Dierry Jean vs. Hank Lundy

These guys are mirror images in a lot of ways.

Both are boxer-punchers with proportioned and shredded physiques, both "looking the part".

Both can deliver a heck of a punch.

Both can be stunned when caught right. (which combined with the last bullet point can make them pretty exciting...)

Both can be incredibly lazy in the ring. (which sort of undermines and cancels out the previous two bullet points :!: - and means while they can be exciting, they are not always going to be for anywhere near a full three minutes consistently all night long...)

Both have, along with an affected arrogant swagger, a quick easy smile and somewhat of a fun-loving bent which may or may not belie their disciplinary methods (speaking in terms of strictly their boxing craft regimen, as both are clearly gym rats with no general fitness problems)

Both got late starts in the sport (Jean turning pro at 24 and Lundy at 22 respectively) and only began regularly appearing in significant televised bouts in the last few years after toiling away paying dues on small-time cards in their native US and Canada without any major promotional backing.

Both can switch-hit, fighting as lefties as well as orthodox, and can transition whilst moving which is a skill most boxers lack. (although for Lundy, who at times seems more effective when a southpaw, it seems more a deliberately controlled and thought-out strategy executed seamlessly in the flow of battle...while Jean is simply adept when in an exchange at medium or short range at making adjustments to fire the inverse of his usual punches so that he never lacks for continuity - ie, missing a 1-2 as his opponent steps left and just letting his right foot momentarily take fore so he can throw a southpaw 1-2 or right hook before correcting his legs' position upon the next break in the action...more intuitive and reactive than what Lundy does...)

Both could really benefit right now from using the other man for a stepping-stone to a big opportunity - Jean keeping himself right in the contention mix if he could follow up his unsuccessful challenge of Lamont Peterson (in which he acquitted himself well and made some fans) with bagging the more established if spotty name of Lundy; and Lundy would have distanced himself from that embarrassing Kevin Johnson type effort in Postol's backyard with a career-best streak could he add Jean's name to Ajose Olusegun's. They are pretty much in their present circumstances poised equidistant from a major payday right now, both on the outside looking in but not too far outside.



This would be a goddamn barn-burner :bbb...except for the long stretches where they just stared at one another. :dead


Even during the lulls, however, there would be the very real chance until the final bell that either man's lights could be turned out with a sudden leaping hook. (which is something else they have in common )

 

:?

 

Well, full twelve-round stamina and endurance is a separate issue from general fitness.

The guy can leap around throwing lead hooks and not gas out instantaneously within two rounds, most people including most pro boxers can't do that. That combined with the empirical proof of his sculpted figure suggest he is pretty fit in general, whether or not his specific conditioning for a championship haul is lacking.

I mean, hell, as we all know, Lundy can fade late too. Still, you wouldn't accuse him of being in bad physical shape.

 

I disagree. He put together four really strong rounds off the bat, gave the impression of a very evenly matched contest and one Peterson might even lose by KO, and then around the fifth started to get broken down as Peterson adjusted his tactics and concentrating largely on very stiff body punching. To his credit Jean was still resisting and mounting extended rallies as late as the eighth, quite a long time for someone to be getting broken apart by a very good body puncher. That he degenerated in the final third of the action into taking long breaks and then falling in with single blows is no great knock on his gas tank, IMO. Peterson took a pair of bolt cutters to his gas tank and sprang a leak. If he were not to have made that adjustment, Peterson likely wouldn't have been outworking Jean in the late going...and in having made it may have ensured his own survival. (the best D is often an intelligent O)