ESPN Accidentally Showed One of the Worst Fights of All Time When They Matched Emanuel Williams Against Fellow Newcomer John Rincon…
There are levels to combat sports, even in the most prestigious organizations. You’ve got fighters who are there to make up the numbers, who are always one or two fights away from being cut by their promotion. Then there’s the respected gatekeeper or veteran who can give anybody a good fight but doesn’t have the consistency to make it to the top. And finally, you’ve got the elite who will tear anyone apart, because they’re just gifted.
This goes for both boxing and MMA. Donald Cerrone is a prime example of a fighter who can beat anyone on any given day but has fallen short at the key moments. Sometimes though, you get a newcomer who really should not be there. The matchmaker is responsible when this happens because they’re genuinely putting people in danger.
That’s exactly what we got live on ESPN the other night when Emanuel Williams fought John Rincon, on the undercard of Maurice Hooker v Alex Saucedo. To say that young Williams’s style was ‘eccentric’ is to do him a kindness. Watch this madness below, in what fans are united in saying was an appalling display.
Whoever let this guy in the ring to box live on ESPN needs to have a long hard look at themselves 😂
#TWBWpic.twitter.com/VQk3Nihbyq— World Boxing Wall (@WorldBoxingWall) November 17, 2018
Brutal
We don’t want to be too harsh, but Williams has movement of a headless chicken. Just what exactly is he doing with his hands and feet? His footwork is more like Irish tapdancing than actual boxing, while his neck his held higher than an arthritic giraffe. The dude is just not meant to be there.
Rincon looks a decent fighter, as he slips and slides, throwing shots to the head and body, but the truth is that Williams makes him look so much better than he probably is. This is a dreadful performance.
— Leo Normil (@LyonTheLeo) November 17, 2018
Knockout
It will come as no surprise that Williams was eventually tagged and knocked out, courtesy of a vicious liver shot. Rincon showed no mercy to his totally outclassed opponent, putting a brutal beating on him. The worst part of all of this was that it was live on ESPN.
It’s appalling match-making. Whoever put this fight together needs to be sacked, because they genuinely put Williams in danger. We’re not sure what his amateur fight record was like, but presumably, it was good enough to make them interested in putting this together. They definitely need to do more research because this could have ended so much worse than it did.
Reactions
Here are some of the best Twitter reactions to absolute farce:
Brent Williams: “Emanuel Williams! Only had one corner man and he had on a two piece Dickie suit! Didn’t even jump in the ring after his fighter was KOd. He let his fighter rolling around hurt. I thought it was a April fools day in November.”
Iain Kidd: “This reminds me of trying to spar with my friend after his first couple of boxing lessons. That dude should never have been allowed in an amateur fight at this point, let alone a televised professional bout. Whoever set that up needs to be blacklisted from the sport.”
Shannon Courtenay: “Did they pull someone out from the audience to box or something?”
