Ismael Laguna

He often gets sold on here as a 'speed merchant', who uses his speed and physical gifts to his advantage, and there is a hint that he is lacking technically because of this. I believe it was McVey who said (it was a while ago) that Laguna was 'all style and no substance'.

I would disagree with the above. I think Laguna was a superb physical specimen; he was super fast, fit and carried some pop. But he also had some superb technical skills, and I will focus on his defence that very rarely gets mentioned round here, but I think he is as good as some of the other Panamanians that get lauded for defence.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s1hnvIG6cs[/ame]

Here is the first two rounds of his bout with Mando Ramos. Ramos was a good offensive fighter, as you can see here. He picks his shots well, throws them well, puts them together well and finds angles extremely well.

Laguna does a superb job, in the department of defence, against this offensive wizard.

Obviously, we all know Laguna has superb lateral and in-and-out movement. And this bout is no exception. He finds the room well - pivoting and side stepping to create new angles, as well as sliding backwards and forwards to lengthen or shorten his punches as it is required. He is generally making Ramos miss by changing his angle with his feet and setting himself up in the ideal location to counter.

An under-looked aspect of his defence is his head movement. Watch in the second round above as he slips Ramos' jab expertly and relaxed, then pops his own one back in retaliation. It is a superb job. He is making Ramos miss fractionally and allowing him to throw his own and land it. He also occasionally whilst in the pocket does some superb bobs and weaves under some of Ramos' punches and then uses his legs to set himself to counter, by pivoting. Again, superb stuff.

I'm annoyed the third round is not on the video above, as Laguna briefly goes into a shoulder roll and slips a Ramos jab, Ramos then doubles up a left hook - body then head, that Laguna catches on his right elbow then right glove. Really impressive stuff.

For all his dazzle and razzmatazz on the outside with his movement, Laguna can more than hold his own in the pocket with his defensive technical skills, that he is often cited not to have.

The one sleight on Laguna's defence that I do see, is that he was inconsistent. At times he would be evading punches with ease and at others he would be getting caught with stupid ones. I think in this regard he is like Buchanan in the regard that he has a good enough defence to make you notice he has a good enough defence, but it is not quite good enough for you to be really impressed by it.

Anyway, what do you guys think?

 

Yeh, his right hand is superb. I also really liked his jab in this bout he flicked it out and landed triple and quadruple jabs at one point. Real relaxed fighter witht hose long shots.

 

Agreed.

Again, I agree. The win over Ramos is the best I have ever seen Laguna in fact. I think he had become slightly better rounded by then, rather than when he beat Ortiz, and was finally coming into his own.

I was thinking about this today. In the first fight I definitely think they were the equal of each other when it came to boxing and it was Buchanan's grit and stamina that pulled him through by a point or two.

However, the rematch was much more of a boxing match. It has been a while since I seen it. But I remember Buchanan getting the better of the boxing. Was this because Laguna had aged after there first bruising encounter? Which IMO is entirely plausible. Or was it that Buchanan had improved as a boxer? Which is equally plausible, although I would have to favour the former.


McVey

Agreed.

Why do you think that? I definitely think there is substance to his style, and despite being a talented athlete he has some very good technical skills, as I have tried to highlight. And I have only focussed on his defence, I could focus on the technical aspects of his offence also.

Sensible guy.

Laguna was Panamanian remember, Puerto Rico is a fair bit away. And you should know age is only a number

Especially in boxing terms.

Fair enough.

 

Buchanan is superb IMO. Definitely Britains best boxer from a 'pure' point of view (excluding Driscoll) IMO.

 

I do think very highly of Driscoll.

Laguna IMO had an amazing career. He was the number 1 contender at Bantamweight and Featherweight* before winning the world title at Lightweight (and I'm pretty sure he wasn't the number 1 contender when he won that title which is slightly ironic). I think in this era Laguna would be regarded very very highly, like a Floyd Mayweather, as IMO he has the talent and the ability to move through the weights.

I have the Ramos fight, the two Buchanan fights and the first and third Ortiz fights which are good technical/tactical affairs. Especially the third one.

* Laguna's run as Featherweight number 1 contender is interesting mainly for the fact Saldivar came out of nowhere to defeat him and won the world title not long after to cap one of the most amazing years in one fighters career, coming from obscurity to world champion in 12 months.