Who are some of the best awkward fighters?

James Toney
Ola Ofalabi
Bernard Hopkins
Roy Jones Jr
Carl Froch
Sakio Bika
Paul Williams
Ricardo Mayorga
Luis Collazo
Ricky Hatton
Junior Witter
Prince Naz

 

good call on Ola Ofalabi

 

Muhammad Ali

 

Herol Graham

 

emmanuel augustus

 

Renaldo Snipes comes to mind at heavy -- don't know how to describe it other than just a strange rhythm. Never knew if he was coming or going. Opponents couldn't predict him because he didn't know what he was about to do.

Also at heavy, Razor Ruddock and Ossie Ocasio.

Agree on Michael Spinks and Hamed, for sure.

Adolpho Viruet had kind of a sideways crab-walk style that gave a lot of people trouble.

Eusebio Pedroza was another awkward guy. Threw his punches kind of short-arm and from uncommon angles.

 

Yeh, nice one. Some call him the Leonardo DiCaprio of boxing.

 

Hamed ~ very different and awkward punches.
Pacman ~ off balance after a power punch.

 

My top 3 awkward fighters:

1. Marvin Hagler
2. Vitali Klitschko
3. Ken Norton


Marvin Hagler was the greatest awkward fighter ever and was one of the best fighters ever to step into a ring. His awkwardness stems from being the best example of a supremely successful ambidextrous (or close to ambidextrous) boxer. Switching stances on the fly created havok with opponents. He had a knack of using a right jab or hook from southpaw stance to set up a straight left, then twisting the waist and spinning in such a way as to next fire a right cross from the totally unexpected orthodox stance. A lead left set up a bizarre punch of this sort to seriously hurt Hearns who was knocked out a second later.


Vitali Klitschko was a world kickboxing champion in his youth and the coming-from-the-side and waist spinning mechanics involved in many kicks transferred over to many of his punches. The result is that many of his punches are wide using the speed generated from the waist spin and the wide arc to give the punch strength and momentun (which depends on both mass and speed). For somene of Vitali's physical dimensions, the power thus generated can be tremendous. Although Vitali does have a monster straight, down the pipe, right hand, he also has a wide looping right hand that's the right hand equivalent of a right round kick. These punches look very awkward but have KO power. Norton simply was awkward because of the weird angles he fired from and the strange trayectory his punches took. Take a look at several of his fight to get an idea

 

The ones I can remember at the moment, and I'm sleepy:

Rafael "Bazooka" Limon- wide wide punches that connected

Ken Norton- stance I found odd looking

Edwin Valero- robot like

Manny Pacquiao- wild style especially when younger

 

Loads! Locche, Whitaker,Calzaghe,Hopkins,Wright,Johnson,Ali,Wlad Klit, theres crap loads of them!

 

Vitali Klitschko right now

until recently it was Darchinyan

 

Indeed

 

Augustus Greb RRJ Monzon Locche Naseem etc..

 

many things but i think movement is the key part, wiered footwork that is odd but it gets them to a to b and can mess up another guys timing, hamed changed stance, leaned back then moved foreward at such a rate with very little additional movement it is hard to understand what he is doing.

also this adds to angles, where the direction of the punch is out of view or is coming from a direction that doesnt make conventional sense. again naz in the euro title fight threw a left cross...switched his feet then threw a right cross. :huh the guy didnt have a clue. and it made him think and thinking isnt the best plan when a fist is coming towards you.

carlos maussa is the wieredest and ugly style i have seen at the top level. and him sparking vivian harris was due to harris not having a clue on what maussa was doing.


calzaghe is odd becuase he is an aggressive southpaw who i think best way to comment on his style is a boxer/swarmer. he uses a jab yet throws some 100+ punches a round...then sets you up for a left hook (again a left hook from a southpaw strance off the back foot has no foundation)

and the word awkward implies that they dont work or fight the right way. either not staying upright or maybe staying too uprigth ala vitali, not throwing conventional punches, crossing there feet, switching to southpaw to orthy or having no stance at all. maybe they drop there jab for lead crosses and left hooks...which can work but are unconvetional and hard to read and if you are tagged on the way in it is usually lights out.

a jab is usually followed by a right cross then a left hook. so by dropping the jab there is no way to predict what they are doing.

the most technically secure awkward fighter is for me james toney. he doesnt adopt a jab sometimes he lays on the ropes, he switches too southpaw mid combination. ala nunn and robinson, throws very tight quick combinations while also throwing off hand roundhouses.

his shoulder roll also makes it hard to attack him striaght on as a right cross is pretty sure to come back if you jab or throw a right hand ala the ruiz fight.