Two Men Enter One Man Wins-Someone Has To Lose-It Happens-That's Boxing, Deal With It

Of all the things that irritate me the most on these forums its seeing someone bash a talented fighter with an impressive record or even a decent one that had the misfortune of losing to the better man that night, with those old tried and true slurs that they're a bum or a loser. This is a sport, which means there has to be a winner and a loser unless its a draw of course, and why is it in every other sport when a team loses or a player has an off night they aren't ridiculed for it and drummed out of the business and shamed. The fans chalk it up as a bad night and hope for them to try to improve and have a better showing the next time out. That's a normal part of life in other sports like football, or baseball, or basketball..... you win some and you lose some... life goes on, but not with boxing... if you lose, no matter how good the opponent you lost to is, you suck and we never want to see or hear from you again, you let us down and hurt are feelings for ever believing in you to start with, you're a disappointment go to hell you loser.

Well the train of thought that persist amongst fans of the sport today would pretty much invalidate every fighter pre 1990, some of the all time greats would be considered jokes and bums by today's standards.
Sugar Ray Robinson had 19 losses 1 by KO
Archie Moore had 23 losses 7 by KO
Muhammed Ali had 5 losses and 1 by KO
Joe Louis had 3 losses 1 by KO
Ezzard Charles had 25 losses 3 by KO
Henry Armstrong had 21 losses 2 by KO
Sam Langord had 30 losses 9 by KO
Emile Griffith had 24 losses 2 by KO
Willie Pep had 11 losses 6 by KO

You get the idea.

Far too many of the fighters of today are basically all but written off because they have a 1 in the loss column, the fans and the channels they fight on lose interest because they don't have that precious almost mythical 0 anymore and that's terrible because some fighters get better with age and experience but far too often they aren't allowed that chance.

This particular idiotic scenario is occurring with great frequency... once a fighter loses to a great fighter that they were supposed to lose to to start with, due to their opponent being a great fighter... who beats most of his opponents... they are written off. The reason they lose is because they are fighting a great fighter, give them a break.... Even in some cases where the underdog's performance exceeds expectations, there will always be someone to ridicule him for not toppling a giant even when they over perform. Therefore to many fighters like Algieri, Rios, Maidana, Guerrero, Bradley, Porter, Povetkin etc. are all bums because they lost to all time greats....... Being 2nd best or 3rd best is quite an accomplishment that shouldn't be so easily disregarded.

Some older fighters who could have been written off like Marquez, Pacquiao, Wladimir, Whitaker, Jones Jr., Hopkins, De La Hoya, Mosley, Cotto, Martinez, Froch and many more, who all have losses on their records and not one of them is a bum or a loser, yet why is it that when some up and coming fighter loses to one of them they are all but written off, these guys are some of the best fighters of their generation, and to lose to in some cases to an all time great shouldn't diminish their value as a fighter very much. Yet in inexplicably that always seems to be the case.

For example there's the case of a young fighter being pushed too soon. George Groves is a well rounded incredibly talented fighter with great timing and hand speed, but he was put in the ring with a killer far too early and the result that most thought would happen...happened ....twice. The brilliant performance Groves put on for the majority of the first fight is all but forgotten because he got KTFO...and he's now considered a bum, which is laughable, he lost to Carl ****ing Froch, who's kind of really really good. But of course Froch lost to Ward, so I guess that means he's a bum too right? Other than the little fact that Ward is one of the best all around fighters of his generations, who's borderline impossible to beat. But Froch bashers who are usually Ward fans, inexplicably never miss an opportunity to throw off on him for losing to him.

Then there's the case of a fighter having a bad style clash early in their career. That's when a fighter may lose to someone no one expected them to lose to, usually by close decision, sometimes that fighter is old and slightly past it, but the young gun comes in guns blazing and the more seasoned older fighter who knows how to spoil and disrupt the kid's rhythm is able to take their power and outwit them, and since they've never had this happen to them before.... it paralyzes them somewhat and leaves them befuddled and they are picked apart by the wily old veteran and they are then mocked and ridiculed for losing to someone everyone thought they would beat with ease. A few recent examples Wade being picked apart by Soliman, Yang losing to Cuenca and Benavidez losing to Herrera but getting the bogus decision. No matter how good of a fighter some of these guys are, they can't always adequately prepare themselves to deal with unorthodox or crafty fighters, they have those adjectives that are used to describe them for a reason. But they should be allowed to learn from their mistakes, and try to get it right the next time, but by that point they've already been written off sometimes. We need to realize styles make fights and sometimes a fighter just isn't ready for one particular style, it happens, most fighters aren't that versatile, they'll probably look better the next time.

