Columbia's one punch wonders. Can they take it to the next level?
Blog by Javier Reyes (bodysnatcher) - If boxing
has taught us anything in the past few years its that if you have an up and
coming prospect you better keep him away from Columbian punchers.
Julio Diaz
had to get off the canvas to overcome the game Dario Eselas when Diaz was still
an undefeated prospect. Tokunbo Olajide and Rubin "Mr. Hollywood"
Williams had the title of up and coming prospects snatched from them by the
hard punching Epifanio Mendoza. Fulgecio Zuniga gave a young Kelly Pavlik a
good scare when he put him on the canvas. Miguel Cotto had a memorable bout
with a then unknown Ricardo Torres. Joshua Clottey got a stiff test when he was
matched with Richard Gutierrez. Arthur
Abraham's face looked like something out of a horror film after having to face
the hard punching Edison Miranda. Joel Julio had Dan Rafael fall in love with
his style and name him prospect of the year after terrorizing the welterweight
division. Last year we got to see Cesar Canchila take away the 0 from Giovanni
Segura's record and Breidis Prescott demolish Amir Kahn in a matter of seconds.
For all the
momentum these fighters received during these fights it seems like they have
not been able to capitalize on it.
Dario
Eselas was stopped in the 4th round of his bout with Diaz and from then on became
nothing more than a journeyman. Epifanio Mendoza became nothing more than a
good test for young fighters. Fulgencio Zuniga was also stopped in his fight
with Pavlik and after rebounding with several wins he was badly outclassed when
he stepped up against Lucian Bute. Ricardo Torres continues to prove that his
fight with Cotto was his shinning moment; getting a controversial decision
against Mike Arnaoutis (a fight in which he was badly dropped and I felt he
lost), getting a controversial stoppage against Kendall Holt, then getting
brutally stopped by Holt in the rematch (which also had a bit of
controversy). Richard Gutierrez lost his
bout with Josha Clottey, was stopped by Alfredo Angulo and had since been upset
by Antwone Smith. Edison Miranda lost his controversial bout with Arthur
Abraham, was brutally stopped by Kelly Pavlik and Abraham in the rematch and
was recently outclassed by Andre Ward, putting and end to his status as a top
name in the Super Middleweight division. Joel Julio's momentum was derailed
when Carlos Quintana exposed his flaws for the world to see on HBO and Joel has
gone 0-2 in his last two bouts; in losing by decision against Sergiy Dzinziruk
and getting stopped by James Kirkland. Cesar Canhilia suffered the same faith
when he was stopped by Giovanni Segura in their rematch.
Is it bad luck?
The latest
victim has been Breidis Prescott, who tried to capitalize on his victory over
Amir Kahn (see video on the left).
Prescott
followed that victory with an unimpressive DQ win against Humberto Toledo,
before suffering his first loss this past recently against Miguel Vazquez. Call
it bad luck, maybe a lack of amateur experience, a lack of better trainers, but
it seems like this is the faith of most of these Columbian punchers. They look
fantastic upsetting prospect, only to be victims of the same fate.
Can they reach the next
level?
It seems
like these Columbian fighters are on the brink of reaching the next level, they
have the tools, they're usually long, lanky and can punch with the best of
them, they just need that extra bit that helps top names reach the top and stay
at the top. Maybe
Prescott
can find that in the future, maybe he can get back to the drawing board, but
for right now it seems like he's following the foot steps of some of his
Columbian predecessors.
It's not
all bad news for Columbian fighters, Yonnhy Perez recently stopped Silence
Mabuza (who had a couple of great bouts with Rafa Marquez), in Mabuza's back
yard to claim a Bantamweight title; now we just have to wait and see if he can
follow up on his momentum.
I heard
from more than one person that Miguel Vazquez was a live dog against Prescott,
but how about Sergio Mora during the FNF telecast going in there early in the
bout and predicting the big upset. He knew Vazquez, knew what he was capable of
and belived in him. This is the first Vazquez fight I've seen and he reminded
me a lot of Oscar "Chololo" Larios, a guy who was not great at one
thing but very good at several. Larios never became the name Barrera, Morales
or even Rafael Marquez or Israle Vazquez became, but he was good enough to stop
Vazquez in their second bout. At just 22 years of age Miguel Vazquez seems to
have a bright career if he can stay at lightweight.
Editors note: This blog was
submitted by a registered user of this site. If you would like to submit one, click the “Write For Us” menu at the
top. All submissions will be listed in
your profile.
Nice informative article, bodysnatcher. I think that the Colombians have mucho potential. Maybe lack of early world class experience is part of the problem. But good article.
Good article Body. Enlightened me on that one, I never really thought about it but its definately factual. It I had to take a guess I think it might be lack of amatuer experience. FOr some reason they all know how to punch which makes them tough opponebts but if they could get the proper trtaining and more experience fighting top-notch guys maybe you'll see one take it to the next level by winning the big fight. Great article.
I've seen on Showtime before, a list of Colombo KO artists, it showed all their records and names, and I was thinking, damn, all them colombians are punchers, but when I looked down the list of names, I noticed that none of them turned out to be anything out of the ordinary.
mm harold grey colombian in the featherweight div he had a very nice style back in 95. Abount prescot, he was in the wrong fight trying to catch vasquez dude with tito trinidad's style like hooks, but vasquez had some skills. No punch but pure boxing skills. btw great article, somebody should do the same but for Cuban fighters there seems to be quite a few pospects out there, well at least they got it good with ESPN cus they'd be fighting there every weekend .
The funny thing is that I didn't really do research. It was just so noticable for me, b/c I watched everyone of these fights and I got to see them fail right after their shinning moment. If I had to guess(which is all I can do) I would say is b/c of lack of amateur experience and the lack of better technique(which I guess would go back to trainers). All of these guys have a plan A(destroy) and once that doesn't happen they're usually in trouble.
I hate to admitt it been colombian my self, but yes your almost right, one thing your missing is that they come from poverty very poor people with 0 oportunities of anything in their lives and once they make a paychek they go crazy and cant wait to go back to colombia and act wild, others dont have ambision and after winning a championchip and buying a house they are happy and set, they loose the hungryness. My Theory is if you take a good young colombian boxer with a good amateur background not too many professional fight 5-10 and very hungry and you lock him with a freedie roach from the start, you give him a life in the US and educate him not only in boxing but also on becoming a good man. The result will be a bad mu###a, a monster with tools, strenght, boxing kmowledge, life knowledge (very important for colombians)and ambision. A sure winner and champion.
In this photo taken Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012, Sadaf Rahimi, an Afghan woman boxer, practices at a boxing club in Kabul, Afghanistan. As one of the first women to ever box in the Olympics, besides going after a medal in the boxing ring at the London Olympics, Sadaf Rahimi will be taking a few punches in the fight for equal rights for Afghan women.
. 
