Funny how you look at some prospects' records, and you see a bunch of 2-10, 4-25, no-name, absolute fillers. You gotta wait till they're 20-30 fights into their professional careers before you see an opponent with a winning record. At that point they're undefeated, with a glossy W-L record that in the end doesn't mean diddly squat.

Meanwhile, you've got these other prospects that from the beginning are fed live opposition. Ten fights into their careers they're already tested against 25-5 veterans, or other undefeated young fighters making their way up also.

This is when you have to look beyond the W-L records of these prospects and see how they're being brought along. The casual fan doesn't understand this... and easily falls prey coverage of "media darlings." The casual fan doesn't understand quality of opposition, or the concept of increasing that quality at something other than glacial speed.

That's when the dreaded "0" comes into play. It becomes the dominant factor, rather than the career development and quality of opponent itself. Coddled fighters latch onto that "0" no matter what the cost. They'll fight bums left and right, as long as they're guaranteed a win. A loss is seen as a major career blow... so the fighter and his team avoid risks like the plague.

But it's the difference in career starts that blows me away. I've seen way too many 30-0 fighters who haven't seen anyone with a pulse... and I've seen other, 12-0 fighters who are already fighting tough, credible opposition.

What are some examples of each?