Ares Fight Night VII, this Friday 12/13, features an anticipated bout between two undefeated up and comers.
A recent post from Ring Magazine‘s Michael Rivest over on his Boxing in the Capital Region blog for the Times Union highlights an undrecard fight occurring on Ares promotion’s December 16th event.
The fight features two very strong new fighters, Javy Martinez and Ray Velez. Both fighters are fast, strong, and potential contenders down the line. They also share intriguing stories on their roads to the ring, and on top of that carry boatloads of charisma. They’re a local promoter’s dream.
And both are undefeated, which is causing ire amongst spectators and observers in and around the area.
The argument goes that it’s foolish, bordering on reckless, to match up two undefeated prospects so early in their careers. Yet when approached by Rivest to address the issue, Velez was refreshingly dismissive of not just the suggestion, but also the philosophy behind it.
From Rivest’s blog:
“My record’s very important,” Ray told me a few weeks ago, “but not if it’s easily gotten and padded. I’ll take the 3-0, but not if it’s just handed to me.”
Yep. And this is going to be key for boxing’s sustainability over the next couple decades.
Casual fans and the mainstream have caught on to the fact that records are numbers that don’t mean anything if there isn’t meat behind them. Don’t get me wrong: an undefeated fighter is still an easier sell than one with something other than 0 on the right. But as fans have easier access than ever (thanks to the internet) to things like fighter histories and statistics, it’s exposing all of the empty undefeateds that hover around the sport and get fed tomato cans to further pad their record.
Boxing’s still not in any financial trouble, per se, but the next ten or so years are going to be interesting. I know people will dismiss this out of hand as my inherent MMA bias, but one of the big things the UFC has changed about combat sports as a whole (other than the idea that you have to start building brands and put on strong cards rather than try to just sell one fight) is that a guy is only as good as his recent opponents.
Older boxing fans look at a guy like Randy Couture and dismiss him because he’s, what, 19-11? But MMA fans look at Randy as one of, if not the, single greatest fighter of all time. What’s the difference? Simple: the quality of competition. Because it’s such a young sport, MMA has the benefit of sites like Sherdog amongst others that serve as not just a site for news, rumors, and speculation, but also have actively documented almost literally every single professional fight and fighter that has occurred. While other sports like boxing have stumbled into the digital realm and are still playing catch-up, MMA hit its stride in the Internet era. The end result is a fanbase that is much more plugged in to what their fighters have done and what they’re up to. In particular, MMA fans know of Couture and they know, from looking at his record, that with only a couple minor exceptions he has fought a Top 10 (in most cases Top 5) fighter every time he’s stepped in the cage. That makes that 19-11 record seem not just a misnomer, but still impressive given the quality of competition.
While other factors are at play, such as Couture’s age and longetivity, it’s clear that MMA fans don’t take anything from a fighter’s record if there isn’t anything or anyone substantial behind it. Boxing’s not at that point yet, but as indicated by fighters like Ray Velez and Javy Martinez, it’s slowly but surely going to get there.