Question for Historians - Eurobums/Afrobums/Mexican Roadsweepers

I think at the end of the day it all comes down to money.

Take James DeGales 2nd opponent Jindrich Kubin from the Czech Republic, and his 3rd opponent Cirian Healy from Ireland (lets count that as domestic in this case). I would imagine Healy got paid at least 5 times what Kubin got paid. Both lasted only 1 round with DeGale.

A promoter will have a budget for the show and if he was wanted to have every undercard fight featuring a prospect agaisnt domestic journeyman, you would have a card with 5 fights instead of 10.

I do not really beleive that our domestic fighters are that much better than the euro and afro bums. some of the africans that Cleverly faced were better than Billy Boyle who was ranked in the top 10 in britain when they fought. Kell Brook went 6 rounds with an Estonion, then a year later knocked out Kevin McIntrye who was a former British champion in 1 round. Obviously Kell was more up for that fight but people would of called the estonian a Eurobum, is McIntyre a Jockbum?

I think one answer would be for our existing journeyman to fight the journeyman from abroad. They can be assessed by the BBBofC and if the Latvians and Ghanaians come through and are deemed good enough they can fight the prospects. This would get rid of the really **** journeyman and only keep the durable ones, both domestic and foreign.

 

Rob you are forgetting that sometimes fighters are more prepared for the opponent. When Clev knew he was fighting Boyle he expected a tough fight against a rugged opponent and wanted to put on a good performance and send a message of intent but when it is afrobumman he knows all he has to do is turn up, the same can be said of Brook fighting a good level Brit and wanting to show he deserves the belt and then not bothering even trying against the dodgy European.

 

Totally agree with you but then you have to consider than Billy Boyle and McIntyre were new about there fights 6-7 weeks before they took place so they have an advantage of the foreign fighters. the africans are told a week before, get on a plane on the wednesday and are still jetlagged by the time they get in the ring on a friday night.

If the lativans and africans were told about the fights 4 weeks before, they would put up a better showing.

 

That is fine but I have seen Boyle fight 5/6 times and he is decent. Should never have been fighting for a British title and I believe he was a replacement. McIntyre was the champion who did not lose he belt in the ring if I am correct. Both guys have beaten decent opponents but on certain nights guys like Brook and Cleverly are real class.



Also Paul Samuels got into the trap of being the soft opponent and took the money against Groves, knew he had to go in and make Groves look good. Samuels is better than that.

 

I think Paul Samuels has always been, and still is a level above journeyman but Groves just falls into the same category as Brook and Clev, they all show signs of world class.

I think that matchmaking is a tough job and the best in business have a hard job. I really doubt we would ever see a latvian fighter in a british ring if they were being paid the same amount.

I think the problem with journeyman can be solved by the BBBofC. All fighters should be given decent amount of notice before fights. If there are short notice pullouts, the promoters should have a pool of fighters to choose from. That pool will be made up of fighters that have been in the gym ticking over and have made the BBBofC aware that they are avalible to fight when called upon. This should be the same for domestic and foreign fighters.

Any foreign fighter that wants to fight in the UK should have to get a license to do so. They would need to get this by having fights agaisnt lower ranked opponents so that they can be deemed fit to fight in a british ring on a bigger stange (on tv agaisnt a well known prospect, or on a big show). You would not need to do this if you are the holder of a national title or higher, or are ranked by a governing body.

with regards to Beeston's origional post, i think a major difference between the mexican cab drivers and the afro bums is that the cab drivers didnt just know they were going to loose the fight, but the exact round they were going to loose as well if you know what i mean.

 

Problem will still be that fighters drop out sometimes on the day of the fight or during the week befopre the fight so at that point a matchmaker has very few options. Fighters do not want to come in and take a beating and most are not willing to just tick over, they want fights lined up even the journeymen need assurance of fights and do not want to be just sat there waiting and hoping for a call so they can come in and do a job.


I know that the waythings are currently done can be pretty shite at times but I can not see anybody being able to change it or a real need for a change.
Remember alot of the time promoters, managers and matchmakers just want to give a guy a little exposure or a run out or a fighter will be added to a bill last minute because other fighters have dropped out.

 

Anyone remember that Samual Kebede who fought Scott Harrison?

**** me, he was shite

 

Just a side note of not much importance, west african boxers will hardly get jet lagged at all flying to the UK, Ghana is in the same time zone as London, Nigeria is +1 etc..even a 2 hour difference is negligible when almost all the flights will be overnight. That said, I appreciate that it will disrupt the later stages of training.

 

sitting on a plane for 6 hours is still not ideal.

 

Neither is sitting on the M25.

 

They are almost exclusively night flights, so most people would just sleep through it.

 

The whole point is that if a fighter does drop out the day of someone in half decent shape can step in. Those that are ticking over just need to let the board of control now with an email from there trainer once a week. Journeyman would just be sitting around with 0% chance of having a fight, this way they know there is a better chance of them fighting as theres only a few other fighters around there weight.

the exposure that Jefrries and Price got from there last fight was more negative than posotive. Also they will have conditioned themseles to peak for the fight, so they just end up missing valuble gym time as they need 2 weeks off after a 30 sec fight.

 

fair point but come on you must agree if they were given 5 weeks notice they wouldnt be dropping after every body shot.

 

I agree with all the short notice stuff, I just wanted to be a pedantic ******* about the jetlag from africa.:good