John Rincon vs. Emanuel Williams was a boxing match that certainly happened.
In recent times, boxing promotions have taken to broadcasting entire preliminary cards, much like we see from MMA. Well… for the most part, non-televised boxing undercards are filled with lower-level guys, tomato cans with losing records, faded journeymen, and guys making their professional debuts.
On Friday night’s Top Rank Boxing preliminary card, 19-year-old John Rincon and 20-year-old Emanuel Williams faced off in a four-round lightweight (135 lbs) bout, with both men entering the ring as professionals for the first time. Needless to say, not all pro debuts are created equally.
Rincon looked like someone with plenty of amateur boxing experience growing up in Texas, whereas Williams… didn’t. Here’s the full fight, which ended with Williams losing by body shot KO.
Yeah… that was horrendous. Williams could presumably improve from here, but that almost looked like a parody of a boxer. It’s almost similar to the great Edward Rackley and this dazzling appearance on ESPN three decades ago.
For the record, this fight was on the ESPN+ stream and not actually televised, as only the main event between Maurice Hooker and Alex Saucedo was on the ESPN broadcast. A national television audience didn’t actually witness this display,