Fighters who were crap in the gym, but good come fight night

The guy in my avatar, obviously.

 

definitely.joe louis was another who took it easy on his sparring partners

 

Ali after his comeback

 

Carlos Monzon was, in his unorthodox training methods, not a "gym warrior". In fact, he thought that was foolishness. He was quoted as saying "young fighters, especially Americans, leave too much of themselves in the gym when they battle in sparring too much, and whenever I talk to a young fighter I tell them they shouldn't do that", and that he "worked only on certain things" when in training, that "the body needs a rest". He also cut down his two pack a day smoking habit to a pack or less while in training (lol). His efforts inside the ring don't need any elaboration from me.

 

Louis' sparring partners often had to wear additional body padding as protection from the Brown Bomber's punches.

 

george nicholson used to knock the bomber about in sparring,but did end up KO'd himself occasionally

 

John Garfield testified this about Marciano from experience behind his own two eyes.

 

Was just about to add Marciano, SQ, when I saw your post.

 

Anybody else come to mind here, JG?

 

Another typical Cotto20 thread.

 

Marciano -- of all the elites, D -- jumps to mind immediately as the WORST sparring.

Have seen ATG's have off days or dog-it, but never look as embarrassing or clumsy as the Rock. Ham-'n-eggers looked like Sugar Ray Robinson against him.

 

Tyson was a gym dodger during his second title run and done no too bad.

 

In Skehan's biography of Marciano, I read that "Time!" would be called in panic as soon as he started throwing his Suzy Q at Cesar Brion. Another time, Dempsey is supposed to have told Rocky to nail a prospect of his "on the button" if he left himself open, which Marciano did, causing a nasty gash and quickly ending the session.

From what Skehan wrote, the Rock was eager to spar when he first originally began training for the sport, but that his initial enthusiasm backfired quickly. You knew the guy, and I don't know how accurate Skehan's account is, but it gives me the impression that Marciano had to hold back if he was to get any opportunities to spar at all. Skehan also indicated that he could explode in anger when sucker punched, like he briefly did when his kid brother socked him in a Maine exhibition. (Apparently, Peter reminded him in a clinch that he was about to commit fratricide. With a temper like that, I wouldn't be inclined to test him either!)

 

Kenny Norton was another guy that didn't always have his best game in the gym but saved it for fight night. And Ray Mercer.