ESPN's card started out predictably poor for anyone who had access to boxrec.com beforehand. A 6'0 young gun prospect in the welterweight division, Erickson Lubin, had what can only be described as a waste of time for all involved, in the respect of honest competitive experience. It was no fault of his either. His opponent? Roberto Acevedo-a man who has been disqualified three different times as a professional. Including twice in a row for fouling and holding. "Obviously, Acevedo, I'm going to guess, never intended to find a way here tonight." Teddy Atlas said. While I don't know what happened, my suspicion is that Teddy is right. It was a sour opener to the show and one which was almost expected. I like that they give very young prospects a spot as they're building their careers with lower level opponents for experience. That's fine. Being able to see a potential future star as he's developing is part of what makes watching ESPN worthwhile, because it takes up so much of their coverage. But when you've got a guy with the background Acevedo has, I don't know why you'd televise him.
ESPN begged to get burned here and they did. There is certainly a reason why you do not see a lot of "RTD1" outcomes. Someone retiring immediately after the first round in their corner is a sad, sad thing. I've either forgotten about or have never seen Roberto Acevedo. I don't know which, if I'm honest. Now, I am usually the last person to jump in and criticize a fighter for anything "heart'' related. Not because I believe the cliche about all men stepping into the ring having to be brave (I don't), but more that I think it's most common when a fighter doesn't continue in a match that he usually has a perfectly fair reason, even if it isn't readily apparent. Because of that, because sometimes you will not have a clue what they're going through (and never find out, often enough), I rarely think to criticize "heart". For all I know someone is severely impaired and understandably knows there's little point in continuing. But no matter what really happened last night on the overall decent ESPN boxing card, Acevedo left the impression that he never intended on honestly competing at all.
Again, that's not a judgment on him. I don't know what really happened and do not claim to. His hand could have broken in that very first round against a man he'd have gone from underdog against to punching bag against. I don't know. I'm sure the rare first-round penalty inflicted by the referee did not help if he had gone in with honest intentions. But the impression I got, and a lot of fans watching, Acevedo's history helping the case, makes me think we had a guy who showed up for a paycheck he never intended to earn. It was assumed to be a "prospect vs opponent" match but that doesn't mean the opponent is expected to give a no-try-effort. Which is what it looked to be. It came off as the opposite of what makes boxing great. After this very poor show, I watched Norberto Gonzalez and Roberto Garcia give each other their best stuff for ten hard rounds. This made Acevedo's one-round performance, where he was penalized for holding, that much worse by contrast.
No matter what happened or what the cause of this outcome was, there is no reason for ESPN or anyone else to touch this guy, even if it is only as "the opponent". Even if he is misrepresented by the general impression we're left with (entirely possible), a 3 DQ and 1 RTD1 history makes an untouchable fighter for television, I would think. Lubin did his job, looked pretty good for what little he had the chance to do and I'd like to see him back soon. I feel sorry for him, in a way, because sometimes, in this sport, an easy night can actually be worse for you than a tough one. In some ways.
Work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing
No comments:
Post a Comment