Christian Mijares

He lost to Darchinyan, and went on to win more fights, though no one notable since then. Did he retire now?

 

No, he fights next week. Building back up his confidence after 3 straight losses.

 

amsterdam jinxed mijares lol

 

I don't know why people are acting as if it was unreasonable to have him so high P4P at the time. He looked brilliant against Arce, Navarro, and Munoz while ascending to international prominence. Very few reputable commentators gave Darchinyan much of a chance in their bout; Mijares was sensational.

 

This is a pretty revisionist attitude if you ask me.

Mijares was a "who needs 'em" type for most of his career, unknown by the general (even diehard) boxing public for most of his career, before getting and capitalizing on a big break in the Arce fight and going on a very respectable run thereafter. So that run ended. So he wasn't invincible. He's still someone who toiled in obscurity until finally having the brass ring dangled within reach and seizing it, in his second WBC 115lb title defense and fourth fight for the belt all told (of what today stands at 10).

For a guy with no power, I'd say he far exceeded expectations, when viewed plotted on a larger timeline than those with short attention spans seem to be doing here.

After the domination of Arce (at the time considered an elite prime-time player), people got excited - and some of the tongue-in-cheek stuff from his newfound supporters went over a lot of people's heads (that there are still some idiots cracking hysterical gems about Amsterdam praying to his God Mijares shows just how low the lowest common denominator here really is), even offending some. It was just for laughs, and a way to keep the guy's name fresh as those without big-time KO power generally need a little more fervent fan support to stay relevant since TV networks aren't as keen to promote them (Mayweather and Calzaghe being the exceptions, not the rule).

From Arce through Darchinyan is but one chapter of the guy's career. Yes, it was a meteoric rise and fall, but it was still one brief chapter. He accomplished in that one brief chapter of his career - 2007 and 2008 - more than most prizefighters dream of - he became a world champion (holding the prestigious green belt, no less) after having gone through an eliminator and two interim title victories, and made several defenses, beating some very good challengers along the way.

Did he fall short of expectations that arose in 2007 when he first made a big splash on the Pacquiao-Solis undercard? Well, that depends. If the expectations were that he would go on to defend his title several more times against some good boxers, then no. If they were that he was invincible and would never lose and would move up successively in weight winning titles in every division before knocking out Wladimir Klitschko, then yes. But nobody said that. OK, they did. But they were kidding, and those too stupid to realize that should have their opinions - and their ideas of what "expectations" were - discluded.