There's the case of a fighter being KO'd by an opponent no one thought they'd be KO'd by. Many fans need to get this little fact drilled into their heads, if a fighter has a lot of KO wins on their record, it means they hit really hard, even if they may have a lot of losses sometimes even by KO, because of their power they are always a threat. And often times a moderate puncher can land a shot in the perfect place and stop an opponent when no one expected it, after all Boxing is the theatre of the unexpected. A punch is a punch and most of them hurt and if landed right a shot no one would think would hurt can put someone down. A few examples, Badou Jack being KO'd by Derek Edwards an decent puncher, Jack thought he had nothing to worry about, he was caught with the perfect shot and went down, yet Anthony Dirrell a really big puncher who put Bika down and on spaghetti legs almost as many times as Adonis Stevenson did had little effect on Jack, crazy isn't it? Or another case where Aaron Martinez a very light puncher hit Robert Guerrero low he bent over and was clubbed behind his ear and was basically out cold for a second, yet he was able to take countless incredibly hard flush shots from Thurman and was even relatively unaffected after being dropped by him, strange right?

David Lemieux was put in the ring with Rubio whose happened to beat 51 fighters by KO, Rubio knew how to deal with the predictable Lemieux and rolled with many of his monster shots, he hurt Rubio on a few occasions but at the time, Rubio had a few less wars and a little more in his gas tank, and was able to time Lemieux once he started gassing and getting sloppy, there is no shame in losing to a KO artist like Rubio at that young of an age. Abner Mares most thought would steamroll Jhonny Gonzalez but I didn't, I knew Jhonny would KO him, because most of the fighters Mares had been in wth didn't have close to the pop of Jhonny and I figured he'd get reckless and underestimate this wily veteran and get taken out which is exactly what happened. But does that mean Jhonny should KO everybody, no obviously not, since he had a style clash of his own with Russell and got KTFO himself. Skills may pay the bills, but sometimes power can too.

Then there's the unexpected times when a fighter gets hurt or dropped when they least expected it. Like with Frampton, he came in shot out of a cannon gunning for a KO1 in his American debut and guess what he got dropped twice in the first round by Gonzalez, not because he has a glass jaw but because he wasn't thinking and walked into something big from a decent puncher.... it happens. Or when Thurman almost got dropped by Collazo, only a year and a half ago he KO'd Ortiz, Collazo has power, Khan was a bad style match up for him, and Thurman wasn't, he was able to land the perfect shot and hurt Keith, and instead of people saying wow look how tough Keith is, he was able to persevere and keep fighting on after being nailed by the perfect shot to the midsection and still managed to get the stoppage. No they say Thurman is a glass bodied bum. Being punched hurts deal with it, these guys aren't superhuman and they get caught sometimes...oh well. Just like how Cotto was nearly KO'd by Torres and later Canelo was almost KO'd by Jose Cotto, its boxing and punches hurt.

I know its fun to attack and throw off on fighters we don't particularly like, but the only people we are hurting are ourselves, because when a fighter loses, gets KO'd or hurt often times we automatically dismiss them in this frivolous culture we live in, like they are disposable paper cups instead of human beings who've worked their whole lives to get to where they are, and that dream shouldn't be derailed because of one misstep. We need to grow up and realize what a rough sport this really is, and not hold it against someone when they lose, we may be depriving ourselves of a future all time great that we so dismissively shove out of the door for one foible.

And what people don't like comebacks any more? Such a cynical harsh society we've become.:verysad

There's nothing better than a good old fashioned pull yourself up by the bootstrap comeback story. Try to appreciate that aspect of the sport a little more.

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Unfortunately I don't.:conf

 

Thanks I appreciate the compliment, and I agree 100% about Loma.

 

:deal
Chael Sonnen 14 losses
Mauricio Rua 10 losses
Tito Ortiz 11 losses
Little Nog Nogueira 7 losses
Chuck Liddell 7 losses
etc

Nobody seems to hold it against those guys too much