I think that Ray Leonard's left hook is one of the great underrated/overlooked punches of all-time. And Tommy Hearns's left hook to the body. It's always Hearns's straight right hand, Hearns's jab, Hearns's ability to box at range, Hearns's chin isn't up to his other talents. His left hook downstairs was awesome.
The general refinedness and technical skill of both the Finnegan brothers imo, Chris especially. Kevin was the cuter of the two, but Chris also had a very intelligent and refined style in his own right that goes quite unappreciated at times. They both had very good fundamentals to go with the obvious toughness (as well the susceptability to cuts and injuries), but it too often tends to overshadow their grasp of several of the finer points of boxing. Whatever his other faults, Calzaghe was a naturally intelligent fighter with an adaptability and level of ring generalship that sometimes slips under the radar in comparison to his speed, workrate, chin, ungainliness, stamina and recuperability (and yes, as well as the relatively appalling general level of opposition). I think his physical strength gets underrated too, it was especially notable against Hopkins at times as well as the much poorer types like Bika. Mind you, he was a massive supermiddle and a pretty big light heavy too, so I could be overrating him here relative to his size. Where Pacquiao's arc of progression under Roach is concerned, I'm a bit less impressed than some. What can get overlooked at times though is his ability to sometimes draw/feint people into exchanges and counter them mid-exchange with quite impressive timing, especially the fighters like Marquez and Cotto who have good timing themselves. It's the most notable improvement he's made imo but get's less of a mention than his improved right-hand, footwork, pivoting, defence, blah blah blah etc. Like a more physically gifted and harder hitting version of Flash Elorde in some ways, albeit not quite as smooth, intelligent, adaptable or well schooled. Whenever we talk about all-time great ring generals like Moore, Monzon, Ortiz, Benny L and the like, I never hear Elorde mentioned and the man is as good a ring general I've ever set eyes on or read about tbh. Dealt with loads of different styles and always seemed to be able to dictate his own terms regardless of what he was up against. Were it not for cuts at the very death in what were probably his two biggest fights ever - Saddler II at feather and Ortiz I at lightweight - he might well have been a three division champion. I think that the deceptive lack of marquee names in his great super featherweight reign hurts him a touch more than what's fair in comparison to the other great 130 campaigners like Arguello, Chavez, Nelson etc. Speaking of Chavez and Nelson and their opposition, I rarely hear anyone talk about Mario Martinez. Excellent and underappreciated operator, he was, and just a knat's knacker away from holding wins over Nelson and Fenech iirc. The way that JCC dismantled him was impressive as ****.
I agree strongly that Calzaghe was a good ring general and it wasn't just his workrate that let him prevail against a lot of different styles- he was a talented fighter. Agreed on the drawing/feinting. The uppercut he tricked cotto into was spectacular, quite the draw. When I talk about Pacquiao's improvements i generally think this is the biggest change apart from a serviceable right hook. He's become a better trapsmith than he used to be.
Mickey Walker had underrated skill. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72JmkThYXZ8[/ame] That is pretty damn fundamentally good outboxing skill for a guy who's supposed to be a rip and tear brawler swarmer type.
Yeah, nicely put. You have to credit Manny bigtime for being both willing and able to take such a skill onboard when a lot of fighters with his physical talents would be happy enough to rely solely on them and not much else. Roach knows the crack though, in that a lot of trainers neglect teaching their charges that type of thing and thus the effectiveness of it being increased when others can neither do it nor spot it often enough. It's gotten Hopkins by too to a greater degree, his opponents often being incapable of the sort of japery that he's built his castle on. Thinking about if it would've had the same effect against other good trapsmiths of the type generally absent nowadays gives me a sneaking hunch that old Nard might have a touch of the flat track bully him that wouldn't always sway against certain types.
Maybe my favourite performance by Mickey, this one, with the reversal of the roles thing being done so well.
Agreed. And it's a tactic that only works better and better as Manny goes up weight classes. You often hear people malign Roach(rightly) for his lack of ability to teach more specialized defensive techniques and infighting but simultaneously ignore the adjustments he has made that make Pac better against the big guys. The feints, drawing, and combos clearly have resulted in a situation where you see even a lot of the brave guys like Cotto and Mosley looking afraid or tentative to throw. They bite on the feints, or they throw when they see an opening. That doesn't mean they don't hit Pacquiao- they do, but more often than not they catch 3-5 gloves in the face whether they land or not. Very discouraging, and you see them having tons of trouble reestablishing a rhythm once it begins. Hopkins wins on patience, great straight punching, and a grasp of the fundamentals that far exceeds anything his competitors have to deal with. Put him in with Andre Ward and he'd get mullered.
Yeah, it's suited the weight-jumping malarkey perfectly as against Marg, Cotto, Mosley, Hatton etc, though I don't think our Wicky got much of chance to be nervous about being countered before he got treated to a nice vertical look at the ring lights. It helps that Pacquiao isn't afraid to take a shot or two in order to make a trap pay off properly. Ironic that you mentioned Walker too; he was another dab hand when it came to being suited toward taking on bigger men, moreso than Pacquiao in a lot of ways. Greasy speed and big targets eh?..... I'm a bit surprised that Pacquiao's inside game hasn't picked up tbh. The same with Khan. It isn't as though Roach hasn't worked with good inside fighters before with the likes of Starling etc and the good close quarter types that Futch either developed or took under his wing. I suppose you only expect a fighter to absorb so much knowledge over a particular span of time though, and obviously Freddie had a big job on his hands with other weaknesses when he took Amir on, but it still baffles me a bit with the lack of inside technique.
The mentioning was intentional :deal. A lot of people say that Pacquiao would be better if he was a more stable platform and put more rotation into his shots like a Duran. I disagree. I think that as the current package right now any real big orthodoxy adjustments would cut his strengths in half. The funny thing is that I was watching Pacquiao's younger days and I was watching him trade uppercuts and hooks pretty competently at close range. I don't really see him doing that anymore. Perhaps it was dropped intentionally? As for Amir.... I was happy with his last performance. He needs to stop pretending to be Pacquiao and take advantage of his best strengths. I like him best in the form of the Paulie fight. He did a good job of boxing the boxer there.
Re: Walker - hearing the penny drop isn't a notable quality of mine . Technical term is 'dozy ****', I do believe.... Agreed on the Duran thing, I don't think Pacquiao has ever had the natural offensive footwork, transitional movement or defensive nous of someone like Duran in order to pull that style off as effectively, and certainly not at such an advanced stage. Like you say, if it ain't broke.... I'm a bit hazy about his earlier career with regards to the infighting, it's been awhile since I watched any of that stuff. Years in fact. I think I might remember some of what you're talking about in the Ledwaba fight (?). Maybe you're right or maybe Roach gave it up as a bad job..... Agreed on Khan, I don't mind him at all. Certain technical things will always hold him back quite clearly, but he has enough physical talent, willingness and bravery to do well enough. I'll be interested to see how he does against someone who can slip/block/parry and counter effectively rather than just slip and block like Judah and McCloskey did without being able to get off with their own stuff. He did well against them in taking control but I thought they made him miss and look fairly ordinary on the odd occasion despite the blinding speed. Solid kid though, you'd be hard pressed not to wish him well.