By Hector Gonzalez: There is too much of an importance on being ‘undefeated’ for American fighters. It might be the Mayweather curse, where American fighters might need to be undefeated like Floyd Mayweather in order to be marketable. I think that it’s a curse. For international fighters, a couple of defeats don’t mean that much. For American fighters, it’s a big deal.
Take for instance Adrien Broner who I believe clearly lost to Fernando Quintero and has a controversial win over Ponce de Leon. Same goes for Timothy Bradley who I believe lost to both Manny Pacquiao and Provodnikov. My point is, to some degree it would have been better for them to take a loss and rebuild there careers like every other fighter. In the case of Devon Alexander and Lamont Peterson who both have loses, it’s as if Alexander and Peterson are not taken seriously nor could they establish a decent fan base besides their hometowns because they are not on some elite level of undefeated fighters. What’s wrong with being an average fighter? There are plenty of average fighters fans support simply by their fighting styles, charisma, and guts.
This is also happening with some of the future prospects, take for instance Gary Russel Jr who is undefeated. Gary Russel is being regarded as one of the best in the featherweight division, yet it’s unclear as why he’s not a mandatory challenger already. The only reason I can think of is because he’s being protected? What for, the Featherweight division is literally stacked with good opposition.
There is also J’leon Love who won a controversial victory over Gabriel Rosado (the fight was later declared a no contest after it was discovered that Love tested positive for a banned substance). There is Mickey Bey who was KO’d by John Molina, and Brandon Bennet who lost to Francisco Vargas for the WBO inter-continental Featherweight Belt.
I think of the future that a fighter like Brandon Bennet will have, he is very talented kid who it appears will have problems against strong pressure fighters. Maybe Bennet will not be a Floyd Mayweather, and that should be okay. Unfortunately, American fighters with losses on their records, especially to international fighters lose credibility.
In the case of the Russian Ruslan Provodnikov, he has two losses on his record. Both are controversial. It doesn’t matter, Provodnikov is on his way to fame and fortune regardless of the two losses.
There are fighters like Jesus Soto Karass, and Orlando Salido who many fans will continue to support despite of their losses, Karass with 8 losses and Salido with 12 losses, simply because they have won over the support of boxing fans.
Another example is the career of Devon Alexander who has controversial wins over Andriy Kotelnik and Lucas Matthysse. I feel that Matthysse deserved the win over Alexander and I would have liked to have seen a second fight simply because their first was good. But I feel that the reason why there isn’t a second fight is for the protection of Alexander, and in the long run it does more harm then good for Alexander. Matthysse went on to KO Peterson and get a shot at Danny Garcia on the Mayweather vs Canelo undercard. Since Alexander beat Maidana, Alexander has not been able to get a decent fight. Not even Amir Khan is taking Alexander seriously.
The same could be said about Bradley vs Provodnikov. In my opinion Provodnikov won the fight but I developed more respect for Timothy Bradley for hanging in the fight. But why not a rematch? Why not take the gamble of Bradley fighting Providnikov again and just completely outclassing Provodnikov with pure boxing skills? Look at the turn of events,
Provonikov completely destroyed Mike Alvarado, has won fans all around the world and could go any direction he wants to. Bradley despite him beating Marquez this month, has still not won over fans.
To the likes of Mickey Bey, J’leon Love and Adrien Broner. It’s alright if you’re not the next Mayweather, fighters like him only come once every few decades. Be yourself.
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