Chapter 4: December 2, 1985
Balrog has been swinging wildly at the champion for the past three rounds, stalking his opponent with blood lust. The forth round isn't any different. Balrog isn't a challenger, he's a head hunter. In his attempt, Balrog is getting lefts and rights to the body. The champion suddenly comes at Balrog fast with a left, Balrog dodges and swings back with a one-two combination. The champion briefly stunned, Balrg rallies back and lands two more punches to his head.
The bell rings the end of the round and the crowd cheers them both; they're getting their money's worth tonight. Balrog sits down, getting use to the network camera to his side. He disguises how hurt he is as his head is getting cooled with a wet towel. Balrog is getting told again to focus on the body, his pounding head agrees.
The fifth round starts and the champion is caught off guard and buckles a little as Balrog immediately lands three hits to the body. Balrog sees a wave of people standing, thinking something will happen, but they soon sit back down after the champion covers up and rests against the ropes to get his footing back. A little voice in his head tells Balrog to avoid following the champion to the ropes. Deciding not to agree with it, he takes a step back, just as the champion springs back with punches, just misses Balrog's face by an inch. The champion comes back with punch combo after combo, landing against Balrog's ribs and his head. Balrog can take the head shots, his head is rock, but the voice tells him to cover up so he does.
The bell rings, the champion looks angry at Balrog. Balrog uncovers and just smiles defiantly. As Balrog's corner cleaning up blood from his nose, he's asked how bad he wants it again and again. The one glimmer of advise comes from his head, telling him that he needs to use the tools he has, because the champion realizes he's a real threat and it's about to become a dog fight.
The round starts and the champ starts moving faster. He's not pulling any punches. Balrog buckles several times before he realizes he needs to be smart. His punches were getting less crisp, but they were still affective when they hit. Balrog started throwing combinations, knowing that only one punch would go through but it stopped the champion's rally. In a sudden fury of exchanged punches and counterpunches with the champion, Balrog uses a five punch combo that knocks the champion to the ropes. The bell rings.
The rounds go on in the same fashion. It's now his last break and his face is getting glazed with Vaseline. His whole crew tells him to put the champion down because he's going to use up the clock and go for the win with the points. Balrog knows they're right. The champion depended less on his power punches and started to move away from Balrog in the last round.
Balrog feels motivated as his crew screams at him to get it done. As both fighters get up, the crowd is on their feet clapping and cheering. The start of the round Balrog charges in being reckless with his guard down, getting caught with quick jabs. But Balrog pushes the champion into the ring and lands a hard right to the face. The following counter punches from the champion makes Balrog put him in a lazy head lock, where they both took precious seconds to catch their breath.
The referee pushes them away from each other. They exchange punches and a shift of momentum goes to the champion, who still had speed in his hands. Balrog covers up. His mind is going to Maria still lying on the hospital bed. It was then that one word screamed at him in a loud, furious echo: fight!
Balrog surprises the champion with a fast one-two combination. He dodges away from counterpunches and unleashes a haymaker that hits the champion squarely against his chin. He doesn't realize that the champion has stopped fighting back or gets excited when he has him against the ropes, he just keeps punching. Even after the referee pulls him away, waving his hands, it took the champion falling to the ground and his crew rushing to his aid that Balrog realized that he's the new champion of the world.
After he celebrates with his crew, he sees the same man in a red suit next to a man or woman; Balrog really couldn't tell. But as in the last fight, he stands up with the same smile and claps excitingly.