What does it say about the quality of a match-up when I can, with a straight face, say that a fighter who got blown out in the first round actually did better than I thought he would?
When watching tapes of Carlos Ocampo in advance of his IBF title shot against champ Errol Spence at “The Star” in Frisco, Texas, I saw absolutely nothing there that would trouble Spence.
Actually, the Mexican looked pretty bad, as if specifically bioengineered to be blown away by Spence. He kept his chin up, kept his hands down, threw too few shots, and put little power into the shots he did throw. The Ensenada, Mexico native was green in all areas of the game and looked exactly like the 22-year-old kid with no international experience that he was. In a few private conversations about the fight, I opined that the kid may go down, hard, the very first time Spence landed anything decent on him.
I wasn’t too far from being right.
Technically, Ocampo was an IBF mandatory. Showtime and Team Spence, to an extent, can hide behind the IBF’s awful decision to force chum into a shark tank. But this was bad.
Yeah, Spence is allowed his “star moment” at home, in front of 12,000 fans and, business being business, one can even argue that being matched soft for this homecoming party was a passable offense. A nice highlight reel KO in a stadium-ish atmosphere is good optics and smart promotion. But Spence could’ve gotten that highlight reel KO against someone who could’ve at least put up a fight. Ocampo looked spooked from the moment he got off the airplane and was clearly way overmatched once the bell sounded. More competitive struggles have been seen on security camera footage of senior citizens being mugged.
The PBC roster is deep at welterweight. Someone else could’ve been the fall guy, someone like Omar Figueroa Jr., who would’ve at least had a two-fisted chance of fighting back against the inevitable.
The IBF’s decision to not only have Ocampo ranked no. 3 at welterweight, but then to force him on their champ as a “must-fight” opponent is mind-boggling. With such a weak resume and a clear lack of readiness for this level of contest, this piece of boxing bureaucracy was incompetence, at best, and maybe something much nastier, at worst.
The much more talented and deserving Yordenis Ugas, who fought on the undercard, is ranked one slot ahead of Ocampo at no. 2 and would’ve been a much better foe for Spence. Or maybe they could’ve matched Ugas against Ocampo for the right to move up to the sanctioning body’s currently vacant no. 1 spot. In the meantime, Spence could’ve been free to fight someone who could make him look like the brilliant offensive fighter he is and not like Aroldis Chapman blowing away a high school freshman batter with three straight 105 mph fastballs.
"I fought him because this guy was my mandatory and the IBF called me to fight this guy,” Spence said in the post-fight press conference. “So, I did what I was supposed to do. I got him out of there, looked impressive and, you know, we really don’t take anything from this victory.”
Realistically, Team Spence could’ve nixed the idea of such a soft touch. A star champion certainly has that kind of leverage with his sanctioning body, especially since the fall guy in question wasn’t even a no. 1 ranked opponent and because, well, Spence has been a boy scout up until now. It’s not like the guy has been stringing along a mandatory challenger for years or simply refusing to meet his obligations ala some other primadonas in the sport.
The truth is that if “The Truth” had fought someone capable of providing a bit more pushback, his homecoming party would’ve been the springboard event to bigger and better things it was clearly designed to be. Instead, it was just a waste of everyone’s time.
Quick (S)hits:
-- Javier Fortuna falling through the ropes and injuring himself in the fourth round of his junior welterweight bout with Adrian Granados was probably a “big picture” positive. Referee Robert Chapa was botching his first main stage ref gig and had already deducted two points from Fortuna without much (if any) warning. The fight may have been headed for a DQ when the accident happened. Now, they can hopefully reset, regroup, and book this fun fight for some commission outside of the godawful Texas territory.
-- BTW, speaking of Granados and Fortuna, both actually looked better at 140. Granados was moving down and Fortuna was moving up, but junior welterweight worked for them and I hope to see them back there, even if a rematch can’t be signed.
-- Canelo-Golovkin 2 was made official last week, totally ruining my wish to just move on and have these guys meet the Charlos and Andrades of the world. But, instead, expect more media manipulation and he-said/he-said drama until September 15—and then more whining and excuse-making after the bout ends in predictable controversy or doubt. Then, the circus will move on to Cinco de Mayo weekend, 2019.
Got something for Magno? Send it here: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com