Thread: Why "No Love" for Tarvis Simms?

As a boxing fan I like guys who "bring it" every time out, as I sure most on this site do as well. Tarvis Simms (twin brother of Travis Simms) seems to be a fighter that does just that. In his last fight he gave Allan Green all he could handle after taking the fight on 5 days notice! While probably not the best business decision it was a "fighters decision" which I can respect. With a great amateur background, an entertaining style, and a pretty cool "twin brother" story, why can't this guy get a fight? Seems crazy to me that we are forced to watch mismatches, and re-treads to no end when there is talent right in front of us that deserves a chance. I never really knew of Tarvis Simms until recently when I got to meet him and speak at length. He's a class guy, that is actively looking for fights but being avoided. Just to be clear I have no vested interest($$$) in getting Tarvis Simms fights but I wonder if sites like this can generate enough interest for "overlooked" fighters to get their shot? As real boxing fans don't we owe that to the guys that are carrying the sport we love? What are you're thoughts?

For whatever reason, he's just one of those fighters who doesn't get the exposure he needs. He's never discussed as a legitimate contender and I don't think I've ever seen him on ESPN either (not saying he hasn't been on, just that he hasn't been on regularly enough that he would generate interest). I think if he was regularly fighting opponents on FNF that he would eventually get a shot at a bigger fight.

I have nothing against the guy but I don't think of him as an entertaining fighter, he's old and was insanely inactive for a long time, he doesn't fight on TV that much and while he's a solid enough fighter he's not a serious title contender at the moment. I obviously don't have any interest in seeing him fail but he's just not a guy that's going to stimulate a lot of discussion on a boxing forum for the reasons listed above even if some of them are maybe not all his fault (i.e., I don't know why he was so inactive and I'm sure he'd fight more on TV if he could.)

Originally Posted by CFH

For whatever reason, he's just one of those fighters who doesn't get the exposure he needs. He's never discussed as a legitimate contender and I don't think I've ever seen him on ESPN either (not saying he hasn't been on, just that he hasn't been on regularly enough that he would generate interest). I think if he was regularly fighting opponents on FNF that he would eventually get a shot at a bigger fight.

Spot On CFH (CC), the problem is getting TV time, which seems to be reserved for names regardless of where they are in their career. Although, Simm's last fight was on TNF a loss to Allan Green. Apparently, Peter "kid chocolate" Quillin's people backed out of Simms to fight what they thought was a lay-up in Antwon Echols. So Quillin get's the easy road because he tosses "Hershey Kisses" to the public and squeaks by an ancient fighter like Echols, and Simm's has to take an Allan Green fight on 5 days notice to get TV time...Just seems like we owe these guys better than what they're getting...I'll get off my Soapbox now

His fight with Green stunk, and he has no significant victories.

And he is way to inactive. Maybe he cant get the big dollar fights he wants, but he should still stay active, and move up the rankings of the parasitic alphabet gangs.

Originally Posted by OumaFan

I have nothing against the guy but I don't think of him as an entertaining fighter, he's old and was insanely inactive for a long time, he doesn't fight on TV that much and while he's a solid enough fighter he's not a serious title contender at the moment. I obviously don't have any interest in seeing him fail but he's just not a guy that's going to stimulate a lot of discussion on a boxing forum for the reasons listed above even if some of them are maybe not all his fault (i.e., I don't know why he was so inactive and I'm sure he'd fight more on TV if he could.)

You are absolutely correct in the inactivity observation, problem is how can you be active if no one will take fights? The Allan Green fight showed that he wants to fight, if not why take a fight at that level in 5 days? I don't want to sound like some sort of nuthugger, I just like to see guys get some props and make a bit of $$$ before their time is over. In the heavyweights we see shot slobs taking paydays left and right. Now in the lighter weights we are seeing the same sort of re-treading going on. Our sport is starting to look more like WWE, while MMA is taking knowledgeable fans away and we're left with the equivalent of the cast of "Jersey Shore" at ringside...

Well a lot of his inactivity was earlier in his career, I just remember thinking he was inactive so I looked him up on boxrec and he had 3 stretches of going longer than a year without a fight and one where he went over 2 years without a fight. At that point if he could have been fighting (and I'm not sure what the problem was) he should have been fighting even if it was against journeymen.

