Do people here honestly think that defense wins you points in boxing?

Trust me, it is easy to make a punch miss without trying to throw one yourself.

That is what Canelo basically does. A lot of people here have never boxed and don't understand that a trained fighter, trying to just not get hit, can do that quite easily. If you continue to back up and use some head movement, you will make a guy miss a ton. But making him miss isn't worth ANYTHING, as you aren't landing off of it. The most common argument I see from canelo fans is that "CANELO HAD BETTER DEFENSE", but it doesn't matter because clean punches weren't landed. The objective of boxing is to do more damage to your opponent. Defense really helps you negate damage done to yourself. Helping you complete that objective.

What if in USA Football you started getting points for stopping people in the redzone? That would be stupid. You have defense in Football to prevent points scored against you, just as you do in boxing.

 

Exactly, why would a fighter develop a high workrate if they will be punished for having a lower connect percentage? My favorite kind of fighters are typically good boxers, but I don't think you can punish swarmers for throwing more punches.

 

Nope. I totally got it. Defense isn't worth anything other than damage negation.

Coming forward has to be rewarded in boxing, as if you have two counter punchers, you need one of them to take the lead and get a little bit of cushion in close rounds.

 

Been in the ring plenty of times. It is easy to make someone miss if your only intention is to make them miss and not pay. You can make them miss by a mile, and make them look like a fool to a casual observer, but when you make them miss by a mile you are burning your own energy faster than you need to. You need to make someone miss by a small margin, then counter. That takes a lot of skill. A basic amateur can make someone miss a lot of punches. If all you are looking to do is move backwards/stall and not counter and your not worried about energy expenditure, making people miss is EASY. What is hard about moving your head/stepping back/blocking as soon as your opponent gets in range? Most opponents won't have the ability to begin their attack from long range with anything other than a Jab/Straight Right. Some guys will be able to throw the hook from far away, but even the best fighters who did that (Mayweather for example) heavily relied on Speed + making the opponent believe it was a jab to the body before hand. So not too many guys gonna be pulling that off. As soon as the opponent moves in range, you get ready to read for one of those punches. If they start to step closer than that, you step back lol.

That is why the old olympic scoring was such a problem. If you built a lead up it was TOO EASY to just stall/make them miss for a few rounds.

This is why defense in terms of making someone miss is worthless.

 

I don't agree with this at all. It gives guys reason to throw less punches. That's like if in soccer, you docked a point if you missed more than 70% of your shots on net.

Also I don't think they even had connect percentage in boxing for many years. So it wasn't always a thing.

 

Great article. Lets me know I am right to put 100% confidence into my boxing opinion. Not only Holyfield had him winning, virtually EVERY SINGLE PERSON involved in boxing had GGG winning. The only people to my knowledge that thought Canelo won:

Chavez Sr.
Canelo's family
I think there was maybe 2 more fighters?
Bunch of fan boys on ESB

That's about it.

I also like how Evander mentioned that no one would have made the fight if it weren't for GGG. That is why you need to give incentive for one guy to move forward. It's easier to fight going backwards at high level boxing. If you have a good sense of distance and can time their steps right, you can have them walk into punches.