Vasyl Lomachenko v Jorge Linares on May 12th NYC

[Spicoli]

I am a Linares fan and hope he wins but I think he is going to get cut up and lose.

You may very well be right. I'll be rooting for Linares, though. I'd love to see a lid put on this ridiculously premature p4p frenzy that's accompanied Loma since his 4th or 5th pro fight.

Loma deserves credit for what he has done so far, I will not criticise him for that.

I would agree with Ron, that Garcia has been avoided by Linares whilst he cashed in against our Brits who are not on the level of him, Loma or Garcia.

I'm not denying or knocking Loma's skill. It just bugs me that in professional boxing, he got the proverbial "Advance to GO... Collect $200" card (from the classic Monopoly game). Anybody who gets to fight for a professional title in his 2nd pro fight is at the very least going to get a raised eyebrow. Then again, I'll grant that he's fought quality guys right off the bat, unlike a couple of well-known entities who began fighting live bodies after about 40 pro fights. I'm a fan of the traditional way... bringing the guy up steadily until he's fighting for a title after about 13-20 pro fights, give or take a few.

Again I say who wants to see Loma beat 13-20 "bodies" the fact that he went straight for top fighters shows he is an exceptional and skilled boxer.

How he got handed a title fight in his 2nd pro fight is what I don't like. To each his own. Too many fighters spend years toiling away to get a shot to have a prima donna waltz in and get a title shot immediately.
He could've fought 13-20 good fighters on his way to a title shot.
Geez... at least 10. Build up the interest the normal way.

I agree with the microwaved red carpet treatment and never a fan of it. It's not a matter of if a guy can come right out and win what are essentially interchangeable trinkets now. It's the fact that you earn your spot, you do the time regardless of some amateur ranks and it goes to network exposure, purses and simply plying a trade. It's the nature of the business and the beast. Loma or anyone else fighting 5,10,20 fights before making the massive network stage and having a shot assumes all rungs in the ladder are just stiffs and cans and that's seldom the case. Well unless you're a Wilder maybe but I digress . It has always rubbed me as shortcutting a fighter based as much on a record that no longer applies nearly as much as talents. No of course I'm not saying Loma is not phenomenal and very talented, but he was afforded the exception and I don't doubt others could have done the same trinket collecting if they were as well. It's also much better for the fans to see a guy develop and face much variety, frankly be seen on a normal stage in process. Just unrealistic to 'skip' grades Imo. The BIG names will not always get the BIG names and a title doesn't need to be involved all the time. I wasn't a fan of Oscar but I think they had a great blue print for him coming out of Olympics and introduction to fan base and wide exposure. He went through riding deep undercards and multiple networks people have not heard of and opposition leveled up almost in same time span as Loma. And he also ran into a few bumps in the road vs a couple of those 'cans' and fans got to enjoy it more. Just my opinion.