(Photo credit: Tom Casino/Showtime) By Eric Johnson: Once and a while a Mexican warrior shows enough skill and talent to propel himself out of the haystack, beginning the trek to becoming the next great Mexican champion. Mexicans have a great sense of pride in their people, so much in fact that any Mexican fighter who is fortunate enough for his name to be heard, has an automatic fan base that will support him to all lengths.
This fan base isn’t like any other, they sport the green white and red with a sense of passion that it seems no other fan base can match. Expectations rise, incredible, sometimes unrealistic predictions are made, and comparisons take shape to bring the fighter into a realm of omnipresence that very few fighters ever achieve. However, the thing about expectations, predictions, and premature comparisons, is that sometimes they lead to disappointments. Every Mexican warrior isn’t the next Julio Cesar Chavez, Salvador Sanchez or Ruben Olivares. As much as I, and everyone else wishes they were for the betterment of the sport, but they aren’t.
I had the pleasure of attending the Mayweather-Canelo press tour at the stop in New York. Hundreds, maybe thousands of fans rushed to Times Square. Everyone was excited for the fight, excited for the most anticipated matchup in the last six years. There were a lot Mayweather fans, plenty actually. However, they were drowned out by Canelo’s Mexican followers. They showered the young fighter with screams that rivaled a crowd for the late Michael Jackson. Letting him know that they were 100% behind him, and ready for him to take his country to boxing supremacy once again. Not every fighter is capable of that, not every fighter is built for that. While I’m not saying Canelo isn’t that guy, I’m not sure he is either. We already live in a microwave generation of social media, where word gets around faster than air, and rumors spread like wildfire. Where rookies are treated like legends, and legends are treated like old news. Add that to the fact that Mexico is a prideful country that dedicates themselves to their fighters, and you have prospects with a false sense of overconfidence because they are awarded such merit without work or a résumé that justifies it. In Lehman’s terms, they think they are better than they are. Many disappoint, and fall to the pressure of the big moment, i.e. Victor Ortiz.
It seems not to long ago Victor Ortiz was supposed to be the next great Mexican star. Though he is American, he is of Mexican descent, and had plenty of Mexican supporters in his bout against Floyd Mayweather. He proudly wore the Mexican colors on his trunks and robe, and made his entrance to a roaring crowd of followers who believed in his skill and talent. As the fight progressed, he was outclassed, thrown into frustration, and lost in the moment of a huge event where Mexican fans flooded the arena excited to see their young representative put on a show for the ages. He ended up head butting, and dropping his hands on his way to knockout loss against Mayweather. Then going on to lose to Josesito Lopez, thus vanishing into obscurity, all in a span of nine months. He failed to live up to the expectations that come with being a Mexican warrior and that’s not his fault. Not every guy, is that guy.
In conclusion, while it is a blessing to have an automatic, loving, prideful fan base, it’s also a curse because not every fighter can handle and live up to the hype, rich history, and expectation that comes with being a Mexican fighter. While it’s beautiful and uplifting to see a nation serenade and give complete hope to those who represent the green, white and red. There also needs to come a time where Mexican fighters earn their country’s support, gradually and not just by a lump sum, because while having massive, instant support is phenomenal, not every fighter can handle the pressure. However, for those who can, they will come to realize a level of gratitude, prestige and dedication that not many, if any other fan base can deliver. That of a Mexican legend.
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