How did Roger Mayweather get so many chances?

Roger is actually of my favorite fighters so its kinda shameful i dont know. But my guess is he had that eye pleasing combination of good power and bad chin, while fighting in an exciting aggressive style. He also was/is a pretty funny talker.

 

So many chances at what? It's not like he was a Villasana, Walcott or Bruno type who kept on getting title shots despite coming up short. He won a world title at the first time of asking, and was a top 10 fixture from 130-140 throughout his prime years. He lost a few but won plenty, which is what you would expect from a very good but flawed fighter consistently fighting world class opposition including three fights against legit ATGs.

Granted, the title shot at Tszyu was inexplicable, but other than that he got (and took) the opportunities you would expect from a fighter of his level with a crowd-pleasing style and willingness to take on anyone.

 

He had a good manager

Edit: His manager was "Billy Baxter.".

But, unlike a lot of guys who get many chances (title shots), Roger could actually fight.

He wasn't some obscure Latin guy protected/promoted by the WBA and WBC

Basically, his chin let him down on numerous occasions.

But, as he hadn't taken beatings, he was able to recover from these loses with little ill effects.

He got his first shot against the protected WBA champ. Sammy Serrano.

He earned that shot with a solid win over Rueben Munoz at 135 lbs. Munoz was rated.

Serrano was on decline and never actually the best at 130 lbs but Roger easily did his job, dropping Serrano for the count with a straight right.

The Lockridge loss did make him a bit gun shy in the Baltazar fight. That said, many thought it was a bad decision.

After the Baltazar "loss" he rebounded with an easy KO of undefeated Kenny Baysmore. Baysmore was considered a very solid prospect at the time.

This win plus the fact that Roger was a former Champion, made a fight with Chavez legitimate.

After the Chavez loss, Roger rebounded with a decision win over perennial contender Mario "Azabache" Martinez. And he did it at the Olympic, no less

This win put Roger back in the top 5 at 130 lbs.

But, apparently he struggled to make 130, so moved up to 135.

He was shocked by Freddy Pendleton, who in hindsight was a very good fighter. Roger was ahead in the fight, but he got caught, as he did several times in his career. The ending was sudden - a flurry of punches got him out of there. But, no sustained beating occurred.

Roger rebounded with a solid 9th round tko of Sammy Fuentes.

Then, he lost a decision to up and coming Pernell Whitaker.

Roger immediately moved up to 140 lbs.

This is where slick management helped out.

Roger hadn't really done anything at 140 lbs, but his manager was able to get the WBC to sanciton a title fight between him and Mexican/American Rene Arrendondo in LA. As Roger had beaten several Mexicans in LA previously, a lot of fans would pay to see him lose. He came into the ring in a sombrero, and really ignited the passions of the diehard Mexican fans. He was seen as a villain.

He blew away Arredondo and made a couple of defenses against mediocre Mexicans - the faded Rodolfo "Gato" Gonzales being one. He edged the very capable and underrated Harold Brazier in a close fight, in which he actually absorbed some serious punishment and came back to hurt Brazier. Who'd have thought Roger could win a back and forth war? But, he did.

Then, he gave the over hyped, but popular Vinny Paziena a shot and beat him rather easily, even dropping the sturdy Italian/American. Talk about someone who got many chances - that was Pazienza.

This legitimized a second fight with JC Chavez who wanted a third title. Since Chavez was Mexican and Roger had the WBC title, this matchup was a natural. The LA mexican fans couldn't wait to see Roger beaten. And Chavez did beat him albeit in a fairly competitive fight.

Roger regrouped over the next 2 yrs with some very solid wins, including a clear decision over the always tough Terrence Alli.

Finally he got a shot at the vacant IBF title and was winning comfortably before being stopped with one shot by the hard punching and capable Rafael Pineda.

That was pretty much it for Roger at the elite level.

But, he did get another shot, one he hadn't done anything to deserve, against Kostya Tzyu.

While he was badly faded, Roger was able to expose Kostya's inability to avoid a good straight right hand. Kostya stood stock straight up, a flaw that would ultimately catch up with him when Vince Phillips pounded him into submission with a series of straight right hands to lift his title in 1997. And, Roger lasted the full 12 round distance, when many thought he would get destroyed. In fact, prime for prime, I would pick Roger to beat Kostya. His straight right was very potent in him prime. And he would have no trouble landing it repeatedly against Kostya. He proved that when he was able to so even when he was badly faded. Also, Roger took a better punch than he had at 130 and 135 lbs. 140 seemed to be his ideal weight and he grew into that division pretty easily. By '95, his straight right no longer had to pop it had when he hurt Brazier and even got the attention of the iron chinned JC Chavez.

Note: Boxrec was not consulted in forming the above post. LOL.

 

he was a good fighter. he beat all the overrated guys, but when matched with someone good he managed to lose.

 

The Mexican Assassin. CBS Sports Spectacular type fighter with the Feather to Jr. welterweight Divisions loaded with potential fights at that time. Fans loved Bobby Chacon, Mayweather, Arguello, etc. on Saturday afternoon back then.

 

Amazing that Roger and Hector didn't meet when they werre champions in 1983.

 

Well, you can't just immediately make a unification match. Hector won his title in Aug. 83 and Roger lost his in early 84. Maybe it could have happened if Roger didn't lose to Lockridge.

It is too bad they didn't meet somewhere along the line as both moved up to 135 and then 140.

I think a 140 lb matchup around 1988 would have been good. But, Hector went MIA after beating Howard Davis and didn't resurface until mid 1988, looking very beatable against Reyes Cruz.

I think if they fought in '83 at 130 lbs, Hector would have won, but by the time Roger was WBC Super lightweight Champ in 1988, I'd favor him over Camacho.

 

Roger got so many chances because he was an exciting TV fighter. He was a good boxer, with great power and a questionable chin. He'd win when you think he was going to lose. He'd lose when you thought he was going to win. If you thought he'd box a guy, he'd slug instead. If you thought it was going to be a slugfest, he'd box. He'd get knocked down and get up. He'd get knocked down and stay down. He'd be hurt and then flatten the other guy.

Many fighters tend to worry about being undefeated. Many would rather bore the pants off an audience to secure a safe win than entertain an audience.

The problem with doing that is many fighters take the safe route, win a series of dull fights, go undefeated and may win a paper belt, and then they can't figure out why people don't want to pay to see them fight.

Mayweather kept getting chances because he was exciting and, to his credit, he took advantage of a lot of those opportunities and pulled out a win.

Many fall into the "entertaining but will probably lose" category. Mayweather had that power, so he was able to win titles in two divisions and make a half-dozen defenses along the way. Guys like Dereck Chisora don't have that power. So Chisora, who gets a lot of opportunities because he's an exciting TV fighter, is starting to fall into that "entertaining but will probably lose" category.