Rise Of The Showcase Fighter

Sometimes you should have to face a real challenge to remain king of the hill

Adonis Stevenson is now a showcase fighter. So, it seems, is Danny Garcia...and Leo Santa Cruz...and most definitely Billy Joe Saunders. What's more Canelo Alvarez may be well on his way to becoming a showcase fighter in his own right.

What, you may well ask, is a showcase fighter? A showcase fighter (I should really copyright this term) is a professional boxer who consistently takes on nothing more than moderate challenges while only occasionally facing significant ones in the ring.

For instance, Stevenson has yet to meet a huge challenge on paper since defeating Chad Dawson years ago. Garcia has met exactly one significant challenge in the past few years. Same for Santa Cruz.

Now that Saunders has won a piece of the middleweight pie, he's actually been open about his unwillingness to meet a significant challenge in the near future. Give the man points for honesty - or not.

While the UFC has it's underpaid stars climb one mountain after another, name boxers are given the luxury of essentially going a softer route. It's understandable to argue it's their right to. After all, they're the ones getting hit in the head - but what about the opponents of these people?

Ask yourself this - are Stevenson's slim chance opponents getting extremely well paid to have their lights punched out by the guy? Sadly, we all know what the answer is, and it's not a comforting one.

The good news in all this is that showcase fighters are always one fight away from altering their reputations. All Stevenson, Garcia, Salka and Saunders need to do is face the fighters we all know will present them with huge challenges. We know who these opponent's names are and so do they.

The bad news, of course, is that a lot of money can be made showcase fighting. And so formidable opposition may continue to be avoided in the future.