. . . THE CBZ JOURNALTable of Contents
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. . . THE CBZ JOURNAL |
Apr 2001 Table of Contents |
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David Reid: Washed Up? By Dan Cuoco When Felix Trinidad finished trouncing David Reid last March, he inflicted not only the first defeat in David's professional career, but also he may have finished him as a top 10 fighter. David had a real chance to emerge as a star in the middleweight division, but may be the victim of poor judgement by his management. It is now apparent that he was mismatched in his championship bout with Trinidad when he wasn't ready, and was forced to make weight that crippled his natural fighting style. In David's first fight back he looked terrible in winning a disputed decision over ordinary, but tough, Kirino Garcia. Garcia was supposed to take a beating from Reid. However, Garcia refused to cooperate and handed Reid a drubbing over the second half of the fight. I think David entered the fight with Garcia under the delusion that no one could stand up to his right hand. Well unfortunately for David his last six opponents have withstood his right hand. His last knockout win was 2 1/2 years ago against a washed up Simon Brown. David's lack luster performance against Garcia must have him asking himself whether he has gone back or the layoff and the opposition was too tough a hurdle for his first fight back. The answer may lie somewhere in the middle which can't be too comforting to David. David possessed great fighting ability when he turned professional. Yet at the grand old age of 27, when he should just be approaching his peak, he looks like a shot fighter. The Trinidad beating seems to have robbed him of his power to mount a sustained attack. Gone is the anticipation and suspense you use to feel during his first 10 fights as a professional. On the basis of this, he was touted as a potential superstar, a fighter blessed with the boxing ability of Ray Leonard and the punch of Thomas Hearns. However, there were some members of the press who questioned whether he was being moved so fast that his lack of professional experience would eventually catch up with him. His performances since then have been mixed. It's possible he may have peaked in the Laurent Boudouani fight. Every fight since then has been a carbon copy. Al Mitchell giving him sage advice: "We're just going to go out behind the jab and box him." "We ain't going for the knockout. Make things happen with your movement. I want to see you put combinations together. Remember, speed is power. You don't have to load up." David started each of those fights following Al's instructions and then somewhere around the fourth or fifth round seemed to forget everything Al told him. When he hurts an opponent he forgets about going to the body and rushes in wildly. His opponents seem to ride out the onslaught and punch back just enough to make David back off. More alarming to me is that David seems to be slurring his words a bit. During the Garcia post fight interview and later on December 8th during an interview with Bob Papa and Teddy Atlas at the Blue Horizon, his speech pattern didn't seem as crisp as it was before the Trinidad fight. The fight game is strewn with the names of hundreds of prospects that have seen their once promising careers end prematurely because they were thrown into the big time before they were ready. I'm afraid to say that the name of David Reid may sadly be added to that list. For David's sake I hope I'm wrong.
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