They only fight challengers who have earned the mandatory qualification.
After finishing the match against Robert Allen, Link returned to his home country.
The outcome of the match, along with its broadcast on news channels and ESPN, sparked considerable discussion in the boxing ring.
Initially, many people thought Link was bragging when he said he would KO all middleweight boxers in one round—it seemed utterly impossible.
But now, seeing Link take down a boxer ranked in the top 50 middleweights in just one round, it showed that his strength was undeniably impressive. Even if there was some exaggeration, it wasn't by much.
Besides, back in '98, Hopkins was 33 years old, young and robust. At that time, it took him seven rounds to defeat Robert Allen, but Link only needed one round.
In comparison, many began to believe Link might genuinely have a chance to beat Hopkins and take away the Golden Belts of the four major organizations he held.
