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By Jake Donovan - With so few professional athletes of Vietnamese descent, it should make it that much easier for such talent to immediately grab the spotlight.
Considering that Vietnam doesn’t even sanction pro boxing, the name Dat Nguyen should immediately jump off the page when mentioned in sports circles.
For a while it did. Only not in the way the fighter preferred.
“Whenever I first meet someone and they learn my name, they always say that I look so much smaller than I do on TV,” says Nguyen, the Vietnam-born featherweight who has the misfortune of sharing the same name with former All-Pro linebacker Dat Nguyen. “Then, they say how much weight I’ve lost.”
The good news is that boxing’s Dat “Dat Be Dat” Nguyen is the only active athlete of that name these days. Football’s version retired three years ago, giving the boxer room to make a name for himself.
Then came the next hurdle.
“For me to be Vietnamese, it was hard for the promoters over here to take me seriously,” admits Nguyen, presently 16-1 (6KO) in five years as a pro. “If I was from the Philippines, it might’ve been different. I had a hard time getting fights for a long time.” [details]
Considering that Vietnam doesn’t even sanction pro boxing, the name Dat Nguyen should immediately jump off the page when mentioned in sports circles.
For a while it did. Only not in the way the fighter preferred.
“Whenever I first meet someone and they learn my name, they always say that I look so much smaller than I do on TV,” says Nguyen, the Vietnam-born featherweight who has the misfortune of sharing the same name with former All-Pro linebacker Dat Nguyen. “Then, they say how much weight I’ve lost.”
The good news is that boxing’s Dat “Dat Be Dat” Nguyen is the only active athlete of that name these days. Football’s version retired three years ago, giving the boxer room to make a name for himself.
Then came the next hurdle.
“For me to be Vietnamese, it was hard for the promoters over here to take me seriously,” admits Nguyen, presently 16-1 (6KO) in five years as a pro. “If I was from the Philippines, it might’ve been different. I had a hard time getting fights for a long time.” [details]
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