He is the one putting in the work for the prospects , he had done well to get a fight nearly every week. I just hope they get the respect they deserve at ringside
The journeyman culture in pro boxing is an utter disgrace. These are absolutely rigged fights yet everybody just accepts it's some normal thing. Show another sport where the young athletes are given matches where the opponent is not seriously trying to win so they can ''develop''. That would be considered match-fixing. In tennis you have to work your way up against seasoned pros, you get thrown to the wolves, and make it or don't. You take your losses and improve. Nobody holds your hand when you arrive on tour. This boxing system actually makes a mockery of the boxers who think they're the closest thing to true warriors. Imagine going to battle as a young warrior and you don't have to face anyone actually trying to kill you for the first 5-10 battles. They only kill you if you are literally the worst prospect in your tribe and actually apologise to the commander afterwards for slicing too hard. In reality, you have to fight seasoned warriors from the start. If this happened in boxing, almost nobody would be undefeated after 15-20 fights, because seasoned pros typically beat young novices, and the whole 'protect the 0' culture would also go away.
Yeah a lot of these guys with massive numbers of "L's" are a lot better than you'd think, I've seen many a time when they start lighting up some prospect then just stop trying.
That actually happens. I remember watching a doco on journeymen and he said right out that he didn't get any calls for a few months after he beat a prospect.
As someone regularly attends local shows, I have seen Kris many times throughout his career. Always very fit and never looked for a way out. He could keep a good pace and his Fights weren't boring or tedious to watch. You could see a dropping off in his level of ambition but he wasn't anything like some of the lads that get imported and fold in the first or second round. It's such a shame his planned Fight with Matty Seawright never came off. Matty was another prodigious journeyman and they live within a few miles of each other. They both deserved a big night and a chance to go into a Fight on a level playing field. While I understand the disdain for the journeyman culture, I have the greatest of respect for guys like these and Kev McCauley, Willie Warburton and of course Pete Buckley. Speak to anyone in the game and they will tell you how much these guys are valued.
I massively take my hat off to him, seems like a sound character & is a very decent boxer, a tough guy. I don't at all disdain or disagree with boxing's "journeyman culture" but I do slightly object to the ridiculous cachet that being unbeaten holds. The focus should be much, much, more on your skill levels rather than the number of slip-ups you've made. Someone else mentioned Tennis as a comparator, well Novak Djokovic is World No 1, so still on top of his game, and has over his career lost 43 times in Grand Slams alone, over 275 matches that's a little more than one loss every 10 matches, and he's one of the best players of all time. But in boxing the attitude is so often that you're finished as a good prospect [never mind ATG] after one loss, which is a nonsense. Without this attitude, KL's 12-279-9 record would read very differently, rather than a dozen wins he'd have IMO several dozen. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that he's a better fighter than a good number of the overhyped wannabe prospects he's been obliged to lose to/given bum decisions against.
It's a disgrace. Boxers being hired to lose, earning livings while the ones who actually try to win end up on the scrap heap. I can't blame fighters like Laight for exploiting the system. I blame the promoters and the fans who are quick to accept these matches as 'good learning' for prospects, when it's just record padding and match-fixing.
We also have to accept that some promoters and fans are also to blame when a fighter loses like a 116-112 115-113 etc type decision and then they've got to 'rebuild'. I mean I've never heard of something so ridiculous in my life. Lose by a point or two and then there thrown on the scrap heap, why? Its why I've got no issue with fighters fighting each other multiple times, as long as the fights have been very competitive.
