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Even fighters with ‘It’ factor aren’t a lock to achieve elite status

From the time UFC President Dana White got a load of Conor McGregor, a European champion with his sights set on conquering the MMA world, he knew that he came equipped with one half of the equation it would take to become a bankable star.

After flying McGregor to Las Vegas to meet with him over dinner, White called the UFC’s then-CEO, Lorenzo Fertitta, delivering a scouting report that proved prescient.

“I don’t know if this kid can fight or not,” White said. “But if he can even throw a punch he’s going to be a huge star for us.”

Because the top combat sports competitors typically fight only two to four times a year, it takes more than ability and success to break through and capture the attention of mainstream sports fans. The fighters who become stars typically have outsized personalities, like McGregor and Floyd Mayweather, or a captivating back story, like Manny Pacquiao, or, better yet, both.

Identifying the sort of star power that will sell isn’t the challenge. Like fans, most promoters know it when they see it. Finding it within a fighter who is also talented enough to be among the best in the world, and then navigating them to an elite level in the sport — that’s tricky, and far less predictable.

Backtrack through many of the fighters that White has identified as the next big thing in the UFC and you’ll see they’re typically derailed by a loss before they have the chance to break through.

“You know how many times I’ve been sitting there thinking I know for sure who is going to win — and then they don’t?” White said. “So much goes into fighting, mentally and physically. The style of an opponent. And every day is not your day.”

Top Rank President Todd DuBoef remembers many boxers, both in the Top Rank boxing stable and others, who had what he calls the “It” factor, but maxed out as fighters short of an elite level. He points to times that Oscar De La Hoya and Mayweather were at crossroads in their careers, where each likely would have faded had they lost.

“You’ve had talented fighters who won who didn’t have the ‘It’ factor, and ‘It’ factor guys who never quite got over the hump in the ring,” DuBoef said. “Somewhere out there among these rising fighters today, someone will break through. Which one? I have some ideas, but you really never know.”

BIRD AND MAGIC: Michael Conlan and Shakur Stevenson

Michael Conlan
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
Shakur Stevenson
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
Top Rank signed both boxers coming out of the 2016 Olympics. Stevenson, the top prospect from the U.S. team, lost in the gold medal bout in the 123-pound division. Conlan was the defending world amateur champ in that weight class, but lost a controversial decision before making it to the medal rounds.

Conlan made a massive splash in his first pro fight last month, fighting at The Theater at Madison Square Garden on St. Patrick’s Day, led into the ring by fellow Irishman Conor McGregor. Stevenson was slated to make his pro debut Saturday night at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif.

“I call them the Bird and Magic of this boxing era,” DuBoef said. “We’re almost in that NBA state where Bird and Magic came on. These two are the seeds who have the potential to do for boxing what Bird and Magic did for the NBA, to really recapture people’s attention and cross over and have an impact beyond the audience that’s already paying attention to the sport.”

Francis Ngannou
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
Joanna Jedrzejczyk
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
Francis Ngannou

Aptly nicknamed “The Predator,” the heavyweight wrecking machine from Cameroon has won his first five fights in the UFC, breaking through with a first-round TKO of Andrei Arlovski on Fox in January. Ngannou broke into the top five in the world in the most recent rankings. The sledding gets markedly tougher the rest of the way up.

Joanna Jedrzejczyk

The top pound-for-pound female in the UFC, Poland native Jedrzejczyk is the closest thing the company has to an heir-apparent to Ronda Rousey, though she fights in a lighter weight class. Unbeaten through seven fights since signing with the UFC in 2014, including a decision win at UFC 205 at Madison Square Garden, Jedrzejczyk speaks English well enough to connect with fans on TV and has a vicious fighting style that has earned her the nickname “Joanna Violence.”

The next heavyweight champion of the world:
Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder

Anthony Joshua
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
Deontay Wilder
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
For the better part of the 20th century, the heavyweight champion of the world sat at the pinnacle of U.S. sports. But it has been two decades since Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield topped the division, which since then has been dominated by Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko, who in recent years have fought mostly in Europe.
That could soon change, thanks to the steady rise of Deontay Wilder in the U.S. and Anthony Joshua in the U.K., the latter of whom is scheduled to fight Wladimir Klitschko this week at Wembley Stadium, in a fight that will air live in the U.S. on Showtime and on delay on HBO.

If Joshua beats Klitschko, that could be a step toward elevating the visibility of the heavyweights in the U.S. Not only is he a telegenic, personable fighter with an Olympic gold medal to his name, Joshua also has fought under the banner of the PBC. That makes an eventual unification bout with Wilder, who has built a solid audience for his last three bouts on Fox, far more likely.

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