Boxers begin their profession believing that they will eventually win a major championship belt one day, so they hope.
No one ever go into the profession thinking or believing that they will have a mediocre or have a losing record.
Some boxers start off with such a record, but cling to the hope that their skill and luck will change. More often than
not their luck does not change. So many like the Ultimate Fighting Championships’ (UFC) President Dana White, quit and
tried another profession often with better results.
But there are many fighters that remain in boxing because they love to fight or they feel they were born to fight. For
some reason, fighting is as easy as breathing to them and they cannot get away from the game, but they continue to lose.
The professional loser has been a part of boxing since the sport’s beginning. Some of these men and women know that
they will never make it to the big time, but they love the culture of boxing and all it has to offer.
As you stay in the fight game, eventually you will run into these people in the boxing gyms. They usually know everything
about boxing. They have fought everywhere from New York City to Japan. They will know every promoter, sponsor, matchmaker
and fighter throughout the world. They are the professional loser!
What is quietly kept about these people is that they are very valuable to the profession. They are the unknown soldiers
to the boxing profession. The ever so ready fillers of our game.
These noble pros are not frowned upon by the promoters and match makers of the world, but are necessity.
I have written on this site about professional fighters who only fight in four round or six round bouts and they are not
going to go any farther in this sport. They use professional boxing or mixed martial arts as a tool to earn more money as
something they love. They will not try to go any higher in the fight hierarchy. They are happy to be professional preliminary
fighters. One obvious advantage is they are getting paid, but also they get to see the top fighters in the world perform.
The fighters often go to nice hotels, resorts and casinos. Sometimes but not often, they may get a chance to take a family
member with them.
Often when two unknown fighters get matched up, they put on a show which is better than the main event. Some of these warriors
eventually became so experience as preliminary fighters, fillers, etc. That they are feared by fight trainers because they
occasionally whip the featured fighter. Losing to an unknown or a guy with a bad record can be devastating to a main event
fighter’s pocket. It could make the main event fighter’s pocket lighter for months.
The professional loser has a lot of skill that the promoter or matchmaker like. The fighter is chosen for a fighter according
to his or her skill or characteristics.
There are fighters who:
There are the light punchers but skillful in the ring, the featured fighter will not get hurt, but the decision
will go to him.
There are the swellers, guys who get hit, their face swells up as big as a watermelon giving the effect that the
featured fighter is a fantastic puncher.
The bleeder, the fighter that the matchmaker, promoter and main event fighter know when and where to land a devastating
blow. So that the guy bleeds from one round to the other, giving the judges the idea that the audience’s hero can really
punch. Leaving no doubt where the decision may go.
Then there is the guy with all the skill in the world. The threat! Sometimes he will come into an arena and look
more impressive than the main event fighter. Often times, he is selected just to make the main event fighter get some work
or make him think. The audience just sit back and wonders why this guy has never received a break to fight for a championship.
These guys will tell you, but most often they don’t tell you about their backgrounds. But if asked about why he is not
fighting in the big time, you will find out the fighter owns an engineering firm, a landscaping company, a restaurant, medical
practice, etc. He or she is out to make some quick cash, travel free and fighting motivates them to stay in shape, so they
are not going to lose what they have built for a career in boxing
Then there is the fighter who is not thinking of winning at all, the drifter, but is in the gym daily and knows
he is going to get a job sooner than later. He stays in the gym for a couple of hours a day has no other job or works part
time but knows everyone in the business. This guy is ready to go at a moments notice and his cell phone is his best friend.
The overweight heavyweight. This guy is ready when called. He does a minimum workout in the gym. Spend more time telling
war stories of who he fought and who everyone else had fought. He does well on the light bags but gets as winded as a tornado
when he is confronted by a heavy bag. Does about ten sit ups a day and does the jump rope when the mood hits him. He keeps
everyone laughing in the gym and orders Chinese take out at the end of his workouts. This guy fights everywhere from Richmond,
Va. to London, England. He will not give you no more than five rounds and the fighter pounds him every round and the fat on
his body jiggles like Jello after every punch. The audience will have to worry about getting soaked because fat boy when hit,
his sweat usually will rain on the front three rows and he will get knocked out by the third to fifth round. Falling to the
canvas like a gelatin laden beached whale.
The actor. This guy is a stone up loser. He is in it only for the money. His record is so lousy that the promoters
don’t want to mention it anymore. The announcers will announce his record as anything that the promoter gives him.
He has a wide assortment of losing antics and the matchmaker or promoter can take their pick. The knockout with one
minute into the round. The solid punch to the gut and he drops to his knees and can’t continue. The flurry to the face
and the guy fall forward as stiff as an ironing board but his face doesn’t hit the canvas. He bents forward and takes
a solid uppercut to the chin and fly through the ropes on to the scorers table like Superman. Knocking down time clocks, pens,
papers and falling to the floor. If you are in the front five rows, you can see him get grazed by a hook to the face and like
a bad stuntman, he goes flying back on his back onto the canvas with his feet in the air pretending to be out. This guy is
a crooked promoters dream.
The runner. This is a fight audience nightmare. The loser who gets on his bike and is capable of throwing pitty-pat
punches for 4 to 10 rounds, while running the whole fight. Match makers and promoters love this guy. The featured fighters
can work on chasing and cornering this type of opponent. He won’t hit hard enough to hurt anyone because he is never
planted long enough to throw a solid punch. Once the hardcore fan see what kind of fighter this guy is. They will go to the
concession stands for more beer and popcorn. Boos are no stranger to this boxer. He is in superior shape. This fighter always
find work. What’s funky, if you get two runners in a bout together. A match makers nightmare. These guys will just run
and play tag the whole night. The audience will hit the concession stand for one reason. To throw the beer and popcorn into
the ring.
The clincher. This guy is usually the most physically dominating athlete in boxing, but unfortunately he is in the
wrong sport. He should be in mixed martial arts or Greco Roman wrestling. He is another fighter which the audience can’t
stand. He just clinch, wrestle and blows snot out of his nose from four to ten rounds and he knows three things; he will not
get hurt, he will not hurt his opponent and he will get paid. Between the clincher and the runner, I did a poll some years
ago and the audience said they will take the runner each time. They figured at least there is some action. Its like being
asked, “Where would you like, to get shot, in the hand or the foot?” You will recover from a gun shot wound to
the hand much quicker, but both are agonizing! The clincher does have his place because all great fighters have to learn how
to fight in a clinch and how to get out of one. I always pray not to have two clinchers at a boxing bout together. It is just
like watching two garden slugs fight!
Yes, these are examples of boxers who are professional losers, but I guess the list does not end here. Remember these guys
are pros, a different breed that no one ever mentions. They are the unsung heros of boxing. Without them, a lot of so called
good boxers will not be have the trumped up records that they have. The boxers without the big winning records and endorsements
will never learn their craft.
But don’t laugh, boxing has been good to a lot of them. Some fighters with losing, questionable or no record are
making enough money to live. Some are making $10, 000 to over $100,000 yearly. Which show their importance to the game.
Just like the stock market and real estate. You can win and get paid and lose and get paid!
