What was wrong with Duane Bobick?

Big difference between slipping a right hand thrown by Ken Norton and one thrown by LeDoux. Bobick could not take a punch and he was wide open on his left side....not a good combination of defects fighting big punchers in the hwt division.

 

As i recall a lot of good judges at the time felt that the Bobick camp was picking Norton at just the right time and favoured him to win, I dont know if this got to Ken in some way, but he rather uncharacteristically turned first round Tiger in this fight, the changing of the guard was to be delayed a little.

 

I think Bobick lost a lot of confidence in himself when he was knocked out by Teofolio Stevenson in the Olympics. There were high expectations that he would win Gold and he was beaten down in highly visible fashion he never seemed to recover his mojo.

And then, when he turned pro he was fed a lot of weak opposition which reinforced his bad habits without proving anything meaningful.

He would have benefited from some tough fights against meaningful competition sprinkled in, i.e. bouts against guys like Pedro Lovell, Ron Stander, Earnie Shavers, Quick Tillis, which would have forced him to get more resourceful and disciplined with his defensive liabilities.

 

Norton was not going for the kill in round one. As per Norton himself he was feeling out Bobick, saw the opening for the right, it staggered his opponent so he then went for the kill.

 

What baffled me about Bobick was the fact that he was a 3 round amateur star, yet, when he turned pro he became known as a notoriously slow starter. I recall watching the Young Sanford fight and it was so obvious to me at the time that he didn't get going until the 4th round. From there, Young Sanford could do nothing, it was Duane all the way and I scored it 7-3. Now if i saw that as a kid I'm sure the top trainers saw it too. And aside from the Chaplin fight that was stopped on a cut, he gets blown away by Norton, Tate and Knoetze, all within 3 rounds. But he was an amateur star over 3 rounds............!? Go figure that one.

 

Much tougher competition.

 

This bafflement can extend to any amateur champion who becomes a slow starting professional. Michael Spinks, Carlos Palomino, and Norton himself. Ken's ONLY fast start in a meaningful bout was Bobick. Even Frazier had five first round knockouts, produced three opening first round knockdowns in title competition, should have been credited with a fourth, and won the opening stanza in at least four of his championship bouts.

 

Glass...throat.

 

Yeah. Marilyn Chambers and Linda Lovelace wouldn't have succumbed so easily.

 

:deal

 

Bobick = great amateur, but not a pro contender.

Some athletes are that way. Years ago Phil Sellers was a sensational college basketball player and led Rutgers into the NCAA finals. But his pro career fizzled.

 

Pretty amazing that opponents in major fights simply could not miss Bobick with a right hand. Once tagged with a big right, Bobick seemed to freeze and turn into a 6 foot 3 inch heavy bag.

I guess if you take a few steps back and look at the big picture, 48-4 equals a very productive pro career.

I researched Bobick's amateur career and was not aware as an amateur Bobick was knocked cold for 10 minutes by Ron Lyle. An omen I suppose.

 

white and couldnt fight

 

I always thought Bobick was limited athletically and that this was his downfall at the higher levels. I remember seeing him fight Bunny Johnson on TV and thought he was strong and well-trained, but lumbering and kind of stiff.