By Robert “Big Moe” Elmore: What does a fighter do if the opportunity of a lifetime comes along? The money is the there and the notoriety can bring more attention to themselves. The fighter has been working his way through the ranks, bu it has been against B level competition. His team has gotten him some decent money, but the grand opportunity brings more.
Fans on the internet say that he hasn’t done anything to deserve such an honor. He definitely understands the unfairness and politics that the governing bodies for the titles and the major networks can play. His trainers and advisers don’t necessarily tell him that he isn’t ready because this will benefit them as well. So he takes the fight; gets beat, and suddenly his reputation takes a hit. The same media that was pushing the fighter and hyping him up is now calling him a hype job and the fans label him a media creation. But who can really blame the fighter for taking such a risk? I don’t think any fighter goes into the ring saying they are going to lose, but I’m sure they want to get the most financially out of the fight as they can. But are these fighters hype jobs?
I would say no. I tend to give fighters that lose the benefit of the doubt. I like to see how fighters recover after they lose. A fighter can’t be judged after one fight. In fact, I look at the manner in which they lose. Most fighters go into a tail spin mentally and spiritually and some recover to go on to become champions. You have some fighters who turn down these kinds of opportunities because they believe they are not ready. And quite frankly, there is nothing wrong with that. While Teddy Atlas was training Alexander Povetkin, an offer was made to fight Wladimir Klitschko.
Atlas turned it down stating the Povetkin wasn’t ready. In this case, it panned out for Russian as he ended up getting the Wladimir fight. Saul Alvarez was presented an opportunity to fight Floyd Mayweather when he was 19 years old. His team turned it down. But again, it worked out as he was able to participate in the highest grossing pay per view event in boxing. Financially, he made out as well. I won’t write off Canelo yet. It remains to be seen how he comes back from the loss.
Boxing seems to be different when it comes to second chances. And I’m talking immediate second chances. It’s not like the NBA or NFL where you have to wait till next season to get a crack at the championship. Manny Pacquiao seem to embrace his role of giving fighters (deserving or undeserving)a chance to restore their careers. Pacquiao, gave Joshua Clottey, Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley, Ricky Hatton, Oscar De La Hoya, second chances after they came off losses. But can we really blame these fighters for jumping at this opportunity; be it because of the money; or to prove that their last fight was a fluke? Floyd Mayweather seems to be the opposite. He tends beat fighters coming off wins and that media builds up to beat him. Miguel Cotto, Canelo Alvarez, Shane Mosley, Robert Guerrero (who was his mandatory challenger), Ricky Hatton, Oscar De La Hoya, Victor Ortiz where either on winning streaks or coming off big wins. Now even though these fighters lost the financial rewards where great.
Heavy contender James “Quick” Tillis is a fighter I like to refer to as the Charlie Brown of boxing. He could never kick that elusive football called “another chance”. Why? His stamina. Never have I seen a man get some many chances. His first chance was in 1981 against then WBA champ Mike Weaver where he lost on decision. Next, he took on Greg Page for the USBA heavyweight title and lost by eight round knockout and lost by first round knockout against Tim Witherspoon for the North American Boxing Federation belt.
His last chance came against Carl “The Truth” Williams in a WBC title eliminator where he lost via decision. Killer puncher Earnie Shavers shared the same fate except he had fewer chances. Shavers took on a faded Muhammad Ali in 1977 and lost on a unanimous decision. Next, he took on Larry Holmes for the WBC title and lost via eleventh round TKO after dropping Holmes in the seventh round. Shavers would lose again to Holmes via unanimous decision and wouldn’t fight for the title again.
Roberto Duran was a terror as a light weight compiling a record of 62 wins and only 1 lost. It was when he up in weight and competition that he began to be exposed. Now I give Duran much credit for challenging the likes of Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns and Wilfred Benitez, but that’s where it stops.
When a fighter goes to another weight class or steps up in competition, there are some adjustments that must be made. Duran never made any. His mauling style did not work against fighters who could either A. neutralize his attack by not standing toe to toe with him (Leonard the 2nd fight), B. outbox him ( Hagler and Benitez) or C. simply out slug him (Hearns).
Now you have up and coming undefeated fighters like Gennady Golovkin aka Triple G, Danny Garcia, Andrien Broner, who are making their mark on boxing in their respective weight classes. It will be interesting to see how these fighters fair in their careers. Garcia is said to be transitioning to welterweight.
Broner has already made his and there is a lot he can improve on. Triple G seems to be cleaning out the middleweight division. If he decides to move up in weight, he will certain have to make adjustments to his game. In fact all of them will. They can’t rely on one thing to carry them through the fight. It needs to a series of things unless their match makers stick them in the ring with a fighter who fights exactly like they do. Fighters like Lucas Matthysse and Marcos Maidana will be good at what they do, but will never touch the level of elite unless they add another wrinkle to their resume.
Their styles are made to get the fighter out of the ring between rounds one and three. Maybe four. If that doesn’t happen, then their mind and body goes into shock because there was no game plan after that. It turns into “hoping to land the big punch to win the fight”. One can see that in Matthysse’s fight with Garcia, and Maidana’s fight with Devon Alexander. You can also see it in the Gerry Cooney-Larry Holmes fight and in Leonard-Hearns 1.
Hearns’ fights lasted an average of 4 rounds prior to him meeting Leonard. He didn’t know how to recover when he was hurt although he did a decent of recovering between the eight and tenth round. Hearns did a lot better in the rematch, but was robbed of his victory.
Cooney’s fights were about the same. He even admitted on Legendary Nights, that as the fight pushed into the middle rounds, his mind and body went into shock. So losing is not a bad thing, but how you correct the mistakes and recover afterward.
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