The next day, Taylor did not go to the training center. He went to visit the legendary boxing coach, Ayres, nicknamed “White Devil.”
Ayres was regarded as the godfather in the boxing world. In the few decades of his coaching career, he produced dozens of world-class boxing champions and dozens of world-class boxing coaches. Ayres’ disciples were everywhere, and they were well represented in all four of the boxing leagues.
Ayres had chosen to retire five years ago. However, even before his retirement, he decided not to work as a permanent head coach of a single professional boxer. He became a freelance boxing consultant. He was paid by professional boxers to give short-term coaching. Although this type of work wasn’t as secure, he had professional boxers lining up to hire him, hoping that Ayres would be able to give them some pointers.
In terms of coaching, Ayres was undoubtedly the best, and in terms of experience, no one could claim to be more experienced than him. If Taylor could get Ayres to coach him, he would be like a tiger with wings.
The next day, Taylor went to the training center early in the morning.
“So, how was it? How was your talk with Ayres?” Dai Li said while observing Taylor’s expression. Taylor did not look optimistic.
“I only had preliminary talks with him. We haven’t talked in detail about the pay yet, but he won’t come cheap. I predict that if I want to please him, I would need to give him at least five million per year,” Taylor said.
“A salary of five million per year is really high.” Dai Li silently nodded.
Different sports coaches had different incomes. For example, for world-class tennis coaches, those that had the ability to coach Grand Slam players generally had an annual salary of about 500,000 dollars. That was already considered to be a high salary for coaches.
The head coaches of NBA teams generally had an annual salary of three or four million dollars. Only occasionally would someone get a five million dollar salary. Even for first-class coaches who had won NBA championships before, their annual salary could only reach six or seven million dollars. Head coaches with an annual salary of more than ten million were extremely rare in the NBA. Moreover, they were often also part of the management team. As the saying goes, the laborer is worthy of his wages, so the fact that they earned more was reasonable.
The number one sport in the United States was American football. The salary of football coaches was higher than in any other sport. In the NFL, the average annual salary of a head coach could reach more than six million dollars per year.
The disparity in salary for boxing coaches was more substantial than in any other sport. Low-level boxing coaches might not make as much as an average sparring partner, while top-level boxing coaches usually had a two to three million dollar annual income. The only boxing coach who had the guts to ask for five million a year was the legendary coach Ayres.
“To tell you the truth, I think an annual salary of five million is worth it if it means I can get Ayres. I trust his coaching ability. But when we talked, he also revealed some other information,” Taylor said, a little depressed.
“What information?” Dai Li asked immediately.
“According to Ayres, I’m not the only one looking to hire him. Other boxers are negotiating with him as well,” Taylor replied.
“This is not unexpected. Ayres’ name still carries weight. Everyone would hope to hire this legendary coach,” Dai Li replied.
“When I say other boxers, that includes Hopkins,” Taylor replied.
“Hopkins? Doesn’t he already have a coach? Could it be that he wants to fire his current coach and hire Ayres instead?” Dai Li said as he shook his head, but then, he immediately saw through Hopkin’s plan.
“I understand what he is doing. Hopkins probably doesn’t want you to hire Ayres. He doesn’t want you to become stronger. As for Ayres, he deliberately revealed this information because he wants you to raise the price. He wants to make more money. I’m guessing he probably also told Hopkins that you wanted to hire him. He is waiting for both of you to start a bidding war,” Dai Li said.
“Then I have to move faster.” Taylor looked up and asked, “Coach Li, I need your help; you have to accompany me to meet Ayres. He may have some other conditions regarding the training environment.”
…
“Taylor really went to meet with Ayres. Ayres deliberately revealed this information to us because he must have wanted a higher price. Now it looks like we can’t hire him for just five million dollars per year,” the agent said.
“Then increase the price!” Hopkins said without any hesitation. “If I’m not wrong, Ayres will tell Taylor about our meeting with him. He hopes that the both of us will start a bidding war, and Taylor will most likely offer a higher salary.” Hopkins did some calculations in his mind and said, “Offer him eight million per year!”
“Eight million? That high? No boxing coach has ever got an annual salary of eight million! Is this necessary?” the agent said in a shocked tone.
“Of course it is necessary. I want to get this done and dusted as soon as possible. I can not let Taylor get Ayres. At eight million, Ayres should have a hard time refusing! And we can also pay him a year’s salary in advance. This is what Taylor can’t do.” Hopkins paused and said, “Taylor fell into debt before. He owed the bank tens of millions. He has only recently paid it off, so Taylor won’t be able to give him a year’s salary in advance. Doesn’t Ayres need money now? Eight million should help him solve his problems! I don’t think he will refuse.”
“Ok then, I will go talk to him.” The agent spread his hands and said, “Sometimes it feels like you are more of an agent than me.”
“Forget it, let’s go together,” Hopkins said, getting up. “Ayres is a legendary coach, after all. I want to go to him personally. As a sign of my sincerity.”
…
Professional talents definitely had standards when it came to work environment. If the working environment was terrible, it didn’t matter how much money was offered to them.
