Time - Fighters Who Needed It...

Carlos Monzon leaps forth like a startled Gazelle.

 

Pedroza was also a long distance specialist.

 

Zuri Lawrence.

 

Larry Holmes often gained the ascendancy in the latter rounds.

 

Muhammad Ali.

 

Zuri Lawrence.

http://www.boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=015802&cat=boxer

Look at how many of his 23 wins are by KO.

He needed time, definitely.

 

Right. Foreman and Bonavena come to mind, too.

 

Ali's plan was to outlast Foreman, though, however long it took..it just happened to only take eight rounds

He needed time, just not as much as some other times.

 

Matthew Saad Muhammad.

 

Michael Spinks, Carlos Palomino and Ken Norton. Michael and Carlos could hit like a ton of bricks, yet Michael did not produce a single opening round stoppage during the 1980s. (In fact, David Sears and Marvin Johnson were his two quickest victims, going in three and four rounds respectively.) Palomino's only first round victim was Arrendondo, during his geriatric 1997 campaign.

Norton only did this twice, but Bobick makes everybody forget that Ken was an even slower starter than Frazier. (Duane himself could hit, but was very candidly a self admitted slow starter.)

ThinBlack's mention of Saad Muhammad is to be credited as the inspiration for my choices here. I wanted to go with punchers who enjoyed a reputation for power.

I purposely omitted Mustafa Muhammad, because Eddie had eight opening round stoppages throughout the entire course of his career, and because temperament rather than necessity was responsible for many of his bouts lasting more than a few rounds. Kenny, Mike, Matt and Carlos really did need time to get going though.