Do Witter and Diaconu need KOs against the Branco bros to win?

Jim Watt scored the fight poorly, but that is nothing new from him. I think he analyzes the fight well and his comments are usually on point but his scoring is bad.

It was Lynes fault. He thought because he got a knockdown and dominated early he could take a nap. Not in Italy! I had it for Lynes by a couple but he caused his own downfall.

Hopefully these two will do a more convincing job, for the sake of European boxing. The Branco's are old men.

 

True, but I'm not convinced this more basic style will stand the test against a better quality of fighter. In his last fight, it was easy for Witter to be aggressive because he was basically fighting a punching bag who was no danger to throw anything back. It was the same between the Judah and Ndou fights where he spent five years facing cadavers. It was as soon as he actually started stepping into the ring with something approaching world level opposition, which he couldn't just walk through, that he found he couldn't just belt them out and had to try something else. Hence all the switch hitting, posing and countering. Now he's gone back to fighting cadavers again, he looks more ruthless but I'm not sure it will last.

That said, Branco is average and pushing 40 to boot, Witter needs to do this one clearly and I think should be able to get the stoppage even in Italy.

 

[QUOTE="TKO";3455236]True, but I'm not convinced this more basic style will stand the test against a better quality of fighter. In his last fight, it was easy for Witter to be aggressive because he was basically fighting a punching bag who was no danger to throw anything back. It was the same between the Judah and Ndou fights where he spent five years facing cadavers. It was as soon as he actually started stepping into the ring with something approaching world level opposition, which he couldn't just walk through, that he found he couldn't just belt them out and had to try something else. Hence all the switch hitting, posing and countering. Now he's gone back to fighting cadavers again, he looks more ruthless but I'm not sure it will last.

That said, Branco is average and pushing 40 to boot, Witter needs to do this one clearly and I think should be able to get the stoppage even in Italy.[/QUOTE]
But he DID pose against bums a lot of the time. He let a lot of guys last the distance that shouldn't have done with his ability. It was something he enjoyed doing for some reason.

Whether he was more basic out of choice or neccessity due to age I don't know...but I much prefer him cutting down the dancing. I don't see why he wouldn't be able to do this against Kotelnik and put in a more convincing effort than last time. Or against Holt, I think he's got the power to hurt Holt, and the best way to do that is to walk him down and not dance. His usual stye plain didn't work against Bradley, so this is worth a try. I think its a positive overall, whether it works we'll see.

 

True this, I think Witter needs to be careful he doesn't try to be TOO ruthless though, if the opponent gets past the first few rounds the old stamina problems could start to show up as they did v Ndou and Kotelnik. I think he would get away with this against Holt or Torres, both of whom are very vulnerable and he could probably take them out early, but it would not be a good tactic against Kotelnik, Bradley or even the Hatton-Pac winner.

 

[QUOTE="TKO";3455352]True this, I think Witter needs to be careful he doesn't try to be TOO ruthless though, if the opponent gets past the first few rounds the old stamina problems could start to show up as they did v Ndou and Kotelnik. I think he would get away with this against Holt or Torres, both of whom are very vulnerable and he could probably take them out early, but it would not be a good tactic against Kotelnik, Bradley or even the Hatton-Pac winner.[/QUOTE]
My idea would not be to go out there and just throw all kinds of punches and waste energy. I'd just prefer to see him coming forward in an educated way and throwing proper punches. That makes better use of his power and variety of punch. Sensible aggression replacing his old style.

To me dancing around, switching stances, trying to land the perfect counter, pawing away with the jab like this is fencing...that **** takes a lot of energy mentally and physically.