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Are we too quick to judge a fighter today?


BoztheMadman
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It seems to me that today, too many boxing fans are too quick to "write off" a fighter after he has one bad or worse than usual fight. This was the case with Lomachenko against Pedraza, Fury vs Wallin, Munguia vs Hogan, Teofimo in his last fight and arguably also now with Spence and his last fight. What do you say? Are we too down on these fighters?
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Don't forget Joshua vs Ruiz Jr!

 

A lot of this so-called "writing off" is done by those who were over-hyping the fighter in the first place. Who did Lopez or Munguia beat to warrant the hype before those performances you mention for example?

 

Then again, you got the other examples like Joshua, Fury and Loma and there I'd say yes, we're too quick to write-off with these guys, they've already proven that they're world level and have shown us what they can do against better opposition than those whom "showed them up" so fans need to just remember that the fighter's are only human and an off-night isn't the end of the world.

 

I still got Ruiz Jr in the rematch though ;-)

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Good/interesting question, Boz, and the quick answer is yes we are, and we do.

 

Its human vs human and anything can happen on the night of the fight. And the phenomenon is particularly exaggerated by the heavyweights. Prime recent example of course being Joshua-Ruiz Jr, as Undefeated has mentioned. I have rated Fat Andy for years and have most of his fights in my fight collection, but I didn't predict the outcome and doubt very much whether many did - although there were some pundits that did, many of whom could have had inside information on the fight camp which I will address now. As it was plainly evident that something was amiss with AJ that night not related to the actual fight itself - the human element of the jigsaw.

 

There is a fairly well documented report from eye witnesses - the primary one being AJ's father who made no secret of it - that at fight camp he was very heavily levelled by Agit Kabayel and had not recovered by any means on June 1. Which explained why AJ Snr reared up at Eddie Sperm publicly post-fight, as by not pulling him out of the fight put his son's brain and wellbeing severely at risk given what happened for the sake of the fat-cats' Swiss bank accounts. So going back to Boz's second point has anyone seriously totally written AJ off as a heavyweight contender because of this ? And this isn't an excuse - many different elements combined that night to contribute to the defeat.

 

Using AJ-Ruiz Jr again as a case study, there is another complexity involved however with the rematch. While AJ may now be physically ready for the rematch, is he mentally ready for it ? I personally believe it could be too soon, but I don't know AJ personally and its ok saying he's being advised well; but is he on the evidence of the above ? Ruiz Jr I should have had the plug pulled on it, but didn't. AJ himself could be of the mentality that the sooner he gets back into the ring the better. Only fight night will answer our questions.

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Yep, agree with you both. Joshua has taken an amazing amount of flack for losing to Ruiz jr and many are now saying he never was that good. Amazing how people can forget all those victories...not to mention that amazing war with Klitschko. Emile Griffith was knocked out in 1 by Rubin Carter, Roy Jones in 2 by Antonio Tarver-nobody then called them anything like these guys are being called now. If AJ loses the rematch to Ruiz and in the same manner, it will mean nothing but that Ruiz simply got his number and is a wrong match up. Much like Forrest was wrong for Mosley.
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Great topic. Yes, I think fighters do get written off too quickly and overly criticised. I, also, think the opposite happens, e.g. A top fighter gets a win and he's NO.1 P4P, then, two weeks later another fighter wins and then they're the best around.

 

Thank you Rob. :wave:Same to you Sel old mate. I first posted this in my boxing group on FB, but got too few replies. It had been on my mind for a while. It really has become a very demanding boxing world. Fans and the pundits both demand a lot. And are easily disappointed. :attention:

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