Kendall Holt has lost before, but not the way he did on Saturday night.

On Saturday in Atlantic City, the former junior welterweight titlist Holt was beaten so badly that he didn't come out for the seventh round. Facing unknown Kaizer Mabuza in what appeared on paper to be a fairly easy IBF title eliminator, Holt (25-4, 13 KO) seemed unprepared for the South African's aggression and power. He was overwhelmed and took a thrashing.

Kendall didn't talk to the press after, and neither did trainer Aroz Gist. Top Rank's Carl Moretti, who has seen plenty of fights, did talk to the AP, and his words were bold.

"I thought Kendall won the first round, but after that, it was the fastest downhill (slide) in the ring that I’ve ever seen. After a while, it was like (Holt) was a heavy bag and (Mabuza) could hit him whenever he wanted. I know 20 junior welterweights that could beat (Holt) right now."

Considering Holt was a world-ranked contender who in his last fight gave Timothy Bradley the toughest battle of his career, the result of this fight and Moretti's words are flat-out stunning. In short, this wasn't supposed to happen.

And now, at 28, Holt is at square one.

A loss like this can ruin a fighter. It can also inspire one, and Holt will get his chances to come back strong, to wipe this loss out, and to rebuild his career. Moretti's last statement sticks out, and could mean that Holt is now going to be seen as damaged goods, a name mark for up-and-coming junior welterweights or welterweights. All it takes is one good win to drop the stigma that he's down and out.

The talent is there. I don't think anyone questions that. But Holt's had a bit of an odd career overall. He was once stopped by Thomas Davis in the first round. Ricardo Torres won a very controversial TKO-11 over him, and then in their jaw-dropping, one-minute rematch, a massive headbutt from Holt set up a knockout victory. He decked Timothy Bradley two times, but for the rest of the fight was outboxed and outmaneuvered.

He's also dominated Isaac Hlatshwayo and Mike Arnaoutis, and stopped David Diaz. But he also had too tough of a time back in 2005 with Jaime Rangel, who lost to every good fighter he ever fought, and was in the middle of a career-ending, six-fight losing streak at the time.

It's always been hard to figure out which Kendall Holt was showing up for any given fight. When he's good, he can be really good. When he's off, he doesn't look like much of a contender at all. On Saturday, he was the absolute worst he's ever been.

It likely didn't help that he'd been out of the ring for about 10 1/2 months. Now managed by New York Giants running back Brandon Jacobs, Holt's inactivity might have played a major role in his poor performance, and it's worth wondering if he really took Mabuza (23-6-3, 14 KO) as seriously as he obviously should have, not that anyone was taking the fight too seriously going in (well, except Mabuza).

Right now, Kendall Holt is a fighter on the brink. This loss could send him barreling down to journeyman status. Better fighters than Holt have suddenly lost whatever "it" they had and become gatekeepers and professional opponents. And worse fighters than Holt have bounced back and clawed their way back to the top.

It'll be a measure of his tenacity and desire to see which way he goes. Because right now, it's anyone's guess.

On tonight's edition of Top Rank Live, sadly-underhyped welterweight prospect Mike Jones gets the biggest test of his career from veteran Henry Bruseles. Off TV but filmed by FSN for highlights, former junior welterweight titlist Kendall Holt returns against South African Kaizer Mabuza.

Welterweights: Mike Jones (19-0, 16 KO) v. Henry Bruseles (28-3-1, 15 KO)

When you really examine the case of Mike Jones and his nearly non-existent TV exposure, it becomes really bizarre.

What's not to like? Unbeaten welterweight prospect. Good power. He's an American fighter, fighting out of Philadelphia, one of our biggest cities, with one of the richest boxing histories in the nation. He's blasted through respected gatekeepers such as Dairo Esalas and Luciano Perez. I'm not trying to hype those as massive wins or anything, but they're every bit as credible as some of those wins Andre Berto got building up his record with HBO televising.

Then there's something else: He's a huge welterweight, and the type of guy who could be a nightmare once he develops. We're talking 5'11" with a 72" reach. That's the size of Antonio Margarito. Jones is a physical specimen at 147 pounds.

So why so little exposure? Eric Raskin put together a fine article for The Ring on Jones on Sunday, and the answers are what you'd expect, and all boil down to, more or less, "it just hasn't happened." There's no good reason. There have been some near-connects that turned into misses at exposure and TV spots.

Tonight, he gets a chance. It's not the chance. Bruseles, 29, has been fighting in relative obscurity since his January 2005 loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr., though he has beaten a couple of familiar names since then, and gone 7-0 overall. Bruseles has also had a habit of getting connected to fights like this one, only to pull out on short notice. This time, he's showing up.

