http://www.maxboxing.com/Kim/Kim061906.asp
As sports fans we all fall in love. It's part of the fun of it.
We see a team play for the first time and whether it's their style of play, the colors of their uniforms, or an individual player whose style and flair captures our fancy, for some reason or another, you become smitten.
In boxing we see a young prospect and it could be the fighter’s crunching power, slick boxing skills or nationality that have us pledging our loyalty and support forever.
Joel Julio, the 21-year old Colombian phenom with a sterling mark of 27-0 (24 KOs) - who takes on Carlos Quintana at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on HBO's latest edition of 'Boxing After Dark' this Saturday night - is the latest fighter that has 'man-crushes' breaking out all over.
I hate to be a buzzkill, but before everyone plans out their futures with this guy, let’s be careful. After all, first impressions can be very misleading. They can tell us all we need to know, or they can be as deceiving as a desert mirage.
As many of you know, I'm an avid Miami Hurricane fan, and I've been on both sides of the spectrum.
I'll never forget seeing an unknown late-signing linebacker by the name of Ray Lewis in 1993 make his first start against a potent Colorado Buffalo squad in Boulder. A week earlier he had come in for an injured Robert Bass against Virginia Tech - and soon Bass would become the Hurricanes version of Wally Pipp - as Lewis would entrench himself at the middle linebacker spot. In a close win versus a Buff team that included future Heisman Trophy winner Rashaan Salaam, Michael Westbrook, Christian Fauria and Kordell Stewart, Lewis would register 17 tackles and a sack.
“Yeah," I thought back then, "who needs Michael Barrow? This 52 is the real thing."
My words were prophetic, as Lewis would become a consensus All-American and a first-round draft pick of the Baltimore Ravens in1996, and he would go on to win NFL Defensive Player of the Year twice and lead the Ravens to a Lombardi Trophy in 2000. One day, his bust will be in Canton, Ohio in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
On the flipside, you have Magic Benton (and yes, Magic was his real name), a highly touted prep All-American from the famed Dade County powerhouse Miami Northwestern High. He was an electrifying wide receiver that could take it to the paint each time he touched the ball.
As one of Butch Davis' first prized recruits at UM, he was supposed to lead the probation laden Canes back to prominence. He would begin his sophomore season in 1996 by registering back-to-back-back 100-yard receiving efforts (so what that they came against Memphis, the Citadel and Rutgers). I said to myself, "Move over Michael Irvin and Eddie Brown, there's a new playmaker in town."
Well, pretty soon, Magic would go 'poof', disappearing for the rest of his Miami career. Hindered by a shaky work ethic and questionable character, he would end his UM career on the bench in 1997 on his way to an unsuccessful free agent tryout in the NFL with Green Bay.
It took me a while to get over this break-up (well, at least until Santana Moss and Reggie Wayne came into my life that year), which begs the question, is Julio a Lewis or a Benton? In boxing parlance, will he be a Miguel Cotto or Francisco Bojado?
Everyone knows what Cotto is up to these days. A recent winner versus Paulie Malignaggi in defense of his WBO junior welterweight title, he has carved out an outstanding professional career. He has become a Trinidad-esque icon in Puerto Rico and a Top Rank cash cow.
Bojado?
Well, nobody knows for sure what he's up to, quite frankly. But we all remember him don't we? I must admit, I wasn't just banging the drums about 'Panchito', I was conducting the whole marching band as if I was at Florida A&M. On the bandwagon? I was driving it like Mario Andretti.
Michael Katz once had Mark Breland back in the day, Max Kellerman had Zab Judah, Rich Marotta had Juan Manuel Marquez, and our very own Doug Fischer has Edwin Valero, but Bojado was my guy. And I'll stick to what I said then - he's still among the most naturally gifted fighters I've ever seen and he got off to a blistering start to his professional career in 2001. A 2000 Olympian like Cotto, he was a shooting star that quickly captured the imagination of the boxing world with his mesmerizing blend of hand-speed, power and technique. It didn't hurt that he possessed boyish good looks either.
Yeah, so what if he was blowing away guys like Detrick Castor, Alejandro Rivera and David Montes? (I guess boxing's version of Memphis, the Citadel and Rutgers). Isn't that what all prospects are supposed to do?
Showtime thought they had a horse they could hitch their wagon to. Main Events - which promotes Julio - thought they had their 21st century 'Golden Boy'.
And his run to superstardom lasted all of nine fights before he was upset by journeyman Juan Carlos Rubio in early 2002. Beset by shoddy training habits and hazy focus, he never seemed to regain his mojo after he parted ways with co-manager Joe Hernandez. His last bout was in July of 2004 versus Jesse James Leija, a ten-round split decision loss. He hasn't fought since and his record stands at 16-2. Just recently I cancelled my reservation to Canastota for 2020 when I was going to give the introduction speech for Bojado when he got into the Hall.
I still get misty eyed when I think about it. (Sniff, sniff, excuse me, I need a moment or two by myself to gather my composure.)
Carl Moretti, V.P. and matchmaker for Main Events still says that Bojado is the best 'can't miss prospect' he ever encountered.
