took on an air of objective neutrality in yesterday's news.

Commenting on the discussion about Lil Wayne and others on the CBS television program.

They neither said that Lil Wayne and others were talking nonsense nor denied that Link was hyping.

They only wrote comments that both Link's and Lil Wayne's fans could accept.

This approach, on the one hand, prevents offending the involved parties and their fans, avoiding legal disputes.

On the other hand, if the two sides want to continue the public opinion battle, they need to spend money on public relations, making the Los Angeles Times one of the beneficiaries.

Thus, Mr. Merida and all other media practitioners hope this dispute continues.

They can sell more newspapers by reporting these news stories.

But times have changed.

Mr. Merida put down his phone and wiped the sweat off his face with a towel.

Since the establishment of blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites, the media's influence has been greatly diminished.

Public figures can use these social platforms to express their views directly to their intended audience without relying on traditional media.

Just like Link's tweet.

A decade ago, he would have had to contact a television station or newspaper first, pay a PR fee, and have journalists interview him. He would use the media's channels to express his viewpoints or attitudes.

But now Link just posts a tweet.

Link had over eight million Twitter followers, and even if only one-tenth of them were active, the effect was as astounding as that of a major newspaper.

Now, Link publicly expressed his doubts about recent public opinion. Although it was only 280 characters long, every sentence was impactful, undeniable, and not even major media could question it.

According to Mr. Merida's grasp of public sentiment.

Because Link's response was so forceful, it became difficult for the media to market news that questioned him; the media and online skepticism towards Link would gradually decrease.

Also, because people like Lil Wayne openly admitted to competing with Link for charts.

The media and the public would refocus their attention on the dispute between Link and the East Coast singer.

Mr. Merida pondered for a while, then made calls to his editors and reporters.
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He asked them to remove the articles questioning Link from tomorrow's paper and replace them with articles discussing Link's achievements, debating whether his fame was due to sensationalism or true skill, concluding that it was indeed well-deserved.

After making a few calls, Merida checked the time, it was after nine in the evening, and he thought about the articles that had to be sent out the next day.

He had a love-hate relationship with Link, loving him for the news he provided freely, yet hating him for tweeting at such a time, which forced an overtime shift.

Apart from Merida, after Link tweeted, many journalists had to get up and check his tweets and the comments below.

Within just three hours after the tweet was posted, it garnered 1.04 million likes, 158,000 shares, and 115,000 comments.

Many journalists were shocked by these numbers.

Link tweeted at a little past eight in the evening, and within three hours, he had garnered over a million likes in support; his fans were exceptionally active.

Most of the comments in the comment section were supportive.

Some people marveled at his achievements, thinking that someone like him, who had looks, talent, and ability, didn't need to hype himself to become a superstar.

Others urged him to participate in more sports competitions, win more Golden Belts, release more albums, and promote himself openly and legitimately, frustrating those who doubted him.

Some fans were more considerate, urging him to go to sleep quickly and not be affected by the negative messages, arguing that no one would believe them and that everyone would always support him.

Apart from these, there was one particular comment that garnered over thirty thousand likes.

That comment suggested that Link should be mindful of the timing of his tweets in the future, aiming not to post them in the morning or evening, when user activity was at its lowest, as it would not be effective.

Merida and other journalists saw this comment and collectively liked it in support.

The next morning, when Link woke up and saw this comment, he also responded, acknowledging the advice and apologizing to everyone.

"When did you post this tweet?"

At the breakfast table, Taylor asked as he scrolled through his phone.

"Just after the third round, during the break."

"Feels like you're bragging about yourself, to put it in one sentence, 'I'm this awesome, do I even need to hype myself up?'"

Taylor quipped with a smirk.

"It's true, isn't it?"

Link stuffed bread into his mouth, snatched Taylor's phone from her hand, and urged her to hurry up and eat. Taylor rolled her eyes at him and, while he wasn't looking, punched him again.

After breakfast, he dropped Taylor off at the studio to practice singing, then headed to a nearby boxing gym for training.

For the next two months, not only did he have to promote his album, shoot music videos, film the movie "Valentine's Day", but he also had a boxing match.

Link was set to face WBC Super Middleweight champion Carl Froch in a WBA-WBC world championship unification fight.

Carl Froch was a British boxer, 32 years old, debuted in 2002, and his current record stood at 26 wins with one loss, 24 by knockout. His only defeat was last year when he vied for the WBA European champion title, losing to Mikkel Kessler.

But earlier this year, he successively defeated Polish powerhouse Albert Roybaiko, Canadian champion Jean Pascal, and Jermain Taylor.

As well as Mikkel Kessler, who had previously defeated him, securing the WBC World Champion Golden Belt.

Famous under the nickname 'Cobra,'

known for his extreme speed and tricky, fierce jab,

he was extremely strong.

One important point to note, Franco, during negotiations with Carl Froch's management, agreed to the match but insisted on having it take place in London, Britain.

The downside of competing internationally was that if he could not KO his opponent within 12 rounds, even if he dominated the fight, there was still a great chance he would be declared the loser.

Therefore, before the match, he had to take out time to train and maintain a good competitive condition.