Jermain Taylor. Andre Berto. Paul Williams. Adrien Broner. These
fighters have a number of commonalities. All were managed and/or advised by
influential power broker Al Haymon. They received a big push by premium cable
prior to winning their first titles. Initially, all four had relatively
inexperienced head trainers in pro boxing (Pat Burns, Tony Morgan, George
Peterson and Mike Stafford, respectively). And all didn't fully live up to
their respective hype. This isn't to say that they were failures in boxing. All
had their moments, but, to be candid, more was expected from them. None met their initial expectations.
Williams lost in his first defense to unheralded Carlos Quintana. Berto
couldn't overcome Victor Ortiz's power punching. Broner bit off more than he
could chew at welterweight against Marcos Maidana and from my vantage point
Taylor shouldn't have even won his title (I had him losing both fights to Bernard
Hopkins and dropping a decision in his next fight to Winky Wright.) He would
soon lose to Kelly Pavlik.
This recent history is instructive because Haymon now represents
another fighter, Errol Spence, who is on the cusp of stardom in the sport. And important questions need to be asked, especially when considering the
shortcomings of the fighters listed above: Has Spence been developed enough? Is
he ready to win a belt and even if so, is he prepared to have a dominant title
run?
Spence, 26, is 20-0 and has 17 knockouts in the welterweight
division. In his last outing, he thoroughly dominated former 140-lb.
titleholder Chris Algieri in the first big headlining slot of his
career. He is next scheduled to fight in an IBF eliminator, likely against
light-hitting Leonard Bundu, a 41-year-old who didn't win a single second
against Keith Thurman in 2014. Should Spence beat Bundu, he's in line to fight
for Kell Brook's title.
There's a lot to like about Spence. A southpaw, he has a
devastating right hook to the body and is an impressive power puncher. He works
off his jab beautifully. His poise in the ring far belies his professional
experience. A 2012 Olympian for the United States, he was viewed as having the
best pro style from that team and to this point he has passed his initial tests with flying colors.
However, all of the fighters above looked like elite talents prior
to their first title runs. Taylor had one of the best jabs in the sport and a
punishing right hand. Berto was an imposing boxer-puncher. Williams had a
unique combination of size, reach and punch volume. Broner's mixture of punch
placement, athleticism and defense drew comparisons to Floyd Mayweather. Yet,
once they become titleholders, many of these plusses faded away in the ring.
Taylor proved to be gun shy in the late rounds and had endurance issues. Berto
stopped boxing and loaded up on big shots. Williams never seemed to have a Plan
B in the ring and was perplexed by movement. Broner's punch volume dropped
significantly against better opposition and his defense proved to be far more
porous than previously thought.
At this point, it's instructive to remember that Haymon has a
manager's background in boxing and not that of a promoter. His job is to get
his fighters title shots and seven-figure paydays. Whereas, good promoters look
at their boxers just a little differently. Their goal is to maximize assets.
They want their signed fighters to be as good as possible for as long as
possible. Often paying their boxers significant minimum fees, they want to see
returns on their investments. In order to create the most eyeballs for their
product, they need their top fighters to keep winning against a high level of opposition, and to look good in the process.
There's always a push-pull between promoters and managers. A
respected manager, like Cameron Dunkin, understands the long game of boxing
development. He has the experience to know that there's nothing more important
than carefully cultivating his fighters' development. Working with
experienced outfits such as Top Rank, Dunkin appreciates the often laborious
process of growing his fighters to the point where they can get the best out of
their abilities. That doesn't mean that a Dunkin will always agree with a Bob
Arum per se, but they've had a very productive working relationship.
Haymon has cut out the role of the promoter. He has a band of
promoters that he uses for specific fights (Lou DiBella, Leon Margules, etc.) but very few
of his top fighters have long-term promotional agreements. And while I'm sure
that DiBella and many others with strong industry knowledge are consulted on
the development of Haymon's fighters, the lack of a strong, experienced
promoter who has veto power over a manager can harm a fighter's career path. No promoter
has final say over Haymon. No one other than Haymon can put the brakes on a
prospect that isn't quite ready for the bright lights. Even a step down,
there are no Bruce Tramplers, Brad Goodmans (both from Top Rank) or Robert
Diazes (from Golden Boy), all expert matchmakers, working with
Haymon. These matchmakers are responsible at their respective companies for ensuring that their fighters see a
mixture of styles during their development.
Spence could very well fight Brook without ever having faced even
a moderate puncher in the ring. Shouldn't Haymon want to know if his young gun
can take a shot? Wouldn't that information be very important in steering
Spence's subsequent career?