When I say Bruseles is Jones' best opponent to date, I mean it, but it's mostly on paper, and I'm not confident he will turn out to be anything more than Esalas or the other journeymen were. Bruseles, frankly, has never really done anything exceptional. He's known for fighting and losing to Floyd, and frankly he wasn't fit to fight Mayweather when he did. Floyd was 32-0 and among the best in the sport, moving up to 140, and he took a pretty easy touch with Bruseles. Bruseles really hadn't beaten anyone special before that, and hasn't since. An aged Cesar Bazan is his best win, or maybe it's the half-speed Ben Tackie he fought in 2008.

Simply put, Jones is younger, has been keeping a better schedule the last couple years, is almost surely hungrier, and is coming to put on a show in Atlantic City. I think he runs through Bruseles without much trouble at all, to be honest. Jones TKO-7

Junior Welterweights: Kendall Holt (25-3, 13 KO) v. Kaizer Mabuza (22-6-3, 13 KO)

Holt is looking to get back into title contention with this fight, something of a gift eliminator for the former beltholder, who hasn't fought since losing to Timothy Bradley in a hell of a battle last April. Holt was being set up to fight Nate Campbell, but that went nowhere, and was also rumored as an opponent in December for Joshua Clottey, which he and his team turned down without much by way of deliberations.

Now, he's facing Mabuza, a 30-year-old South African who may or may not give Holt some resistance, but given Holt's penchant for getting knocked down, might at least deck the favorite once or twice. Mabuza made his pro debut on February 15, 2000, facing the also-debuting Isaac Hlatshwayo. Hlatshwayo stopped him in the first round. Three years later they met again for the South African lightweight title. Hlatshwayo won a 12-round decision in the rematch.

He then lost two straight to Martin Kristjansen and Ray Narh -- not great fighters, but guys who have gone on to get their names in the news at least once later in their careers. His fifth loss came in 2007 to Robert Medley, and the last one was against Emmanuel Lartei Lartey.

Not much to say really. Just by record, Holt should win. He's got better wins, has fought better competition, and has better losses. Plus, Holt beat the crap out of Hlatshwayo in 2006. Holt UD-12

On the undercard:

Junior Middleweights: Saul Roman (32-5, 27 KO) v. Gabriel Rosado (13-4, 8 KO)

Junior Middleweights: Ossie Duran (23-8-2, 9 KO) v. Jamaal Davis (11-5, 6 KO). Duran is looking for his first win since 2007, hoping to end a four-fight winless streak (0-3-1). In that span, Duran has lost to James Kirkland, Fernando Guerrero and David Lopez, and drawn with Eromosele Albert.

Welterweight contender Joshua Clottey has pulled out of his scheduled January 16 fight with Michel Rosales on January 16, the date scheduled for the first show of the new Top Rank series on FOX Sports Net, reports ESPN.com's Dan Rafael. Vanes Martirosyan will replace Clottey as the headliner of the show, facing Kassim Ouma.

Dan Rafael said in his chat today at ESPN.com that Clottey pulled out because he was unhappy with the money.

This is actually something I've been meaning to comment on, but I can never find the right way to put it without it being taken the wrong way. He's very good, but his two biggest fights (Margarito and Cotto) were both losses, and his best win is Zab Judah. Outside of those three fights, he's best-known for dismantling a blown-up, faded Diego Corrales, and he had some fights on Top Rank's awful Versus Network series.

He's not particularly pleasing to watch, hasn't quite taken advantage of his biggest chances, and sadly isn't worth much money. Top Rank is stuck in a rough spot with Clottey, which sucks for him because he IS that good. He's top five or so at 147 pounds, part of the collection that makes welterweight the class that it is. He's right there with Mayweather, Pacquiao, Mosley, Cotto and Berto, and I think almost all hardcore boxing fans would favor him over Berto.

In short, it disappointed me to see Clottey back to the level of guys he was fighting before the Cotto fight, because that was a fine scrap. He's just on the outside looking in. Part of that is financial. He's medium-reward and very high-risk. Part of it is just plain nobody wanting to fight him. People don't exactly knock down Joshua Clottey's door.

Anyway, the Martirosyan-Ouma fight is probably better than Clottey-Rosales, but Ouma has lost four of five, including what looked like a career-killer against Gabriel Rosado in April. He's a hell of a story, of course, but his career hit the wall really hard after losing to Jermain Taylor. Since then he's lost to Rosado, Cornelius Bundrage and Saul Roman -- not bad fighters, but hardly great contenders, either. His only win since 2006 was an '08 victory against journeyman Martinus Clay.

Martirosyan-Ouma will be paired with a promising bout between Mikey Garcia and Monty Meza-Clay. Top Rank is also putting the final touches on a February 27 fight between Mike Jones and former Mayweather opponent Henry Bruseles, but expect that to fall through like most times Bruseles is mentioned fighting anyone in the last four years or so.