Aspects of their game you'd like to see your favourite fighters work on?

As the title says really - What change or changes do you think would make one of your most liked fighters a more formidable opponent. Preferably somewhat realistic. I.E JuanMa can't suddenly have Mayweather's defence, Williams' stamina and Toney's chin like some people in the general seem to think he can gain in the 4 months before a Salido rematch....

It can be anything within reason, physically, technically or mentally really. I.E Saying Ortiz needed more determination & will and then looking like a genius on Saturday night

I'll start with Paulie: When he's boxing (especially recently) I think he should be more active with his combinations. There were times during the Cotto fight that even though Cotto was pretty open and not throwing a huge amount himself, Paulie didn't really throw much either. Obviously it'd be a lot more effective/important in closer fights as they're more point scoring punches but you get the general drift. He put together a few 5/6/7 punches combo's in the fight but only did it 2 or 3 times. If he gets the chance against a better operator in a closer fight then he better take it. I'm not asking for Williams style activity but I think it'd make him a bit better as a fighter


Just something to get us away from Khan/McCloskey/Cheated not defeated/Maxwell

Doesn't really have to be your favourite either I guess. Just fire away so we can all imagine these super-unbeatable war machines and then cry when we realise they're not real

 

I'd rather Martinez didn't take 2-3 rounds off in the middle-late stages of pretty much every fight. It's probably what cost him against Williams (even though he deserved the win).

 

I’ll pick three fighters…

George Groves: I’d love him to play to his strengths rather than create new weaknesses for himself. That means keeping his left hand up so he’s better defended and able to utilise his jab more easily. The other thing would be to make him move to the side when an opponent throws at him – he doesn’t defend tightly enough to sit on the ropes (not many guys are).

Juan Manuel Lopez: I wish he’d be more considered like he was against Luevano. He can still be exciting, but he used to set up his knockouts through smart boxing. He’s a hard puncher, but hardly destructive at his current weight, and he seems to have neglected this fact along with his own vulnerabilities. Hopefully his recent loss will encourage him to tighten up and think his way through fights.

Jean Pascal: The Hopkins fight and the latter rounds against Dawson were instructive. He needs to work on his stamina and on his balance. Once his plan A of fast flurries stops working he gets more and more open. So, I’d encourage him to spar 12 rounds, with four different fighters swapping out after three rounds each. That would force him to adapt and hopefully help him marshal his energy better.

 

Cotto learning to tie up and push the man back towards the ropes. Also punching witha bit more authority

 

Current and past, but the same for both: Haye and Hatton and their head movement. Pre-Tzyu, Hatton had good head movement, but then he came up with one excellent game plan for the title fight and seemed to keep fighting that way ever after. He was quite a versatile fighter, with good combinations, excellent footwork and balance and good head movement. he ditched the head movement and rarely recaptured his footwork which, I think, meant he could never get back his pre-tszyu form

haye needs to sort out his head movement if he is to get past Wlad's jab and not get caught flush. I think Haye and booth are pretty smart cookies and will sort this out.

 

Pac - Place some emphasis on defence. He doesn't need to war with everyone.

Ortiz - He's way too reckless when he's charging in. He makes himself too square, too.

Hopkins - Doesn't do much wrong, so I'll just say I think he needs to retire after he beats Pascal.

Khan - Try and move the upperbody and head a bit more (running isn't the only form of defence). His baby-steps when chasing a retreating target is annoying. Do something to block uppercuts, too.

Martinez - If he won't put his hands up, he should at least move his head. Takes too many shots for my liking.

 

Mares to not start as recklessly. He judges the pace of a fight pretty well i feel but often loses the first 2-3 rounds unnecessarily. He's a good enough boxer to feel his way into a fight. Could be pivotal vs agbeko on saturday

 

Paul Williams Work on a ramrod jab with more mid-range work. He can always slip into his shoulder-to-shoulder 100 punches a round gear and outwork his opponent of he needs to, but mixing his shots up better at mid-range and taking a more measured pace will make him less susceptible to losing rounds to more precise and effective hitters, and walking onto more massive bombs. He has more 'oomph' in his shots when he sits down on them, and if he could utilise his reach he'd be a Bob Foster-esque proposition in terms of range.

I know the opponent was meh, but I loved how Williams looked in the fight with Kolle. Looked for shots. Against everyone else he just throws. Hell of an impressive dimension, but if he wants to claw his way into title contention again he'll need to adapt. He still has a solid foundation to work on IMO, hopefully he as his Trainer are as smart as I think they are, and that P-Dub can work his way into title contention soon. I'd prefer for him to stay at 160 myself, he's the only guy that's really pushed the seemingly untouchable Martinez at 160 (the cynics will say that with proper prep' he'd always have starched Williams as he did, but I'm not sure he'd pull that off if they fought a third time myself!) and even without any adjustments, he'd smash Sturm, Macklin, Sylvester, OSHIDA lol N'Jikam to pieces without a doubt IMO.

 

I'm not gonna lie, I thought you were gonna say "Hopefully he and his trainer are as smart as I am"

Good post :good

 

I'm laughing at some of these fundamental changes 30 year old+ fighters are going to suddenly make.

This is hard to do properly. You have to have something of a blank canvas to do anything other than small changes. Like I could pick my favorite fighter, Kessler, and suggest all manner of changes but hardly any are going to be realistic at this stage. I think we've seen with Khan that making changes is a VERY long process, he's still got a lot of the same flaws just toned down slightly.

 

Hopefully they come up with a lot better than 'a bit of mid-range work'

I think they will try too. I don't think P-Dub was 'exposed' or has a 'glass chin' or all of these things the kids are saying nowadays, but nows the time for a re-shuffle IMO. To come back stronger than ever, and that's what I think they'll do.

At 154, he'd lay waste to 'Canelo'.

 

Jean Pascal has Taylor-itis. His stamina is just ****, naturally ****. He threw like 2 punches a round against Hopkins and Dawson and was still gassed. Some fighters are just like that. Taylor was coming out with all this bull that he'd improved his stamina and then got sparked in the last round against Abraham, and infact was noticeably tiring for the previous rounds.

 

Andy Lee: Moving his head

 

degale:if degale can sort out his punching technique and his over confidence in the 'pocket' his timing and natural ability should take him to a world title
ricky burns: i feel ricky needs to sit on his shits more, his right hand is appalling and amateur like, he also slaps with his body shots, done well to be a world champion considering, massive for the weight and unbelievably fit but the talk of him beating lopez is laughable, he couldnt gain the puerto ricans respect as the lack of punching power/technique

 

Does he squat and hit the rim? :think