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(AUG 28) The sport of Women's
boxing currently has a long line of self imposed obstacles, against
which the sport continually struggles: championship title fights
that aren't; far too many "one good fighter" bouts that are; the
all-too-frequent reluctance of the best boxers in the sport to climb
in the ring with each another; the rush for a quick sequel of a
highly hyped bout featuring two very good fighters that came up a
bit short of original expectations. Given this, only partial, list
of hurdles, the last thing the sport needs, at this time, is another
outbreak of the dreaded "only open your mouth to change feet"
disease.
I don't know Luis Tapia. I've never met him but, I do know one of
his fighters, Layla McCarter. I know her to be one of the smartest,
most skilled, professional practitioners of the sport of boxing and
I have to believe that Luis Tapia has been a big factor in bringing
Layla McCarter to that plateau. And, given those "creds," I would
have made Luis Tapia for a smart boxing guy in Las Vegas, an
important boxing town. That is, until I saw Tapia's recent foray
into that silly boxing custom of "calling out" another fighter. It's
not the first time a well-meaning manager has confused his fighter's
best interest with that old adage: "any publicity is good publicity
as long as they spell your name right."
One of the first things Luis Tapia needs to consider is that if
you're going public with your opinions, you have to consider the
elements of relevance and timing. In this particular instance, Tapia
is bemoaning the fact that Melissa Hernandez, another very smart,
very skilled practitioner of the sport, bypassed Layla McCarter as
an opponent for the WIBA super featherweight title on September 5.
Hernandez, instead, is fighting Ela Nunez for the crown.
Hernandez and McCarter have met twice (February and April 2007)
McCarter winning the first bout, Hernandez the second. Both bouts
were very good fights between two very good fighters. Luis Tapia is
right in one sense, a third McCarter/Hernandez bout would be a great
match-up.
But it's working in those elements of timing and relevance where
Luis Tapia goes off the track. The Melissa Hernandez/ElaNunez bout
is a little more than a week hence and it's going to happen, that's
a fact. And that the fight is going to happen is good news for the
sport of Women's boxing because Melissa Hernandez and Ela Nunez is a
terrific fight and, of all those aforementioned obstacles currently
hindering the sport of Women's boxing, one of them is not an
overabundance of terrific fights. Hernandez is coming off a win over
Melissa Fiorentino in June, while Nunez won, in July, over Dominga
Olivo.
Hernandez/Nunez is too good a bout to carp about, even if that
carping is coming from a smart boxing guy in an important boxing
town, even if the bout were next month, instead of next week.
And I think Luis Tapia knows that. I believe what he's doing is what
any good manager often does; he's "talking up," for, and about, his
fighter. But what Tapia needs to work on is the timing and relevance
parts of "talking up;" don't do it just before a terrific bout, the
time for "talking up' is after that bout. If Melissa Hernandez wins,
then Luis Tapia can call for the third McCarter/Hernandez bout and
he'll receive support from almost any thinking person in the boxing
community. If Nunez wins, there emerges another opponent for Layla
McCarter; an opponent who would have won a very good fight against a
very good fighter. Either way, the time for talk is after, not
before, September 5.
I look forward to Hernandez/Nunez and I would look forward to Layla
McCarter fighting the winner. Those fights are title fights worthy
of the label; those fights are two good fighters in the same ring;
those fights are sequels worth "sequelling;" those are the fights
Luis Tapia or anyone else who cares about the sport of Women's
boxing should be talking about, talking about at the right time and
the right place. That's what I hope I'm doing and if a boxing writer
can figure it out, there's certainly hope for anyone, especially a
smart boxing guy in an important boxing town.
Bernie McCoy
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