Elements of all the praise and criticisms of Kendall Holt's career were apparent in his KO loss to Lamont "Havoc" Peterson on Friday night.
He came firing out of the gate, winning the first two rounds with relative ease. He showed the speed and crisp punching that once made boxing experts excited about him.
Then in the fourth round, he was again impeded by the collective Achilles' heel that are his defensive lapses and weak chin. Peterson dropped Holt, and it was all downhill from there.
You can see in this ringside video highlight reel that Holt was the quicker and better boxer early, but at about the 2:40 mark of the video things change.
This is a familiar script for Holt in many ways.
Very rarely is he in the ring with an opponent that has him out-classed in the speed or power department. But stamina, focus and durability have bitten him before.
In Holt's initial shot at a world title, he was dominating Ricardo Torres and seemed to be headed for an easy win over the Colombian. But Torres rallied to stop Holt in the 11th round.
In their rematch he nearly stopped Holt again. It was a fast and furious 61-second bout, that saw Holt down twice, but he ultimately dropped Torres for good to win his only title.
Going back as far as 2004, Holt's careless defense and faulty chin was an issue. Against little-known Thomas Davis (who last fought in 2011 and currently has a 12-16 record) Holt was knocked out in the first round.
He was dominating this fight for the first 2:30, but again he got careless and that weak chin was exposed.
What Holt has you can't teach. That speed and explosive power is something you either have or don't have. Unfortunately for him, what he doesn't have falls in the same category.
At 31 years old, re-inventing himself isn't practical. We've all seen fighters attempt to change styles late in their career, and fall flat as their instincts and training battle for supremacy in their head.
Holt is who he is, and that is a great offensive fighter who must take quality opponents out early to have a chance. If they are still around after the first three or four rounds, Holt will likely meet the same end he did against Peterson on Friday night.
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