Can Abel Sanchez turn around Hrgovic now at 34?

He needs to work on punching technique which in turn improves power. For a professional fighter with an extensive amateur career his technique is terrible.

At 34, he is probably too old to learn how to punch properly and generate the power a man of his size should generate. Even if he does make improvements in one camp, its going to take him constantly being drilled on it every day and becoming second nature to him. Otherwise, his punching technique will just revert to type once he is fatigued and under pressure.

In one word though the biggest issue he has is lack of power.

 

I'm an optimist at heart, and I like to believe in fighters when I can, especially under dogs.

So I think Hrgovic can make the changes to get him to that next level.

Imo it's his stamina and heart/drive/desire/fire what ever you want to call it that let's him down. He seems to be on autopilot a lot of the time instead of trying hard to win because he wants to.

Not to get all psychoanalyst but I reckon he got into and pursued boxing for his dad and once his dad passed away he kind of lost his drive. Hopefully he can find it again.

Regarding power, I reckon that is related to stamina, it takes a lot more energy to throw hard shots round after round and he has gotten comfortable throwing scoring shots without intent. With better stamina he could put more into his shots for longer.

 

No, he's probably trying to rip him off as much as possible.

 

Indeed...

Or, maybe he's consciously not putting in more power for precisely this reason - he already has stamina issues and given his power is decent rather than scary even when he does sit down on them, it doesn't make sense to blow too much gas on it?

I really think stamina is the biggest problem - with a 10-12 round tank he'd be a viable contender on cards... With it where it is now, he's not (and so isn't actually a contender) and doesn't really have punchers chance either because he can't/won't throw hard enough.

 

You improve by fighting good opposition, not by fighting journeymen.

 

And certainly hiding for a couple of years in your prime in a desperate attempt to cash in an undeserved mando (given at the time neither Zhang OR Hrgovic had done anything to deserve being in a mandatory fight - not that that's unusual!!) isn't good for your personal development any more than it is for building your reputation and earning power.

 

Lots of similarities with Hrgovic and Joyce. Great chin , high volume output (Hrgovic has recently improved in this under Sanchez) and decent skills but ....

big gaps in defence including very little head movement
mostly arm punches
little ability to throw meaningful combos

I think Hrgovic's ceiling will be similar to Joyce.

 

Sanchez is a very competent trainer. I see no reason why he can't improve upon what Hrgovic has.

 

Broadly true, other than... I think Joyce had pretty decent power and an okay gas tank - in both cases much less of a limiting factor than Hrgovic has, which means Hrgovic ceiling is much lower.

 

Definitely... But I can see plenty of reasons it would be fair not to give him too much **** if he can't, too.

Be interesting to see... And I'll believe it when I see it.

 

Hard to be active when no other decent hw is active either. plus there just aren't nearly the amount of fight cards per week there used to be. dying interest has killed the frequency of fights.

 

Broadly true...

It doesn't really land too well when you consider he spent two years of his prime, between Zhang and Dubois, fighting only Mark De Mori and Dempsey McKean.

Sure, the top contenders were tied up and that mandatory couldn't be used yet - but to only fight two mediocre journeymen?

If he was taking that kind of fight, he should've taken 2-3x as many of them - and that's if he didn't fancy something a bit better... Could he not have found a gatekeeper who'd jump at it, or was that too risky?

 

Maybe although I think Hrgovic has slightly faster handspeed than the glacially slow Joyce. Similar level IMHO plus Hrgovic chin isn't cracked (yet)

 

Sure, Hrgovic is quicker (hard not to be!), and chin assumed unbreakable until it is (hindsight not favouring Joyce, as you say!) - but if that doesn't translate into effectiveness, I don't see how they can be similar levels?

If Hrgovic has quicker hands but doesn't have a viable path to victory against the vast majority of contenders because he lacks the power for a punchers chance and lacks the stamina for cards... I don't see how he could be on a similar level to Joyce who could win contender level bouts by KO (Parker, for example, dumb though he fought Hrgovic would knock himself out before he knocked Parker out - the difference in power is huge!).

I had Joyce as a fringe contender, overhyped, but decent...
Hrgovic I genuinely see as a classic durable gatekeeper - never really out of it because of his chin, but without the viable paths to victory at the top levels because you see very, very few SHW's with an Amir Khan type chin, and very few at anywhere near that level have a comparably poor gas tank, even when old.

I just think the limitations add up too much - and without that chin, I don't think he'd be anywhere near where he is, either.