For example, university professors with strong research abilities were considered rare and prized talents. All universities needed such talents, as there was no university with too much talent. However, if the school’s overall research capability was weak, it didn’t matter how much money it offered; those talented researchers would not be willing to accept a position there. It was as if a third-rate college wanted to hire a Nobel Prize winner. It didn’t matter how much they were offered, they wouldn’t go to work there as it would affect their reputation.
The same was true for coaching. If the level of the athlete was too low, or if the training environment was not right, then the coach would never accept the job, no matter the pay.
With Taylor’s boxing ability, he definitely wouldn’t be looked down on by Ayres. However, Dai Li’s fitness center wasn’t specialized for boxing, so Taylor wanted Dai Li to go with him to meet Ayres. If Ayres made any request on the training environment, then Dai Li, the owner of the fitness center, would be able to make a decision right away.
Dai Li had seen photos of Ayres in the news before. Ayres’ hair was always unnaturally white. Even when he was younger, he had a lot of white hair. When he was in his fifties, all his hair had already turned white, so people gave him the nickname “White Devil.”
Today, Dai Li saw the real Ayres. He was much older than the photos made him look. Dai Li could even sense an aura of exhaustion coming from Ayres.
From his appearance, I can tell that he is in some trouble, and he needs money to solve it, Dai Li thought.
Ayres invited the two of them to the living room and made some coffee for them. Ayres said in an apologetic tone, “Kevin, if you hadn’t come, I would have called you. It is about the thing that we talked about the last time we met.”
“Have you made a decision?” Taylor asked with a face full of hope.
Ayres nodded and said, “Kevin, I’m truly sorry, I have already accepted an offer from Hopkins to coach him. He made me an offer that was hard to refuse.”
Taylor immediately asked,”How much? Six million? More?”
“An annual salary of eight million dollars,” Ayres said.
“I can also pay you eight million a year. So please reconsider,” Taylor replied without hesitation.
“Not only that, Hopkins is willing to pay me a year’s salary in advance, can you do that?” Ayres asked.
“I…” Taylor suddenly felt helpless. He had just finished paying off his 20 million dollar debt to the bank. As of that moment, he had some money, but he was not able to come up with eight million dollars for Ayres right away. If he had a few months to take part in a few more boxing matches, he would be able to have the eight million dollars ready.
“Alright, I understand.” Taylor nodded in resignation. “In that case, I will not bother you any longer. I hope I have the opportunity to work with you in the future.”
“Kevin, I’m really sorry, but I really have no other choice. I really need the money, and Hopkins’s offer will go a long way in helping me,” Ayres explained. “My wife met with an accident, and her whole body has been paralyzed. She is lying in bed, and she can’t move either her legs or her hands, so I really need the money.”
“I see, her rehabilitation would definitely cost a lot. May God help her and let her recover soon,” Taylor replied with an air of understanding.
“The cost of the treatment is only one of the problems. The main issue is that I need to find a person, an Indian physical therapist,” Ayres went on to say. “He is a very excellent physical therapist. He could even help those who had been paralyzed get back on their feet, to move freely again!”
What! Dai Li thought in his mind. The ability was very familiar to Dai Li. To allow people who were physically paralyzed to stand up again and move freely. Wasn’t that the effect that could only be achieved by rehabilitative massages?
Who else besides me in this world has this ability? Dai Li thought. He then asked, “Mr. Ayres, what is the name of the Indian physical therapist that you mentioned? I have been in the sports rehabilitation scene for a long time, and I am also very familiar with sports rehabilitation. Who knows, maybe I have heard of his name before.”
“His name is Lithium-Day!” Ayres said. “A bizarre name, isn’t it? Anybody who has heard this name would definitely remember it. But I haven’t found him yet. I learned of this physical therapist from a Swedish friend of mine. Lithium-Day appeared in Switzerland two years ago. As to his whereabouts now, I have no idea. If he returns to India, it will be even more difficult for me to find him. India has a population of more than one billion, so I plan to hire private detectives to find this Lithium-Day around the globe, which will require a lot of money.”
Appeared in Switzerland two years ago? I was also in Switzerland at the time. Why haven’t I heard of this guy before? It can’t be one of those snake oil salesmen, right! Dai Li thought. He kindly reminded Ayres, “Ayres, sir, Indians have a habit of talking big but underdelivering. They like to brag. They can exaggerate their skills just from a little bit of achievement. I suggest that you ask around about him more.”
“Coach Li, thank you very much. I know what you mean. You are worried that I might be scammed. But this Lithium-Day is definitely not a liar. He has had a successful case.” Ayres lowered his voice and continued, “The motorsport champion Helheim, you know about him I’m sure, he was seriously injured in a ski accident three years ago, and this Lithium-Day was the one who helped him recover. Now Helheim has recovered, and he just participated in a classic car race in Switzerland a few days ago.”
What? You’re talking about Helheim? Dai Li’s expression suddenly lit up. That was my doing! When did my name change to Lithium-Day?
And when did I become an Indian?