It's called boxing not track and field. Anyone can run away and not get hit. A boxer can stand in range of his opponent hitting him without grabbing him or getting hit more in return. Keeping extreme distance, or smothering the opponent's offense with clinches is the least skillful thing you can do. I love to see defense in fighters like Roberto Duran, This content is protected Mike Tyson, This content is protected and James Toney. This content is protected Look at them slipping, bending, blocking, it's beautiful. When Duran fought Palomino they went toe to toe the whole fight boxing in a phone booth and Duran somehow managed to make most of Palomino's shots miss. The ones that didn't outright miss, Duran would deflect off a glove or the side of his arm. Then the ones that connected he'd ride with and take the momentum out of them. Look at Salvador Sanchez makin' 'em miss. This content is protected This one killed me. Dwight "The Camden Buzzsaw" Qawi. At about half a minute in he just clowns this guy daring him to hit him over and over. This content is protected These are complete fighters who can do defense and offense too.
Yes and I would add sugar Shane Mosely to that list alongside Toney ect,in his pomp Mosely was something else,have to add that I never tired of watching Floyd Mayweather and to back up your point I totally agree Floyd never did anything as bad as Andre Ward who thinks he has a supreme right to come out with no intentions of hurting his opponent and as we seen v SK he's so negative he'll run head first and wrestle knowing he's the only guy boxing today who gets a pass for it.
Boxing is like a live chess match . Some fighters are one dimensional the technician is the cerebral thinker who will use minimal energy to win and will feint, slip , parry , bob and weave and will infight when necessary and use the ropes , clinch , hold when in trouble or need a rest . They will set traps to punish or ko a opponent a true general of the ring. I enjoy a good brawl but i will always have time for the artist's of the ring.
Except boxing is almost the opposite of a chess match. Chess is cerebral and boxing is nearly all physical. You can have all the skill in the world but if you are weak and slow with a glass chin you're getting ****ed up. You have to be freakishly fast to do what Mayweather did or freakishly strong to do what Klitschko does. If you are going to admire fighters for those gifts I don't know why you can't admire fighters for their capacity to take a punch, or for their stamina which "mere brawlers" frequently have in abundance. Poetry is about brains. Boxing is about guts. If you want to admire athleticism, watch track, watch figure skating. If you want to watch someone outsmart another person, then watch a game show. If you want to see competition then watch basketball. We watch boxing to see a fight. It's not tag. It's not hide and go seek. It's a vicious battle by trained warriors.
Thanks for you perspective. This is the second post in a row you have singled me out for. I know where this is headed and haven't joined in this forum to become in feud's or make enemies. Just one thing you should consider is that fact is you are right does not mean that people are wrong.
Favourite technical fighter to watch: Salvador Sanchez, always bouncy with terrific combo and lateral movement and great right hand. Ricardo Lopez, knows every punch in the book without being too slick. Nacho style. Floyd mayweather, never rooted for him to win in any fights lol, but check hook, stab jab, pull counter, shoulder roll uppercut combo, elbow in fighting and remarkable uppermost movement and feet. I have to admit he is a master. Least favourite so call technical fighter: Andre ward, terrible keep winning but terrible. Jab grab style. Bernard Hopkins, only exciting when he got punched, leading with head and right hand, get out of the way or its your fault if you get butted kind of style. Lara, Rigo, just boring and inactive.
Nice post... Boxing though, isnt a vicous battle between two warriors, its not hit and not get hit, and its not even necessarily the sweet science. It can be all those things, but they dont define it. Boxing is whatever the superior fighter makes it. If the superior fighter is mayorga or provodnikov... its a vicous battle... if its mayweather or ward, its a science. Boxing is... a stage... a canvas... in which the superior one will make it whatever they desire, and if they succeed, it IS that. No more or less valid a form. Indeed, a large part of boxing is two fighters struggling to transform their engagement into their version of boxing. And whoever succeeds at that, usually wins the fight. And boxing is too vast, too encompassing, and too complex, to simplify why people watch it under one umbrella of 'we watch for a fight'. Mayweathers, wards, hopkins, ect... many many many of their fans tune in to see ring mastery (IQ) and skill as much as a fight. And that reason is as valid as any other. But, real good post. I agree that ring predators, the aggressors, the brawlers, dont get their credit...
And to piggy back off of what you're saying boxing doesn't have limitations. A lot of fans want to show that they don't like the way this guy fights so they are critical of that style not respecting that style. You may not like pure boxers, but you have to respect them and you may not like sluggers but you have to respect them. Fighters train the body and fight to win and win by any means necessary within the rules. To watch Floyd in the ring change his style to either offense or defense fascinates a lot of us, but Floyd is Floyd. Can't get caught respecting Floyd. To see James Toney take Nunns shots all night and not get frustrated and bait Nunn into a counter left and take his title was genius. To see Duran at 38 land those body shots that set up the left hook and hands of stone right hand to put Barkley on the canvas AFTER taking Barkley helacious left hook that took Van Horn out was shocking but not shocking because it was typical brutal Duran. To see Foreman take Frazier apart in fight 1 was brutal, and to see Ali show his absolute best skill against Cleveland Williams is the apex of what a beautiful mover does. What's missing is the lack of respect of of other styles. We'd rather criticize the way this guy fought instead of realizing the genius in which they fought and it doesn't matter whether you're a mover, slugger, pure boxer, or block and parry(Arguello and Louis).