I forgot Cotto. Definitely he is a smart fighter. Hernandez was too. There is a difference between the ghost and cotto though. When the going gets tough cotto will back pedal and get on his bike, looking for a way out. Robert will adjust and switch to rough house tactics or whatever it takes to change the pace.
God i hate that fake-ass smile always plastered over Oscar's face... Without that smile and without people putting a mic under his cliché dripping nose i might have actually been a de la Hoya fan LOL
Problem is, Cotto is not only smarter, but craftier, stronger, and much more heavy handed...Robert switches to rough house tactic will only see him get elbowed and roughed up on the inside. Ghost has no chance.
I always respect you insights but I'm tired of hearing this... Inexplicably... Mayweather adjusted and DLH was suddenly getting tagged a lot as soon as he was just thinking about jabbing...
JMM has one of the highest ring IQ's I've ever seen. Cotto has also shown the ability to make adjustments, he actually made some pretty successful ones against Mayweather. As always, Mayweather's early career is getting completely overlooked. Genaro Hernandez was a versatile fighter, as was JLC. While neither is as high as JMM, they deserve mention.
:think Seems so. :yep JLC was a very intelligent pressure fighter and game-planned almost perfectly against Floyd, but I wouldn't say in general he possessed the higher ring IQ than Marquez or a couple of those other names. He should've been included on the list, though. :good
Cotto and JMM are both technically sound but thats also their weakness as well. Ring smarts does not always equal to how great someone's form. Both Cotto and JMM rely on trying to outbox their opponent but often they do not do something completely different to win. I think Castillo is the smartest as well. He had the perfect balance between technical / rough housing. He could fight on the inside as well as outside as well as rough house tactics. Cuts the ring off well and as soon as he was in range with Floyd, he tries to tie him up and hold and hit. Not that i think Robert is a better fighter than JMM or anything but i think Robert will have more success than JMM mainly bc he knows that he wouldn't be able to outbox and needs to fight out of character in order to have a shot to upset. Robert is mainly an outside fighter but since he went up to WW he fought more on the inside and smothering his opponents and use his conditioning to his advantage. IMO of a smart fighter are the ability to make it their fight.
JMM gets to much hype as a "technician". It's laughable. At the end of the day he's just a warrior with decent technical knowledge which does put him ahead of the pack but in an elite sense falls short. He could've easily had been KO'ed his last fight like Manny. He did get out boxed by Chris John and was fallen to the likes of punching bags like Katsidis. Please let this guy fight against an imitation like Broner and he'll get exposed easily.