Undefeated lightweight Felix Verdejo. Photo credit: Mikey Williams/Top Rank Promotions
Guest contributor Jimmy Tobin returns this week to offer his commentary on Vasyl Lomachenko and Felix Verdejo’s victories in New York City, televised by HBO.
There is an old tale about a general who, weary of war, retires from military life and dedicates his remaining years to mastering archery. After years of diligent practice, the general attains the mastery he sought. Traveling the countryside, he comes upon a town covered in bullseyes; there are bullseyes on barns, trees, bridges, houses. Dead center in each bullseye is an arrow. Entering the town, the general meets a young girl and asks her to introduce him to the archer whose mastery so clearly exceeds his own. “I did it,” the girl tells the general. Incredulous, the general presses her for an explanation. My method is simple: I aim my arrow wherever I choose. And where it lands, there, I draw a bullseye.
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Puerto Rican prospect Felix Verdejo returned to action in The Theater at Madison Square Garden Saturday night against fall guy Juan Jose Martinez. For the first time in Verdejo’s last three fights, Top Rank Promotions, the best matchmakers in the sport, got their matchmaking right. Verdejo stopped Martinez in five rounds. And “stopped” is the proper word because Martinez, who met his end slipping and smothering Verdejo’s punches along the ropes, was no more hurt than when Verdejo shook him with a right hand 15 seconds earlier. Martinez was stopped from continuing in the fight, though by no means did he appear unable to continue. Still, Verdejo ended his unexpected streak of decisions and, in doing so, restored a little shine to his tarnished reputation.
And that is good news both for Top Rank, who signed Verdejo out of the 2012 Olympics as its more personable, more promotable replacement for Miguel Cotto. Good news too for HBO, for much the same reasons. A beloved Puerto Rican fighter is a license to print money in New York.
But Verdejo is no Cotto. Martinez was Verdejo’s 22nd professional opponent. In Cotto’s 22nd fight, he pummeled murderous punching Randall Bailey for a major title and his quality of competition would rarely regress from that point forward. Verdejo fights with neither the calm nor healthy arrogance of a younger Cotto and, for that reason, he is nowhere near as sure of his approach or as effective a finisher. Still, he is only 23 years old; there is time to smooth out and augment his game. That Verdejo, 22-0 (15), fights in one of the weakest divisions in boxing can only help matters: There is no 135-pound Randall Bailey lurking, not even a Ricardo Torres. Should Verdejo live up to but two-thirds of the expectations and none of the hyperbole, those with a vested interest in his success will find themselves handsomely compensated.
But there is a sense that, for Verdejo to make good on his ability, the bullseye might need to be drawn after the arrow lands. This is not ideal, of course, and spending two hours listening to the network commentary team of your choice is proof enough that redefining greatness brings the product no closer to greatness itself. The goals for Verdejo need to be harmonized with his ability, however, and, in his case, that requires letting his ability, not the burden of expectations hitched to it, determine the target. That or he needs to do something spectacular, though, with Verdejo, expectations of the spectacular fade with each performance.
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WBO featherweight and junior lightweight titleholder Vasyl Lomachenko. Photo credit: Mikey Williams/Top Rank Promotions
This is certainly not the case for WBO featherweight titleholder Vasyl Lomachenko, of whom expectations of the spectacular are once again unanimous. In his first fight at junior lightweight, Lomachenko turned in arguably his most impressive performance at the time he needed it most. Perhaps his confounding of Gary Russell Jr. was more spellbinding but what Lomachenko did to WBO junior lightweight titlist Roman Martinez on Saturday night will be remembered as his signature victory (until – perhaps literally – his next one) because Lomachenko did not simply showcase his dazzling ability Saturday night: He employed it with the express purpose of swiftly and violently sparking Martinez. In short, in his five-round annihilation of Martinez, Lomachenko found his professional style.
The rhetoric surrounding Lomachenko can still border on the absurd, so too the criticism. But what can be said of Lomachenko today, that could not be said of him as he last walked to the ring, is that most everyone now cares to see who is correct – his supporters or critics. For his supporters, Lomachenko’s treatment of Martinez was mere confirmation of what they have believed for some time: that “Hi-Tech” might one day be operating in a class by himself. For those who found his tendency to toy with opponents boring or amateurish, Lomachenko merely did what he is supposed to against an opponent, in many ways, made to order for him. Very well, let Lomachenko continue to do as he is supposed to – boxing needs more world-class fighters turning seasoned and sturdy professionals into rubberized amnesiacs.
His peers – most with but a sliver of his ability or opportunity – share his ambitions but Lomachenko’s trajectory sets him apart. Lomachenko has raised expectations and, thus, quite rightly, the room for criticism. How ridiculous, though, that enthusiasts have singled out a fighter acting boldly as the target of their criticism. His ambition has limits, of course. Lomachenko is not exactly stepping into the lion’s den (if only because there is no fighter in his vicinity that would represent such a beast to him) and he has let a few worthy challenges bypass him. Nor is having but seven professional fights an excuse for slowing the ascent of a fighter already so polished he can eschew the developmental phase of his career.
But while Lomachenko’s accomplishments do not yet equal expectations, would his critics prefer he take an alternative course? Better Lomachenko aspire to defend his alphabet trifle against a lightweight Tommy Karpency? Is watching him poleaxe the 122-pound version of Amir Khan more to their liking? Because that kind of professional apathy is hardly in short supply. Perhaps it is best to hold off anointing Lomachenko, to hold off too on dismissing a career not yet three years old. But know that there will be bullseyes in his future, with his arrows dead center, and none of those targets will be drawn after he fires.
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