Judging a fighter's resume

[TitoFan]

It's like Alvarez gets hate for being good at a young age. The expectations placed on Alvarez are ridiculously high. And there made that high for the purpose of seeing him fail. He's already at an accelerated pace. What more muthafukkas want? He's 22 years old. He has an outstanding resume for a 22 year old. At 22 Cotto was fighting Sammy Sparkman. And he went to the muthafukkin Olympics

It was his 8th pro fight. Canelo's 8th pro fight was against some guy who was 4-5 over in Jalisco, Mexico.

This post got me to thinking... just how do you judge a fighter's resume? I know some of us have criticized Canelo's resume in the past (I've tried to stay a bit away from that argument). But really... what makes a good resume? It's not just wins and losses. That's my whole point about someone like JCC Jr., and even his father before him. You can be 100-0... but if all or the majority of your wins came against bums, and you rarely traveled outside your hometown.... is the record really that great?

I thought it was just a "Chavez" thing, with Jr. and Sr. bloating their records on inferior opposition and reaching impressive win-loss records. But could it be the "in" thing among young Mexican fighters, as well? It wasn't that way in the past, I don't think. Fighters had about 10-15 pro fights before they started moving up in competition.... but by their 20-25 fight you were kind of hoping they'd be fighting worthy opponents.

Yes... at 22 Cotto was fighting Sammy Sparkman. But it was his 8th pro fight. By the time he had 15 fights, he had fought and beaten Mexican Cesar Bazan in Las Vegas. His 20th fight was against Lovemore Ndou, and his 22nd was against Randall Bailey... all in Las Vegas. If there's any modern fighter you don't want to try to shoot holes in his resume, it's Miguel Cotto.

By contrast, Canelo first ventured outside the safety of Mexico for his 23rd fight. Before then, he had fattened up his record by fighting the same loser 3 times! Francisco Villanueva was 4-5 when he lost to Canelo for Canelo's 8th fight. Canelo liked him so much... they fought for Canelo's 18th fight (Francisco was 4-14)... and for Canelo's 20th fight (5-17). Ok... Villanueva was a bum... we get it.

Once Canelo became well known, he then fought more recognizable opposition... and that's when some of the criticism began about him fighting either undersized, over-the-hill, or otherwise unworthy opposition. That particular point is a matter of opinion, of course. But what is undeniable is the ridiculously slow pace at which some of these well known, young Mexican fighters are being brought up.

Now Canelo's 41-0, an amazing record for a 22-year old. But really... just how good is his resume?