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by David P. Greisman - There is little margin for error in a sport that expects perfection from unfinished products.
This is why pro boxers are brought along so slowly. No matter what they accomplish as amateurs, that experience is not akin to playing college ball and then posting up on Kobe Bryant or barnstorming through the minor leagues and then going yard in your first Major League game. Fighters don’t take off their headgear and then immediately step in against a world champion. They learn. They develop. They improve.
They do this while hoping to remain undefeated. One loss shouldn’t mean everything, but sometimes that zero at the end of their record is the difference between getting exposure and being exposed.
Seth Mitchell was learning on the job, just like so many American heavyweights do these days. The United States is a country where the amateur system is on the decline, and where athletic big men have for years preferred basketball and football instead of The Sweet Science.
He was a former college football player who donned the gloves after he hung up the pads. He turned pro at 25 and has been brought on deliberately and strategically. For a while this was done away from the spotlight, but then it was time to be promoted as a prospect, to challenge him into becoming a contender, to step up with the world watching and wondering. [Click Here To Read More]
This is why pro boxers are brought along so slowly. No matter what they accomplish as amateurs, that experience is not akin to playing college ball and then posting up on Kobe Bryant or barnstorming through the minor leagues and then going yard in your first Major League game. Fighters don’t take off their headgear and then immediately step in against a world champion. They learn. They develop. They improve.
They do this while hoping to remain undefeated. One loss shouldn’t mean everything, but sometimes that zero at the end of their record is the difference between getting exposure and being exposed.
Seth Mitchell was learning on the job, just like so many American heavyweights do these days. The United States is a country where the amateur system is on the decline, and where athletic big men have for years preferred basketball and football instead of The Sweet Science.
He was a former college football player who donned the gloves after he hung up the pads. He turned pro at 25 and has been brought on deliberately and strategically. For a while this was done away from the spotlight, but then it was time to be promoted as a prospect, to challenge him into becoming a contender, to step up with the world watching and wondering. [Click Here To Read More]
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