“Yup, no question about it. Both inside the ring and outside the ring." And Moretti wasn't alone in his evaluation. Shelly Finkel, who co-managed Bojado, called him the best prospect he had ever seen. And rival managers, who throw around compliments to others’ fighters like manhole covers, to this day say he was among the most naturally gifted performers they had ever laid eyes on.
So how and why did this fall apart so quickly? While Bojado has representatives sending out feelers for his comeback, could anyone have comprehended that at age 23, he would be in a position of even having to make a 'comeback'?
“I can understand it; it doesn't make him a bad kid," Moretti said to Maxboxing. "It doesn't make him wrong or anything like that. I mean boxing's a very, very difficult business and it takes total commitment inside and outside the ring, and if somebody doesn't make it, it shouldn't be held against him."
While he has (and could still have) the tools to excel, his commitment and discipline is questionable. It's the difference between he and Cotto (who does inhumane things to himself to still make 140), the difference between Jermain Taylor and Ricardo Williams. Talent can only go so far.
Developing fighters is an inexact science. Rules that apply to one boxer may not necessarily apply to another. Main Events learned a lesson or two with Bojado.
"It's not directly related to Julio, it's a thing where I'd like to have a better feel for how training camps are going, and how much of a commitment is there for the guy to work before the fight. Is the kid burnt out?" explained Moretti, alluding to issues that existed for Bojado in leading up to his first professional setback. "Because you can be 10-0 and be a little burnt out when you're fighting and going to the gym all the time. It's more of trying to keep an eye on what the kid does after fights or before fights as opposed to what he does in the ring."
There were reports that perhaps Bojado would begin his road back on Saturday’s portion of the untelevised undercard. But according to Moretti, he will not be on the show.
“I just think he probably wasn't ready to come back, yet," Moretti says of his absence." And that's OK. There's not a clock ticking. If he wants to come back, he'll come back. But you just never know what somebody wants to do. It's not an easy decision, so it's OK, it's not like the end of the world. So when he's ready, if he wants to come back, he'll come back. If he's not, then that's OK, too."
Which brings us to Julio. So we pose this question to Moretti, a Notre Dame honk (he's still a decent guy in spite of that): will this latest Jimmy Claussen end up more like a Joe Montana than Ron Powlus?
"I think he'll end up closer to Montana than to Powlus," said a hopeful Moretti, "I think because there's better ingredients now, such as training camp, the team that's around him, he's hungry, and his dedication and motivation, now as it stands, to reach that level. And don't forget he still doesn't realize, I think - because of his background - how many eyes are looking at him. He hasn't felt that pressure or seen the hype yet and whether it's deserved or not. June 24th will go a long way in showing that."
Unlike Bojado, whose every move early on was chronicled, Julio was a largely unknown prospect who fought exclusively in his native country until his 19th pro outing against Alfredo Soriano in May of 2004. It was during this third round stoppage of Soriano in Las Vegas that he caught the eye of Moretti, who then placed a call to Tuto Zabala to make a deal.
Under the Main Events umbrella they have been able to move Julio under the radar on non-televised bouts on HBO cards against the likes of Arthur Medina (in Atlantic City) and Christopher Henry (in Rosemont, Illinois), and in club shows in North Bergen, New Jersey against Hicklet Lau.
Just recently, Julio made the airwaves, drilling Robert Kamya in January as the headline performer of ShoBox in January.
"As much as you want to promote a kid, if you can keep him sheltered a little bit in the same way of trying to develop him, then that's going to work towards your favor," Moretti says.
Clips were shown of his quick night against Wilmer Mejia during the pay-per-view telecast of Shane Mosley-Fernando Vargas back in February. The buzz is loud and clear with Julio, and he's a young fighter that has fans clamoring for more. But Main Events' objective in the immediate future is simple: "The goal here is to develop a fighter that is solid in all areas, and that's going to take constant work," stated Moretti. Unlike with Bojado, there will be no talk of future pay-per-view stardom and multiple titles. Here, it's one step at a time.
“Most punchers are wide," Moretti, points out. "If you look at: Tyson, Lacy, Freitas, they are wide with their shots. And all through this camp, the past camps, the two trainers want him to throw straighter punches and win a fight by decision. You don't have to knock anybody out. Our goal is to be a better fighter next year."
Going the distance could be a reality against the crafty southpaw Quintana, who himself is 22-0. This bout is being billed as a 'WBA welterweight title eliminator'. There is a lot of talk about Paul Williams as the world’s best young 147-pounder, but Julio is ready to throw his hat into the debate.
“I can answer that a lot better on June 25th because he's in with a lot more than Walter Matthysse," says Moretti, alluding to Williams' last opponent. "So we'll have a lot more to dictate or tell us after that fight."
But we've all learned our lesson, right? Don't go head over heals over fledgling prospects. Proceed with doubt and caution till you know you've found 'the right one'.
"You'd like to believe that you never want to get away from that because it dampens everyone's enthusiasm or motivation to develop somebody like that," says Moretti, who still has Powlus' two Heismans he was given by Beano Cook a few years back in his trophy case. "So you never want to believe that a specific fighter is a 'can't miss' prospect, because at the end of the day they’re humans and some go on to greatness and some don't.
“It’s rare, but you like to believe that occasionally you have the special one."
Yeah, I agree, see we got this Kyle Wright kid, and he's gonna be Steve Walsh - but with a better arm......
