Gatekeeper (boxing)

In boxing, kickboxing and mixed martial arts, a gatekeeper is a skillful and well-regarded fighter, but one who does not have the popularity or brilliance of a title contender. They are considered to be a cut above most journeymen. A gatekeeper will often have an impressive record in terms of wins versus losses but will have a difficult time getting people behind them and especially obtaining promotion.

Characteristics

Gatekeepers will frequently have the following characteristics:

  • They have a generally impressive résumé in regard to their number of wins and for the fact that they fight the best fighters of their respective era.
  • They receive little to no mainstream press and only some coverage within their sport, being paid a fraction of what hyped contenders receive.
  • They're usually students of the game and love boxing (or MMA) immensely, having good technical skills.
  • They're sometimes former contenders or formerly highly-ranked fighters who just never quite won a title or came that close.
  • They tend to be big time stepping stones for other proven contenders to fight, providing a serious challenge that credits contenders should those fighters win.
  • They're sometimes relegated to fight contenders to boost the contender's stock shortly before a title fight.[1]

Notable examples

The following fighters have all been described as gatekeepers:[1][2][3][4][5]

Notable MMA examples

See also

References
  1. Ondrizek, Troy (1 October 2006). "The Most Important Fighter in Boxing History". East Side Boxing. Archived from the original on 3 April 2012.
  2. "Edison Miranda as The Gatekeeper? Tough Gate - Boxing News". boxingscene.com.
  3. Blake Hochberger. "I Like Marquez Over Judah, Ward Over Dawson And..." The Sweet Science.
  4. "Monte Barrett: The Gatekeeper Cometh". saddoboxing.com.
  5. "Adam Kownacki gets unanimous decision over Chris Arreola as both heavyweights break CompuBox record". sportingnews.com.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.