Best examples of "textbook" fighters schooling unorthodox fighters.

And that my friends is the difference between good fighter and a great one.

 

Donaire - Darchinyan

Mayweather - Judah

Cotto - Judah

The two Judah fights werent schoolings until after the 3rd/4th rounds

 

Cheers.

I always remember his entrance to the Kevin Kelley fight (one of my all-time favourite matches, regardless of weight class). He kept dancing and dancing while Kelley was waiting in the ring for him, and he became furious, haha. He even started yelling for Hamed to just come down to the ring, and his trainer had to calm him down. Then Hamed finally gets there, does his fancy flip over the rope, and starts dancing in Kelley's face, almost prompting a fight right there, before the bell. Pure Hamed. The fight itself was even better, of course.

And aye, good old Sweet Pea is a legend.

I just watched the video again, and Hamed actually does land a few decent shots. Nothing amazing, but more than I remembered.

 

Do you have a link for the full fight?

All I can find is massive compilations of Barrera pasting him, I really wanna see the whole thing again.

 

Hamed was never, and I'll repeat for those who are in denial, Hamed was NEVER an elusive target. Watch his fights with Kelley and Sanchez. Does that look like an elusive target too you? He was built up, and having him favorite against a Barrera coming off such a dazzling display against Salud was one of the stupiest things yet to happen.

Barrera does not get the credit he deserves for his skillset. People say he is the less skilled out of the fab four of his era, well that is just plain nuts. Watch him destroy the likes of Croft, Magana, Salud, and Sanchez, and tell me he is the less skilled as he throws every single punch in the book.

Hamed had no idea how good Barrera was, and neither did we at the time.

 

Mayorga vs de la Hoya.

 

Watch his fights with Robinson and Badillo for examples of his elusiveness. Of course, one could easily argue that he was only elusive due to the opposition, but you said 'never', and that is clearly incorrect. Early in his career he was regarded as a very elusive fighter, which many said was due to the influence of Herol Graham.

Barrera was definitely an excellent fighter with an underrated skillset. Apparently Hamed's camp kept showing Hamed the video of Barrera's KO loss to Jones to build his confidence. After seeing that, Hamed must have thought that he could easily bomb Barrera out in an exchange, given the fact that everyone was raving about his power at the time, and the way that many thought Barrera would make the fight a brawl. Barrera, of course, proved many people wrong that night.

 

Couldn't agree more. That Nas was the same Nas we'd always seen. The difference was the opposition. Barrera was just so much better than anyone Nas had ever fought.

 

Exactly.

Hamed was getting tagged even against lesser fighters. We should have saw the alarm bells, and known that a fighter as well schooled as Marco would tag Hamed from opening bell to last. He did.

 

I know this is going to sound ridiculous (in terms of the fact that he faced better opposition later) but if you watch all his fights, he was more elusive before he went to america, he always did it sometimes but it was then that he really just looked for the one punch, and there was a lot more standing still trying to dodge shots, rather than moving and dodging like he did before. I think the fact he realised he could take power punches from big hitters as well led to it a bit.

Im not trying to say he was ever like Whitaker or anything but its definitely one part of his game that declined.

Anyways Im not and I hate it when people do take it away from Barrera, he fought a great fight and the best man won on the day.

 

I think the only advantage Hamed over Barrera was power. I think Barrera had the better punch variety, better defense, the faster hands, the better foot movement, and everything else to go with it. He was the better fighter.

It's a shame Hamed retired as a result of the defeat.

 

Sorry man, no clue where to find it online.

I might upload it to Youtube at some point, if I can't find it anywhere else...

 

Jim Watt vs Howard Davis Jr.

Jr. wasn't so much completely unorthodox as he was a very flashy, quick-handed speed-demon disected by the technically sound Watt, who utilized his jab, (one of the best in LW history) timing, and technical acumen to overcome Davis's physical advantages. Not a schooling, but a very good example nonetheless.

 

Another fight at a lower level was Michael Jennings against Takaloo. Text book stuff from Jennings.

 

Hopkins vs. Tavlik????