Archibald out of long jump medal contention
Guyana’s medal hopes at the IAAF World Championships currently underway in Doha, Qatar were slashed by a third after long jumper, Emanuel Archibald finished 11th of 12 jumpers in his heat yesterday.
On the opening day of the 17th edition of event, Archibald had a best jump of 7.56m, way below his personal best mark and national record, 8.12m which would have been good for second.
Cuban, Juan Miguel, Japan’s Yuki Hashioka and Steffin McCarter of the USA occupied the top three positions in the first heat after disturbing the sand in 8.40m, 8.07m and 8.04m in that order.
Guyana will be hoping it’s two other representatives, quarter-miler, Aliyah Abrams and 800m athlete, Quamel Prince have a more successful campaign than Archibald who was not at the peak of his powers.
Abrams’ World Championships campaign begins Thursday while Prince will first face the starter’s pistol on Tuesday.
Notes: The World Championships which takes place every two years, has a history of delivering iconic athletic moments which include gold medal wins for sprint legend, Usain Bolt and long distance champions, Sir Mo Farah and Tirunesh Dibaba.
More than 2000 of the world’s top athletes will be competing for 192 medals set to be awarded across 49 finals during the competition which got underway yesterday with the midnight Marathon.
will keep readers updated on the performances of the locals and the international athletes. Errol Spence Jr. is so physically gifted inside a boxing ring, so comfortable, so much at home, that even a whitewash victory over an elite, unbeaten and highly regarded opponent isn’t enough to satisfy his critics who, nearly seven years after his pro debut, continue to ask, “What has he done?”
In his pay-per-view debut, Spence Jr not only won every round in his showdown with Mikey Garcia at AT&T Stadium in March, he dominated so thoroughly that there were next-to-no highlights of the previously unbeaten Garcia.
Taking an excellent fighter and beating him so decisively that he looks ordinary, or worse, is one sign of an elite fighter. Spence Jr’s résumé, though, doesn’t turn many on. He’s 25-0 with 21 knockouts and still not the owner of a signature win if the critics are to be believed.
Whenever the conversation turns to Spence Jr, it’s never just what he’s done but what he hasn’t done: Faced the elite of the welterweight division. For as impressive as his win over Garcia was, Garcia was moving up in weight and gave up a tremendous amount of size to Spence.
Spence has frequently been compared to the legendary Sugar Ray Leonard, the 1976 Olympic gold medalist who went on to become one of the best fighters not only of his era, but of all-time. Leonard, though, beat fighters such as Thomas Hearns, Roberto Duran, Marvelous Marvin Hagler (some say he did, anyway) and Wilfred Benitez along the way to prove his greatness. Spence Jr has the opportunity today at Staples Center in Los Angeles to remind those who question his résumé why he is so highly regarded by so many in the industry, when he meets Shawn Porter in an IBF-WBC welterweight title unification bout.
“The winner of this fight is definitely going to be the best welterweight in the world,” Spence said. “There’s no way around it.”
Critics, though, are never pleased with his résumé, which Sean Gibbons, the president of Manny Pacquiao’s MP Promotions, vigorously defended.
“Those are fan boys of Terence Crawford saying most of that, and I think [Crawford promoter] Mr. [Bob] Arum might be stoking that,” Gibbons said.
Gibbons said he thinks todday’s bout with Porter will be “Errol’s coming out party.” And while he conceded weight may have been an issue for Garcia against Spence Jr, he said it wasn’t as significant as he’s heard it made out to be.
“Skills pay the bills, man,” Gibbons said. “And the one thing he has better than any fighter is that jab. He can control a fight with that jab of his. I’m a huge fan of the jab, because it dictates so much of what goes on in there and Errol’s jab is fantastic. … Anyone who thinks Spence Jr is nothing, or overrated, hasn’t been paying attention.”
Former world champion Sergio Mora, now a boxing analyst for DAZN, had much the same take. He said it’s short-sighted of anyone to downplay Spence Jr and not point out how many fighters rave about Spence’s talent. But Mora isn’t new on the Spence Jr bandwagon.
“Whoever thinks he’s not the real deal is not thinking,” Mora said. “Spence Jr has been the goods since he was an amateur. Whenever you have current champions say Spence Jr is one of their favorites, it’s for a reason. What makes him special, aside from pedigree, is he’s a smart but aggressive southpaw, a wicked body puncher, and my favorite lefty right hooker. Those are the most dangerous.” Printed and published daily by Guyana Publications Inc 46/47 Robb Street, Lacytown, Georgetown. Tel 226-7206, 226-2333, 227-4080, 226-2515, 225-4637