Fighters who were crap in the gym, but good come fight night
 

Who are they?

Re: Fighters who were crap in the gym, but good come fight night
 

The guy in my avatar, obviously.

Re: Fighters who were crap in the gym, but good come fight night
 

definitely.joe louis was another who took it easy on his sparring partners

Re: Fighters who were crap in the gym, but good come fight night
 

Ali after his comeback

Re: Fighters who were crap in the gym, but good come fight night
 

Carlos Monzon was, in his unorthodox training methods, not a "gym warrior". In fact, he thought that was foolishness. He was quoted as saying "young fighters, especially Americans, leave too much of themselves in the gym when they battle in sparring too much, and whenever I talk to a young fighter I tell them they shouldn't do that", and that he "worked only on certain things" when in training, that "the body needs a rest". He also cut down his two pack a day smoking habit to a pack or less while in training (lol). His efforts inside the ring don't need any elaboration from me.

Re: Fighters who were crap in the gym, but good come fight night
 

Louis' sparring partners often had to wear additional body padding as protection from the Brown Bomber's punches.

Re: Fighters who were crap in the gym, but good come fight night
 

george nicholson used to knock the bomber about in sparring,but did end up KO'd himself occasionally

Re: Fighters who were crap in the gym, but good come fight night
 

John Garfield testified this about Marciano from experience behind his own two eyes.

Re: Fighters who were crap in the gym, but good come fight night
 

Was just about to add Marciano, SQ, when I saw your post.

Re: Fighters who were crap in the gym, but good come fight night
 

Anybody else come to mind here, JG?

Re: Fighters who were crap in the gym, but good come fight night
 

Another typical Cotto20 thread.

Re: Fighters who were crap in the gym, but good come fight night
 

Marciano -- of all the elites, D -- jumps to mind immediately as the WORST sparring.

Have seen ATG's have off days or dog-it, but never look as embarrassing or clumsy as the Rock. Ham-'n-eggers looked like Sugar Ray Robinson against him.

Re: Fighters who were crap in the gym, but good come fight night
 

Tyson was a gym dodger during his second title run and done no too bad.

Re: Fighters who were crap in the gym, but good come fight night
 

In Skehan's biography of Marciano, I read that "Time!" would be called in panic as soon as he started throwing his Suzy Q at Cesar Brion. Another time, Dempsey is supposed to have told Rocky to nail a prospect of his "on the button" if he left himself open, which Marciano did, causing a nasty gash and quickly ending the session.

From what Skehan wrote, the Rock was eager to spar when he first originally began training for the sport, but that his initial enthusiasm backfired quickly. You knew the guy, and I don't know how accurate Skehan's account is, but it gives me the impression that Marciano had to hold back if he was to get any opportunities to spar at all. Skehan also indicated that he could explode in anger when sucker punched, like he briefly did when his kid brother socked him in a Maine exhibition. (Apparently, Peter reminded him in a clinch that he was about to commit fratricide. With a temper like that, I wouldn't be inclined to test him either!)

Re: Fighters who were crap in the gym, but good come fight night
 

Kenny Norton was another guy that didn't always have his best game in the gym but saved it for fight night. And Ray Mercer.