The Difference Between What we’re Told and What We See

[Lacrimosa]

I think that Mtagwa was a good test for Lopez!Juanma has bright future ahead, i`m sure!

[JakeNDaBox]

It doesn't take a career inside the ring to know boxing. I know Jake and I can vouch for his credibility as a writer and a man who get's his info from the source. Though I do disagree with this piece enough to publically state so.

Jake your on point in regards to us being fed crap and too many people buying into it hook line and sinker. I however have to respectfully disagree with the message your sending out.

It might not be the point your trying to make, but while your saying that we shouldn't buy into undefeated records; your also saying that fighters are only as good as their last performance and a singular bad performance or loss proves that they're not the goods. Thus endorsing the idea of not going out on a limb should the fight be too tough so the writers and fans won't respect me unless I have an unblemished record.

Maybe as a man who is constantly trying to improve inside the ring I have a certain level of naivety in regards to many young fighters can still improve. We both know Berto's deficiencies as a fighter and same with Juanma, Linares, Arreola and so on and so forth. For several of those guys (Arreola included but on a different level) experience is the true gaping hole in their career buildup, and a tough fight or a tough loss can make them a much better fighter than an easy win.

As for Arreola, maybe he will take his career seriously now and not train for 12 weeks of the year while binging the other 40 weeks and end up looking like a pregnant woman heading into camp.

Tough fights teach you so much more about yourself and how to fight than easy ones, whether you win or lose. It's not really that all these guys aren't the goods, and a majority of those who are hyped as such really aren't. it's the tough guys who they're tossed in with that end up being the goods.

But if we continue to discourage this we won't discover the diamonds in the rough and we wade through the bull**** Top Rank, GBP, Main Event, Sauerland, and Universum keep selling us. (Notice I didn't mention King because the only guy who fights regularly is Joseph Agbeko and he seems to be the goods).

We need more fights like Lopez/Mtagwa so the guys like Lopez can find out if they have the nuts to do this sport and if they do they'll make more than a name for themselves, it also gives the Mtagwa's, Agustus', and Ward's of the world a chance to shine.

Plus I'm going to chalk the previous fight up to something on the level of a average fan, just a fucking great action fight and hope that Lopez matures from there and gets it on with Caballero instead of Luevano.

We need better matchmaking early on to help promoters make better decisions on who the real deals are and of course more exposure at earlier stages of these fighters' careers so we know who they are. It that too much to ask, no; will is happen, I bet they'll be a colony on Mars before the things in boxing go back to the way they were.

The part in red is exactly the point I was trying to make, not that I was suggesting we give up on fighters like Linares and JuanMa.

The problem (at least the way I see it) is that the networks and the media are far too eager to label someone a star well before we know what they're truly about.

Fights like Lopez/Mtagwa (even though nobody suspected it to be a tough fight going in) and Berto/Collazo should come BEFORE we are told so and so is the next star. That's why I mentioned a fight like the one JuanMa endured warrants a closer look at what led him to this point.

Anyone can have a bad night, and there's certainly no better bad night than one where you still win the fight (and JuanMa deserved to win, despite cries to the contrary). But you still have to wonder why he struggled with a guy like Mtagwa and when you look back at his resume for comparisons... you discover that he was never really tested on the way up.

Dianzo is perhaps the closest - and interestingly enough, he mentioned that fight when I asked him about having to face naturally bigger/heavier fighters (since Mtagwa is a career featherweight). But Dianzo was also a fighter JuanMa had no business struggling with, and lucked out when they gave him a TKO for a fight that really should've went to the cards on a technical decision (though he still would've won anyway).

That's all I'm saying - a frame of reference should be provided when in fact a fighter struggles or loses. If a fighter is tested on the way up, passes and then loses to a similar fighter in the future, you can chalk it up to an off night because he's already proven he can handle that style/can take a punch/can adapt and overcome adversity, etc.

With a fighter like Linares, we have no such reference. That's not to say the Salgado loss was predictable - in fact, the opposite, as I saw Salgado as the guy with the protected record and expected Jorge to steamroll him. But it's not like we can dismiss the loss by saying, "Well he beat..." because there's nobody on his resume that really jumps out. The closest is a very faded Oscar Larios who was deemed unfit to ever again fight in the U.S. based on his performance and subsequent medical results.

[HeartAttack]

The bind that the promoters are in is that their proteges need to build fanbases. The way we used to do that when you were young (before my time you old bastard) was the fact that amateur boxing got extensive coverage. Almost as much mainstream coverage as pro boxing gets today. We knew all about the 76' team coming in, the 84' kids and even the Olympic alternates needed no introductions because the public knew through TV exposure who these up and coming fighters were. With that luxury, promoters were able to focus on developing their fighter, not develpoing their investment.
Also, with guys like Johnny Bos getting blackballed in our sport, some of the matchmakers while skilled, have the wrong skills or are directed with different impressions of "building guys up". Juanma still hasn't fought for a championship, he is still incredibly young and hasn't made it to the top yet, he is still coming up, so this fight with Mtagwas was a brilliant thing. Maybe he won't underestimate his opponent again. Zab Judah lost millions and the welterweight crown by doing that with Carlos Baldomir, and that's just one of hundreds of examples recent or old.

[Easy-E]

I disagree with fans buying prospects hook line and sinker, e****ially on this website. And I am unsure as to when losing a fight early in your career was the end of the world. For many fighters is is a big wakeup call and fuels them to become world champions.
Look at Pac, or Hopkins.