In the footage I've seen of Robinson he rarely fights on the inside, instead mainly keeping it at long- to mid-range; as you would expekt from a tall, rangy fighter. So I wonder if there are any good examples of his inside game? Anyone have any footage? And how do you rate Robinson's ability on the inside?
I really rate Robinson on the inside, actually. He has a weakness there, he isn't physically a bull. Still, when LaMotta closes the distance on him he bridges the gap with timing and smarts. He throws lots of body blows in VI, sneaky punches that carry his full weight, often full-blooded haymaking swings on Jake's blind side and some short punches up top. His execution in that fight versus maybe the definitive pressure fighter is perfect. He turns in what is, at heart a great backfoot display but he has the tactical awareness to deploy the proper punches on the inside in the knowledge that he can't keep Jake at jabbing distance all night. I think you would need a combination off Jake's pressure AND great tactical awarness and speed on the inside. On the surface, that's Duran, to a degree, but it doesn't allow for the sizeable toll Robinson exacts on anyone who wants to get inside. His possible weakness on the inside (which as i've said, i don't feel really exsists) functions in a way as one big feint. Good luck to anyone who wants to press him.
Well he was competent on the inside, and in the clinch, rapping away to the body, but it was mainly due to his speed rather than a true inside game and skillset in that range. But the hooks and uppercuts, the likes of which disposed of Bobo Olson for one of the finest ko's ever, but like you have pointed out it wasn't quite at close range per say. He definitely had some level of inside game though, it was more an aspect of his game that would be revealed in the real gruelling fights, like Basilio 1 and 2 etc. Not the strongest part of his game though, for sure.
Yeah, I love how he catches LaMotta trying to get in. He especially displays great left hooks of every variety - picking LaMotta off with short, sharp counter hooks in the early goings and then taking out that lethal wide, almost leaping, hook when it's time to send him home. But still, it's not really inside fighting in the classical sense. I wonder if there are examples of him chest to chest, heads close, with an opponent and tearing it up, and how he perfomed under such circumstances. But, of course, he had not businnes doing this much, considering his body type. But would still be interesting to know.
That facet of his game was still pretty impressive..As he was forced to use it more often later in his career when he had clearly slowed and the legs couldnt carry him away as well anymore.
Well, no, he does look to reclaim distance, but if he wants to do that, who is going to stop him?! Check this out from around 7 seconds. There's a massive body punch and then he is head to head with Jake, a great infighter, dominates the exchange, then reclaims distance. That's the way to do it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7C-ihyCWjs
Yeah he hit hard enough to stun them with perfect shots, or at least make people like Jake respect him for a split second, which of course was all he needed to reclaim that distance. What a ring general.
Nice clip. Good display of Robinson's fantastic arsenal. He took a risk throwing that right to the body from the outside, though. But he seemed to almost always get away with it . Good example of how you can stray from the text book if you have the right timing, speed and balance.
Beautiful havent seen that in a while, now I want to go back in time and give Robinson some Roids and EPO and see how good he'd be then
Robinson was not built for the inside stuff, but he could flurry with speed and tangle the other guys arms up. A blasted kidney punch was often swooped in around the sides to stem the opponent vigour. He could also spin very well out of close combat through pulling down on your neck and skipping out. There was a vulnerability there though, and it would of been mightily interesting had the war not marooned the mid-range murderer that was Marcel Cerdan from coming to the states to touch gloves with Sugar.