The Lost Art Of Pressure Fighting

My first thought when seeing this thread title was ":huh What about Salido on Saturday?" But now I see why you've thought of this.

You're probably right that it's a dying art but I'd say that it's always been a style that gets beaten at a truly elite level. Not many pressure fighters are doing well at the moment though granted.

 

I gave him 3 in total. But yeah, he got well beaten and looked that way right from the first bell IMO.

What's strange though is how the knockdown right at the end of the 5th could've ended the fight had there been a bit longer left in that round. Was a beautiful hook and turn from Juanma. That nearly won him the fight almost out of nothing.

 

I think educated pressure is different to general aggrsssion. Educated pressure shouldn't be understated, it's not easy to counter for back foot fighters in the same vein as a brawler is. Julio Cesar Chavez is one of the biggest examples.

 

Jose Luis Castillo is outside of the last five years but he was one of the best educated pressure men of our era. His first fight against Mayweather was a great example of it, I had it a draw but that's not the point. Superb technique on the left hook, great usage of range coming in, not swarming, but piling on the pressure at his own range and then closing the gap. He was different to Chavez in that Chavez' best punch was his right hand.

Jesus Chavez wasn't great but he was recent and good with it also.

 

Good thread.

There's a difference between a genuine pressure fighter and simply an aggressive, high octane fighter who just gets hit a lot.

Compare the defensive abilities of Julio Cesar Chavez and Roberto Duran, to say.... John Murray :yep

 

Henry Armstrong.

 

it's strange, because I never classed Duran as a real educated pressure fighter in the technical sense the way I did with Chavez.

The way I normally credit Hopkins with mastering boxing, I credit Duran with mastering fighting. He was a fighter, he tore into opponents, but the level of skill was just unreal, the most skilled fighter on film imo. That's not to say he was the best, because that deals with effectiveness, not just skill. But in terms of fighting skills, Duran and Whitaker are at the top of the whole pile ever imo. Duran wasn't coming in methodically the way Chavez did. Another thing which seperated Duran from guys like CHavez and Castillo in styles was that Duran never really used to cut the ring down in the proper way. He hardly would step sideways the way Chavez would do, which us the proper way. Duran would just close the distance with his fast feet and by launching lead right hands and then with the best combos of punches ever to not let the man escape.

Duran wasn't an educated pressure fighter imo, just a fighter, and the best at it Some fighters switch between offence and defense very well, like Mayweather, but Duran was almost always on offense, and had an amazing defense all the while. He mixed offense and defense better than Mike Tyson did.

also, for the thread I'd like to nominate Israel Vasquez

 

he said the last five years lad

I made the same mistake too

 

Nor me, but he sure could adapt and implement that style, better than most pressure fighters I've seen could do.

:good

 

This thread busts pipes.