Its hard to say this about some of the great Champions , but some great names at the end of their careers looked far worse technically than they did as a novice. Here are a few . Hatton - possibly the worst performance I have seen from a Linear number 1 in a superfight against Pacquiao. Seemed to lose all idea of how to throw any punches and his foot work was that of a complete novice. Vargas - for someone so good as an amature to lose the jab at such a young age. Roy Jones - left hook - I know the speed has long gone , but it now looks like he is throwing a ball like a 3 year old girl. This isnt a hate against the above , its just I dont know how they can decline so much , because although the speed isnt there , the correctness of the punches and footwork should remain. Any ideas why this happends? Are they just in Camp to lose weight and forget what was once so natural? And who has got better with age? JMM , Martinez , the Brothers K?
Well Foreman got better with age in the technical department and became less of a crude brawler. But it seems Vitali has resorted to only arm punches. No pivot on the foot or anything. He rams his left hand out there and then his right with just him arm strength. Weird. Roy Jones? I can even watch him anymore. Looks like someone doing an impersonation of Roy Jones.
He dusted off a few for Mayweather, but yeah, been neglecting it for years. Used to be his specialty.
It was rare to ever see Ricky Hatton fight behind a jab in the Autumn of his career. With much love and all due respect,Paul Williams seemed to lack the fluidity that was prevalent in his best performances in his last few fights. Manny seems to be forgetting basics he didn't even need at his best and Antonio Tarver seemed to lose the mobility that got him so far.And Felix Sturm was a deceptively powerful pressure fighter who seems to want to be Juanma Marquez now.
Morales left his defense behind after he became a world champion mega-star. when he was an up & coming contender he had a good tight defense, then when he was a world championship mega-fights, he fought sloppy and got hit alot.
But Vitali throws arm punches with power so he doesn't have to commit to a punch and can stay out of harms way.
