Little Overblown Narratives?

That Oba Carr was the best contender to never win a title because he shared an era with *gasp* Quartey, Trinidad and De La Hoya.

 

If Mike Tyson can’t knock you out early ...he can’t win

 

George Foreman and Larry Holmes both went the distance with Evander Holyfield. ..when they were both past their primes ...Therefore both of them were better fighters than him in their prime

 

Sugar Ray Leonard had elite hand speed and was “good” at everything else ...just like Azumah Nelson had elite power and was good at everything else

 

That Marciano trained harder than other champion fighters.

 

Per Barrera: I am not sure with this. In the following Barrera fight, when he enters the ring, Lampley and Merchant bring up that in the fighter meeting with Barrera....hell, let them explain it, and it shoud start at the moment I m referencing

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Ok, so you hear that and maybe think oh, ok, maybe it was a narrative that is maybe correct. But then, I wish I remember what fight it is in, maybe even in the post Hamed fight in ring interview with Merchant, but I wouldn't swear to it be any means, but I know somewhere along the line Barrera said he already had the skills displayed in the Hamed fight. Sooooo, kinda ambiguous. What I think is true is that Barrera sees to have obviously decided that he could continue to fight in the manner he did in the Hamed fight going forward with his career. Maybe, and just speculation up ahead, Barrera, who everyone is always mentioning how intelligent he is, understood that if he wished to continue fighting fights at the level he had been, he was gonna have to start fighting smarter as opposed to harder

 

Well Duran did have a career at 154 in Aug 1978 before any of them.

 

He did. It's chronicled. I got one; that Seamus is gonna put down every little thing in Marciano's career just as I will do with Gerry Cooney.

 

I don't know so much. It's well documented how poorly Louis came into the fight. He never made the same mistake again and did indeed shore up a couple of weaknesses. I've never seen anyone claiming he made some sort of huge overhaul or changed styles. Truth be told it was more of an attitude adjustment than anything.

It's slim pickings when a loss less than 2 years into ones pro career is held so importantly. He didn't lose again for more than 14 years.

 

Mine is the oft repeated claim that Ali was bigger, stronger and had a better chin in the 70s compared to his prime in the 60s It’s rubbish. Ali weighed 210 in the first Liston fight and weighed 212 vs Williams and Terrell.

He weighed 217 vs Foreman.

The old chestnut about Ali being saved by Dundee in the first Cooper fight is another overblown myth.

Cheers All.

 

That Jimjeffries was 6'21/22

That Foreman lacked stamina.In his comeback he went 12 rds with young guys without taking to his stool,What he lacked in his first career was pacing.
That Jim Jeffries was 6'2 1/2 " tall,he was measured at an even 6 foot.

 

That old-timers were braver and better conditioned than today's boxers.

 

Lucky Punch: what is a lucky punch, the point of boxing is to punch your opponent. When I boxed the only shams who used that were sore losers. Yes there is an element of luck involved like in any sport, but you also create your own luck by putting yourself in the situation. Example Hasim Rahman vs Lennox Lewis often described as a lucky punch. Rahman hurt Lewis earlier in the round and Lewis was trying to stall the exchanges to get his composure back mainly by showboating until he was caught with a beaut by Rahman.

Similar to first Lucky win: Buster Douglas vs Mike Tyson No way was it luck, yes Tyson was below par and Douglas had the fight of his life, but he dominated the fight. Then hypocrisy kicks in wouldn't Holyfield also have had a lucky win as Douglas was awful in that fight. Ruiz Jr vs Joshua I, how was that luck he completely out boxed Joshua. A lucky win would be winning a points decison when you clearly lost. Maybe scoring a late knockout when your being dominated the whole fight (but the punch itself would hardly be luck) or if it got stopped for any other reason.

That Tyson, Dempsey and Frazier had poor defence they were constantly moving targets causing a glance or a deflection which is good defence, I'd also include Holyfield in this the master of absorbing punches by little head movements to create glancing shots, even when he went to war.

 

I think like most narratives there is a truth behind it. Barrera definitely adjusted/transitioned for the Hamed fight. In his earlier career though he was as much a backfoot boxer as he was a pressure fighter; in his fight with Eddie Cook for example he kept it at range for most of the fight and a lot of his good work came off the jab.

An adjustment definitely happened, but where it gets overblown is when people try to suggest it was a Rocky Balboa vs Clubber Lang transformation. Barrera always had those skills in his locker, but machismo probably took control around the time of the McKinney fight.

 

Barrera was a boxer to start his career. The big change in his style was when he started trying to blow guys out; that happened when he started fighting on ppv cards. His second style shift was going back to how he fought for the first 30, roughly, fights of his career.