Predicting Success

Posted by Bill Scherer Aug 6, 2008

This is the slow season for boxing, for the casual fan, at least. No Showtime or HBO fights until September. This Friday on ESPN2 we get Julio Gonzalez vs. Tavoris Cloud. For entertainment value it should be worth watching since Gonzalez never saw a tough fight he didn't want to be in.

About ten years ago when my wife and I still lived in La Habra, CA, I watched Julio spar at the La Habra Boxing Club and couldn't help but be puzzled about a 6'2" boxer who rarely threw a jab. Even his sparring sessions were wars because he didn't use the stick. Besides that, his punches always seemed a little slow to me.

By this time he was 22-years-old and had built a local fan base by virtue of regular fights at the Anaheim Pond and the Forum in LA. I was convinced that that's about as far as fame and fortune would take him.

He ended up winning the WBO light heavyweight belt.

It's natural to try and predict the future of young fighters in the gym, but it's an inexact science at best.

There are some kids who are smothered in talent, but never make it out of the gym, and others who will frustrate their trainers into using a whip and a chair to tighten up their technique, but eventually win a title.

Maybe it's as simple as this: The ones who cannot be discouraged succeed.

At the Bryant Ranch Gym over 50 kids signed up for the new boxing program we have there. Of those, only two or three will pursue boxing long enough to have an amateur fight or two, and a professional career of any length is a long shot. I think I know who they are, but I'm probably wrong.