Losing in between the ropes is akin to losing an American presidential election. It’s that much harder to be considered a viable candidate once you have the one “L” on your record. While these four young fighters in Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista, Edison “Pantera” Miranda, Antonio “Tony” Margarito, and Kassim “The Dream” Ouma are all coming off recent losses to the best competition available, the public has seemingly written them off. These men haven’t been dismissed as never-will-be’s but more so as fighters that will continue to fall short in their careers due to stylistic flaws and the inability to capitalize on the opportunity at hand.
Who said that the boxing media and fans aren’t only harsh but finicky as well?
The one thing that all these four young scrappers have in common is the heart and courage which they showcased in their losses. While nobody wants to be considered a “loser” in any sense of the word, these four fighters will always have the crowd to support them due to their ability to bring the excitement in every fight they‘re involved in. Boxing is bigger than just winning and losing, it’s about displaying your will to go along with your skill.
“Boom Boom” merely needs several tune-up bouts against a couple conventional fighters to once again get back on track to take over Manny Pacquiao’s throne as the Prince and soon to be King of the Phillipine Islands. Really… it’s that simple.
“Pantera” looks to be making a return to the sweet science by campaigning at 168 pounds. How about a fight with Omar Sheika early next year? With Miranda’s story and raw punching power, he’ll always be a must see type fighter due to the explosiveness of his fights.
“The Previously Most Avoided Fighter on the Planet” in Antonio Margarito is looking to regain his title from the now “Most Avoided Fighter on Earth” Paul Williams. There seems to be no immediate rematch in the works and the rumors are that Margarito might possibly facing Zab Judah in November. These are rumors so don’t go blowing a gasket if the fight doesn’t come to fruition. “Tony” is one of those hard-nosed fighters that just needs one bounce back fight to once again reclaim his throne as an avoided welterweight monster.
Speaking of stories, there is no story within boxing that even comes close to that of Kassim “The Dream” Ouma. A lot of fighters like to talk about the war stories of growing up poor or in a violent environment. I’m sorry but it probably seems like Candyland in comparison to the childhood of this Ugandan warrior. After suffering a tough loss to current undisputed middleweight champion Jermain Taylor, Kassim will be looking to get back in the win column against Contender fighter Sergio “Latin Snake” Mora. I for one see Kassim in several interesting match-ups involving Kelly Pavlik, Vernon Forrest, or even Antonio Margarito down the line.
It’s much too quick to write-off any of these young guns due to the fact that they are indeed… young. I was going to mention veteran fighter Jose Luis Castillo along with this bunch but decided against it due to his advancing age although I do feel that it’s unfair to label him as “done”. Boxing is a tough sport, probably the toughest in the world to master so to unfairly write some of these young guys off as they go through the bumps and bruises in a career of the sweet science is a bit much don’t you think?
PS. I’d like to welcome our fellow hater Ricardo “Ghout” Lois back from the dead. He has been missing in action as of late and his always amusing distaste for the world hasn’t subsided just yet. I’d like to wish him a speedy recovery as he fainted in his favorite local organic grocery store when finding that they no longer carried his favorite vegetables (true story). I guess it’s time for our resident homeowner to toughen up when he’s so quick to criticize everyone in the fight industry and can’t stand the KO power of making the 230 pound weight limit.