This isn't to say that Haymon has failed to develop any of his
fighters. Keith Thurman certainly surpassed expectations on his way to becoming
a titleholder. More than a few influential boxing writers laughed at Haymon
when he initially put Thurman on HBO yet Thurman to this point has thrived in
his career and demonstrated significant star power. Danny Garcia faced a number
of credible fighters before his first title shot. Sammy Vasquez has been moved
very well as he climbs the ladder in the welterweight division. Robert Easter
Jr. is moving up the lightweight ranks pretty quickly but is taking on good
opposition.
However, the developmental track records of others in the Haymon
stable have been spottier. Gary Russell Jr. was thrown into a title shot against
Vasyl Lomachenko without having any tough opponents earlier in his career.
Deontay Wilder and Rau'shee Warren have the same story.
Developing fighters is an art not a science. One really never
knows when a fighter is prepared to face the best in the sport. Andre Ward
fought a very weak slate of opposition prior to taking on Mikkel Kessler.
However, Ward dominated that fight and has proved to be one of the best in the
sport. Kell Brook's development was poor and yet he successfully dispatched
Shawn Porter to win a title (it's still unclear if Brook will be hurt by his
poor opposition). Kelly Pavlik wasn't a heralded prospect but when the time
came to fight hard-hitting Edison Miranda, he prevailed and had a decent run at
middleweight.
There are often intangible factors that separate good fighters
from great ones. It could be work-ethic, self-belief, intelligence or ring IQ.
These attributes might not manifest until they are needed in the ring against
good opposition. In addition, a fighter's team can help a young fighter pull
out a victory over a tough foe. I'm sure that having Dan Birmingham in his
corner has helped Thurman's poise and confidence in the ring.
Derrick James, Spence's trainer, is another relatively
inexperienced professional coach at the top levels of the sport. That is not
necessarily a negative for Spence. Virgil Hunter didn't have a professional
pedigree prior to Andre Ward. Angel Garcia has proven to be a very adept
cornerman. And all trainers have to start somewhere. However, are they the
exceptions? What else has Morgan, Burns and Peterson done as professional
trainers? Mike Stafford seems to have a budding stable of impressive fighters
but he hasn't yet gotten any of them to the truly elite level. Even going back
to Pavlik, Jack Loew seemed completely outclassed by Bernard Hopkins and his
team and had a woefully underprepared corner against Sergio Martinez (their
cutman may have lost them the fight). We haven't heard much from Loew recently, have we?
Who knows if Spence (and his team) possesses the intangibles
to rise to the top level? But even more fundamentally, do we even
know enough about Spence's defense or recuperative powers? Spence may yet
become one of the top talents in the sport. He could be a truly special.
However, from my vantage point, not enough has been done in his development to
start answering some of these questions. Perhaps he's the next Ward and his
greatness will fully manifest against other top foes. But there's a weigh
station full of fighters in Spence's stable that failed to make a similar leap.
Were they fully prepared to win and defend a title? Had they faced enough
duress in their development? Were their teams professional enough to run strong training camps and make incisive decisions in the corner?
Most likely, Haymon will get Spence his title shot within the
year. He wants his fighter to start making real money. And all boxers want the
title and its accompanying remunerations. But with over a decade in the sport,
Haymon has yet to develop a strong record at building elite fighters. He's
great at getting title shots, working the sanctioning bodies and putting his
best on TV but that next step has more often than not eluded him in the sport.
Perhaps this isn't his main concern. When Spence gets his million dollar check,
he won't be too concerned with whether he faced the right opponents on his way
up.
Spence's scenario is a real dilemma in the sport. His prime is
now. 26-year-olds win titles all the time. He isn't too raw for world-level
fighters. I'm sure that many boxing enthusiasts would like to see him pushed to
the top rungs of the welterweight division. However, for those most interested
in greatness in the ring, will Spence's weak opposition hurt him as he starts
to face better fighters? Would he be better off getting two or three more
bouts before his title shot? Does he still need to mature in the ring?
Unfortunately, there's no right answer. Great fighters come from
all backgrounds and levels of experience. Some had shiny amateur careers.
Many had shaky outings early in their development. Others needed to lose
before they learned what it took to become elite. A few had a straight line to
greatness once they laced up their gloves. There's no one resume for greatness.
Nobody knows with 100% certainly when to pull the trigger on a prized young
prospect. But in this instance, it would be more comforting to know that the
people holding the gun were noted marksmen.
Adam Abramowitz is the head writer and founder of saturdaynightboxing.com.
Adam Abramowitz is the head writer and founder of saturdaynightboxing.com.
He is also a member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.
@snboxing on twitter, SN Boxing on Facebook
Contact Adam at saturdaynightboxing@hotmail.com
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