“Pace yourself” is a losing strategy, why do world class fall for this nonsense?

Discussion in 'World Boxing Forum' started by Ricdog, Sep 21, 2022.



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  1. Ricdog

    Ricdog Active Member Full Member

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    Seeing the Canelo vs GGG 3 fight once again makes me argue that the whole “pace yourself to conserve energy” strategy is absolute nonsense. And especially if you do it at the very beginning of the fight when energy is fully charged. More often than not this strategy translates to fighters purposely losing rounds without putting up a fight. And their reasoning is some make believe fantasy that they will make those rounds up later. I thought De La Hoya vs Trinidad was a textbook example for the ages as to why a fighter should never willingly throw away rounds, but it seems like such lessons fell on deaf ears.

    I understand if there is worry about not having enough energy due to conditioning or age, but this is no excuse. Go to the body to take steam of your opponent. Or be like B-Hop in doing small movement with defensive jabs. But to simply do nothing for the first 8 rounds, looking at GGG and Loma, just seems wasteful. There is no guarantee that your opponent will tire out sufficiently enough for you to make a KO comeback.

    What do you guys think? Am I missing something, is there a reason why this is a good strategy at times?
     
    Ricdog, Sep 21, 2022
    Ricdog, Sep 21, 2022
    #1
  2. chacal

    chacal F*** the new normal Full Member

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    you have no clue about boxing. NONE.
     
    chacal, Sep 21, 2022
    chacal, Sep 21, 2022
    #2
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  3. KernowWarrior

    KernowWarrior Bob Fitzsimmons much bigger brother. Full Member

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    Yeah what do GGG and Loma know about boxing?
     
    KernowWarrior, Sep 21, 2022
    KernowWarrior, Sep 21, 2022
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  4. Hanz Cholo

    Hanz Cholo Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Had he not paced himself he likely would have gotten KO’d like many were anticipating.
    He is over 40 after all.
    That has to be considered.
     
    Hanz Cholo, Sep 21, 2022
    Hanz Cholo, Sep 21, 2022
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  5. The Real Lance

    The Real Lance Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Because you don't blow your wad in the first round... Every boxer has a pace best suited for their style and condition. Not rocket science...
     
    The Real Lance, Sep 21, 2022
    The Real Lance, Sep 21, 2022
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  6. Ricdog

    Ricdog Active Member Full Member

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    True, Canelo was throwing hard shots to keep him defensive. You don’t think he would have had a better shot going strong early?
     
    Ricdog, Sep 21, 2022
    Ricdog, Sep 21, 2022
    #6
  7. exocet76

    exocet76 Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    You are missing something...
     
    exocet76, Sep 21, 2022
    exocet76, Sep 21, 2022
    #7
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  8. Ricdog

    Ricdog Active Member Full Member

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    Which is? Some explanation would be nice
     
    Ricdog, Sep 21, 2022
    Ricdog, Sep 21, 2022
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  9. miniq

    miniq Tyson Fury Undisputed HW Champion 18/5/24 banned Full Member

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    Pacing yourself correctly is like one of the most important things in boxing

    Plenty of high level bouts where guys could match their opponents pace but choose not to.

    Young GGG could walk Canelo down...at 40 he knows if he tried that his head would come off.
     
    miniq, Sep 21, 2022
    miniq, Sep 21, 2022
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  10. DoubleJab666

    DoubleJab666 Dot, dot, dot... Full Member

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    Would Usain Bolt win a marathon?
     
    DoubleJab666, Sep 21, 2022
    DoubleJab666, Sep 21, 2022
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  11. kirk

    kirk l l l Staff Member

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    Just because it has been a losing strategy in a minority of fights, doesn't make it a losing strategy in general.

    There is a reason it is so prevalent the higher up you go in class.

    The reason isn't because all these professionals at the highest levels, with lifetimes of experience, are all mistakenly employing a losing strategy.
     
    kirk, Sep 21, 2022
    kirk, Sep 21, 2022
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  12. kirk

    kirk l l l Staff Member

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    What G did against Canelo, and Loma against Lopez, wasn't just about gas tank, imo. Though that I'm sure played a part for G.

    But it was also about, being too cautious of power, positioning, speed of their opponent, ect.
     
    kirk, Sep 21, 2022
    kirk, Sep 21, 2022
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  13. Ricdog

    Ricdog Active Member Full Member

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    Okay, when do you think this strategy works best? Like are there classic examples where a fighter would prefer, or not prefer, to use this approach?

    I like how you brought up power and speed in another comment. That definitely could play a part.
     
    Ricdog, Sep 21, 2022
    Ricdog, Sep 21, 2022
    #13
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  14. exocet76

    exocet76 Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Well you have to pace yourself for various reasons.
    Firstly a fighter might be pretty solid chin wise. however when gassed is far more vulnerable. They lose then the ability to see or defend against heavy fire.
    So in a very small way I can see where you're coming from however if a boxer is completely gassed then it's merely a matter of when they get stopped therefore no chance to overturn the flow of a fight.
    The recent era has seen many taking gear and weight cutting to have a power advantage so weathering the early storm isn't that unreasonable as a strategy as many fighters can only do half of the 12 before shooting their load...
     
    Last edited: Sep 21, 2022
    exocet76, Sep 21, 2022
    exocet76, Sep 21, 2022
    #14
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  15. kirk

    kirk l l l Staff Member

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    A fighter that paces themselves only for gas reasons (so I am not including G and Loma here) do so because they've arrived there through trial and error over years and years in the gym.

    There will be less high level examples of fighters losing due to not pacing themselves properly because by the time they've reached that level they have their pace down pretty well for the most part, though every so often a top fighter gets their pace wrong, or miscalculates, or simply has crap stamina. So at the top level there will likely be more examples of over pacing than under pacing.

    Hard to answer your question because there's too many variables in each matchup, but I suppose traditionally it's better to go for broke against softer punchers, chinny fighters, or fighters who have bad gas issues.

    I do want to make sure I add that I agree it was a mistake for Golovkin to fight so tentatively. The reason this was a massive mistake is he has a good chin, canelo has gas issues, and it's not improbable that Golovkin could have won the championship rounds bigger than he did.

    So in this fight I agree it was clearly a mistake.
     
    kirk, Sep 21, 2022
    kirk, Sep 21, 2022
    #15
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