Now, he doesn't have much of a choice, he can't wait to hopefully back into a title fight, its just not going to happen. It doesn't help him that he's not considered an action fighter but he would have to take anything at this point, fights against prospects, fights in Europe, etc.

He's 38 years old, doesn't have a fan base, isn't thought of as an exciting fighter, just lost the biggest fight of his career and it wasn't a memorable fight or performance, and is competent enough and unknown enough to be more risk than he's worth to the manager of a prospect. Just saying, he should take what he can get at this point.

Originally Posted by OumaFan

Well a lot of his inactivity was earlier in his career, I just remember thinking he was inactive so I looked him up on boxrec and he had 3 stretches of going longer than a year without a fight and one where he went over 2 years without a fight. At that point if he could have been fighting (and I'm not sure what the problem was) he should have been fighting even if it was against journeymen.

Now, he doesn't have much of a choice, he can't wait to hopefully back into a title fight, its just not going to happen. It doesn't help him that he's not considered an action fighter but he would have to take anything at this point, fights against prospects, fights in Europe, etc.

He's 38 years old, doesn't have a fan base, isn't thought of as an exciting fighter, just lost the biggest fight of his career and it wasn't a memorable fight or performance, and is competent enough and unknown enough to be more risk than he's worth to the manager of a prospect. Just saying, he should take what he can get at this point.

Oumafan, as usual you are right on...Management problems early, on as he was with the same group that Lennox Lewis had legal troubles with...and poor management decisions really hurt him, but based on a very impressive amateur career (196-7), Olympic alternate and taking the time off after being robbed in the Frazier fight (he knocked Frazier down 5 times and was not credited once, worst draw I EVER saw), he hurt his career and is now backed into a corner. The problem is that Star Boxing can't get him any fights; Quillian backed out, and an open challenge to any top 20 fighter has gone unanswered...Do you think at this point there is enough time to build a rep with a "bum of the month" kind of schedule? Just asking because I very much respect you're opinion...

I never buy the "everyone's ducking me" line. If you want to get in the ring and fight, there is someone out there that will oblige you. I remember seeing Simms on TV a few times and looked skilled, but unmotivated he didn't press the action or go for impact just popped a few jabs here and there and let the other guy flail all over the ring. Plus he's almost 40 by now right? Hard to imagine the general public knowing who he is. He's good, but he's not a phenom of a boxer by any stretch. I'm sure he's a nice guy. But if you're waiting until your 40 for your promoter to get you good fights, you're a sucker.

I agree with Lance, he should have been active picking rungs off the alphabet ladders.

Hate to be harsh...but are you serious?He had his big fight,last out vs Green...he lost and looked a weight class or two out of range doing it.How much water weight did he pack on after Quillin opted for,sorry,a bigger threat and name in Echols?Old or not Echols is no easy mark for anyone.Love to shake his hand and sure he's a good guy but he'll never eclipse his brother,to put it mildly.

I think you guys are missing the point of the original post. While the fighter described is Tarvis Simms, a nice guy that I spoke with at length and one of many good fighters that can't get fights. The subject was to be an microcosm of the problem at hand. Today in boxing lesser known fighters can't get their "Rocky" moment, because today's game doesn't have several things that got decent fighters decent shots even 10 years ago. MMA has taken all of the local fight card billing, it's hard to find small venues that are producing anything other than MMA events. In NYC it's near impossible to find any boxing card outside of Roseland in Manhattan. Broadcast TV wants nothing to do with boxing and every time discussions begin promoters and managers screw it up. Big events only want names or "styles" they perceive as exciting so "boxing fans" in general are faced with obvious mismatches or re-treads. You guys are right on with the "lack of activity" comments but the problem is that these fighters no longer have the venues to find fights. Check out Boxrec and look at fighter activity across the board over the last 3-4 years, other than big names the "B" level guys are on the outside looking in. Better yet find a boxing gym (probably MMA now) and just ask some guys if it's been easy to find fights. Does anyone else see this as a problem for our sport or is it just me? My original question was, do you think that we (on this site) could generate enough interest to get lesser know fighters to get some work before their time is up?