It was a tough weekend for the youth of boxing as Juan Diaz, Daniel Jacobs and Donovan George were all soundly defeated. Can they be rebuilt and more importantly can these men still become the future stars of the sport? 411’s Joe Roche examines?
I’m taking a break from my weekly scheduled Media Manny bashing to raise a question to you the loyal people who wish harm upon me each week.
Am I crazy to think that something bad happened in boxing this past weekend?
On Friday Night Donovan “Da Bomb” George (20-1, 17 KO), the highly touted 25 year old super middleweight prospect was beaten from pillar to post by virtually unknown 22 year old Francisco Sierra (22-3, 20 KO).
On Saturday night Daniel “The Golden Child” Jacobs (20-1, 17 KO) who was arguably the most hyped prospect in all of boxing (and almost the consensus #1 prospect of the year in 2009) was beaten handily, and relatively easily by 30 year old Dmitry Pirog (17-0, 14 KO) who most in boxing couldn’t pick out of a lineup of three people prior to Saturday night.
Also on Saturday night 26 year old Juan Diaz (35-4, 17 KO) spent twelve rounds being handily abused by a 36 year old Juan Manuel Marquez (50-5-1, 37 KO) who himself was coming off one of the most lopsided decisions that I can ever remember in boxing. For Diaz the decline didn’t start on Saturday and most likely his career as an elite (or even semi-elite) fighter has ended, but the truth remains the same ? a young, (at one time) marketable star, was handily defeated by an aging veteran who has reached the point in his career where he wants one fight and one fight alone. Not exactly the type of outcome that you’re looking for as we build a bridge to the future of the sweet science.
I don’t mean to suggest that Juan Manuel Marquez is not a wonderful attraction and a great champion because he is surely both of those things. However, my point in this diatribe is that boxing today needs new stars, and certain promotional companies have sunk a lot of money into certain “stars of the future” only to have those returns diminished in recent days.
Can fighters make a comeback from a debilitating loss? Of course. Amir Khan was knocked into next week in short order once and he rebounded to become a champion at 140 pounds, and possibly the most highly touted champion at 140 pounds. However, Daniel Jacobs and Donovan George will not require rebuilding, and many fans will look at them different for the rest of their career. Highly touted prospects, who build their resumes against nobodies and then struggle mightly and/or get beaten in their first real test have a difficult time coming back 100%. Actually there is something to be said about George’s loss in that he may not have even lost to a top competitor ? his road to redemption will be even longer than that of Jacobs, who at least had the benefit of losing in an HBO PPV co-feature to a fighter who nobody had seen before (but everyone was impressed with).
Let us not forget that recently Ishe Smith, he of 32 years, and no significant victories since he beat Randall Bailey in 2004 (sorry Pawel Wolack, another candidate for disappointing prospect of the decade), recently went the distance with the highly touted Fernando Guerrero, even knocking down the feared middleweight.
And the fun/speculation doesn’t stop there because this weekend the light heavyweight division gets in on the fun when Glen “The Road Warrior” Johnson attempts to capture the IBF light heavyweight title from Tavoris Cloud. Now don’t get me wrong, Johnson is easily the nicest man in boxing (maybe not easily but find me someone who has a bad word to say about him), and I think it’d be a great story if he could capture the IBF version of the light heavyweight title after taking on Yusaf Mack for very little money in a qualifier. However, good vibrations aside (and all apologies to Mark Wahlberg, “The Other Guys” out this week) it would be a disaster for the light heavyweight division if Cloud were to lose to Johnson on Saturday night in St. Louis.
This is the potential problem facing boxing right now ? the marketable stars, the ones who have helped bring some revitalization to the sweet science are relatively older gentlemen, and the crop of young fighters is diminishing by the moment. I understand that prospects only hit once every hundred times, but to see guys with the hype machine like Jacobs, Guerrero, and George go down (or almost go down) in successive weeks shines a light on the problem.
– Remember me?
Frankly I don’t have a solution ? which makes this entire column an exercise in futility however I think it’s an interesting problem. Outside of Andre Ward, a fighter with a Showtime contract that HBO spent a good deal of time on Saturday night hyping up, are there any truly marketable American prospects out there? Obviously I am biased when I say that Edwin Rodriguez has the opportunity to break through, especially in light of what I imagine will be the end of filming on his movie ? the release of which should (in all likelihood) provide a PR bump for “La Bomba.” I think Top Rank hopes JuanMa Lopez becomes a future star, and there is a cavalcade of young Filipino fighters who would love to slot themselves into the Manny Pacquiao position in the future. I also think there is a chance for guys like Chad Dawson, Tavoris Cloud, Devon Alexander and Timothy Bradley to position themselves into a spot to be big money draws in the future.
The key is that boxing, the organizations within the sport, and the people behind the scenes need to do a better job of building these guys up. No more cupcake schedules, no more coddling potential stars, or giving guys the world before they’ve earned it. It’s time to build some legitimate stars, not momentary flashes of brilliance. I want boxing to step into the next generation and the only way that can happen is if the sport doesn’t fall into a hole like the one they’ve just finished digging themselves out of.
Once Pacquiao and Mayweather actually meet in the ring, boxing will need to fill a void. Devon Alexander ? Timothy Bradley and/or Tavoris Cloud ? Chad Dawson should be fights that would slot into that empty vacuum but someone has fallen asleep at the wheel, become content to fill their bellies on the food that is already on the table and forgotten to go to the grocery store to restock the cabinets for a rainy day.
Well the rainy day is coming ? and the food is starting to spoil.
