By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Correspondent
So it seems in recent memory too many of the rising prospects and contenders have wound up fighting in mismatches to the extent one of the two combatants could get seriously hurt. This goes beyond the referee’s scope of concern to the point where it pays for professional boxing referees to study the records of the boxers before coming into a card to referee.
After watching Fortuna knock out Zamudio in the first round of a world title bout in Atlantic City which I was covering in the casinos, there was a greater sense of depth perception that truly talented fighters, either on the way up, or already there, can be hard to match. In fact, the only hope some solid prospects really have of getting a few rounds in is when some of those take-a-fight make-a-fight type fighters show up for a paycheck. Even then, some of the first and second round endings witnessed in New York City and Atlantic City have been particularly brutal.
No doubt, safety remains an all-around concern at ringside.
This afternoon, I scrolled down on the BoxRec results page found online at
http://boxrec.com/results.php and I counted 52 first and second round knockouts reported between: May 9, 2013, in Cilandak, Indonesia, where 7-0-1 flyweight Espinos Sabu knocked out Kaenpetch Sithpoopetch in the first round; and Saturday, May 11, 2013, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where 13-0 cruiserweight Ruben Angel Mino stopped debuting Damian Vargas in the second round.
This being the case, it is clear that the majority of safety concerns are not occurring in America and Europe but in lesser known lower profile boxing venues. Things can go wrong anywhere, but beyond a certain point, a reporter has to take a real hard look at where these mismatch results are coming from and why. Clearly the matchmakers of the third world and parts unknown have less of apriority of the abilities of the combatants than they do signing near corpses to fight on the card.
True, sometimes American fighters go to places like the Dominican Republic, Columbia and Mexico to pick up an easy win and then fly back to the states. In that case, one can read between the BoxRec lines. Overall, though, there are too many mismatches out there, and in the pursuit of padded records I would still advise promoters and boxing commissioners and referees out there to have a full contingency of qualified medical personnel at ringside because of it. For even under the best of circumstances, things go wrong. Mismatches provide fertile grounds for injury and tragedy, and matchmakers should look beyond padded records, padding records and last minute opponents and do the right thing, even under the most difficult of matchmaking circumstances. To that end, matchmaking boxing and Mixed Martial Arts is an art, no doubt. For some it is a risky portrait to complete
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