Very exciting, but bad weekend for the future of boxing

Two of the biggest and because of their style and ko power most exciting Northern American prospects in James Kirkland and David Lemieux got destroyed by a 35 year old with 7 losses respectively a decent gateholder, whose limits got clearly shown by Kelly Pavlik years ago. Yes, both can bounce back, but this puts a huge damper on them and their marketability. And both their chins become big question marks all of a sudden. Honorary mention to Erik Morales, who was finished to most people, and just gave Marcos Maidana, one of the top dogs at light welter, a fight of his life. Again, a 34 year old "finished" fighter making one of the current "stars" look bad. I'm afraid this is going to be very tough when Pacquiao and Mayweather retire...

Comments (6)

Lowkey

Contenders and up and coming boxers losing to journeymen is not bad for boxing quite the opposite its good for boxing, it further proves anything can happen in the ring (which is part of the reason we all love boxing so much) if you cant beat whos in front of you you don't deserve to advance in your career these guys clearly don't. There are always going to be those that look good but end up falling by the wayside and 9 times out of 10 its because there simply not good enough.

15y ago

Kimo

Why would a loss be bad? Most legends have lost....give them a chance to grow and fight real competition. Ok some have been overhyped fair enough, but don't worry boxing will be in good hands.

15y ago

Instinto

Rubio and Ishida were not difficult test for Lemieux and Kirkland, because those contenders could be easily beaten by the toughest gatekeepers. We've seen that our prospects can't take heavy punches easily, don't have will and heart to get up and fight back. Just look at JMM, he is like being dropped in every fight, but always gets up and fights back.

15y ago

Las_Vegas

I just love watching the desperate, and shocked look in those Canadians' eyes. It was a blast with Pascal, it was even better with Lemieux. 0:31, in 720p. Look at the blonde girl in the back covering her eyes. It's hilarious. In all seriousness, this is the moment where we find out if they have the mental stability to remain on top of there game. This is a test for both those men. Amir Khan for example suffered a knockout lost and look what happened after? He's at the top of his game. At the sametime however you gotta look at Jermain Taylor, considering how after the first time he got knocked out he was never the same. We're gonna find out if these guys have it alright in the head.

15y ago

Gojira

When will Americans ever learn to stop hyping fighters up so much until they have really proved themselves?

15y ago

BetterCallSaul

To be fair, if they're getting beaten by journeyman then they aren't the future of boxing. Saying that, Lemiux can still get to the top with a few changes as he is genuinely talented, but Kirkland won't go anywhere.

15y ago