Good plan; didn’t work

Jirov going right after James Toney and trying to outwork him seemed like a good strategy at the time. Toney was notorious for having issues making weight and for wild swings in weight gains between fights. He was outworked by guys like Drake Thadzi and he was seen as a guy that really didn't belong at that weight class. Jirov tried to make him fight at an uncomfortable pace but instead, he got busted up by Toney's counter punches. Thell Torence kept telling Jirov to beat on him in-between rounds and Jirov never made an adjustment even though he was a tremendous amateur boxer. Toney was in fantastic condition and fought a masterpiece. Jirov was never the same.

 

Pinklon Thomas against Tyson.

Pinky had a formula and a strategy that was correct going in. But he had lost his legs which were hardly his best asset anyway. But he was going to need those legs to avoid being at 12 o'clock. He needed to be at 11 or 1 far more frequently than he was. But those legs weren't the same as the Coetzee or Witherspoon fights and showed deterioration in the Weaver bout. But jab while moving those feet. Circle. Turn him.

And those reflexes had deteriorated. So a strong jab was just not going to do it against a guy like Tyson at the time. But there was no bag of tricks for him to turn to. Not in a 12 round fight. Maybe hang tough for a bit but that is not coming out with the W.

 

I'll cite the obvious example - Billy Conn vs Joe Louis.

 

I remember Matthew Saad Muhammad's trainer emphasizing before the Qawi rematch that things would be different due to Saad using "the jab" as a primary weapon. Sounded like a smarter plan than brawling. Did not make a difference and the expected beatdown commenced very similar to the first fight.

 

I would say Holmes had a good plan before Tyson punched through it lol. In fairness the ropes did really catch him through.

 

I don’t understand how these ropes keep rating such a mention in this fight. Holmes had already been down twice, was wobbling all over the place, & was a total goner by that moment.

 

They do? Maybe I’ve been seeing differently but usually people clown on Larry about it, saying it didn’t happen.
It did happen he got caught when he had a shot at landing a right uppercut
(I think?) - fight defining? Who knows but Holmes did very well and had he been younger it could’ve been a different bout.

 

Plus his right hand was weaker than before, he injured his right shoulder before the fight.

 

In the second fight between Maurice Hope and Rocky Mattioli, it was very clear that Mattioli had been well instructed on the benefits of throwing a lead right onto a southpaw. And he did it well. Man, he was tagging Hope repeatedly with some beauties throughout - as Mattioli was a hard banger. But despite the success of finding Hope throughout with that shot, Hope actually took all of them and persisted with that stabbing southpaw jab until it was Mattioli himself that folded.

Also

The second fight between Jose Napoles and Hedgemon Lewis. I recall watching it live and it was clear Hedge was holding back. I had watched a lot of Hedge and knew his work-rate and I surmised he was trying to let the old-timer wear himself down before going for the kill. A brilliant plan, clearly devised by Eddie Futch in his corner. One problem, Napoles never wore down and was still flying very high when he finally caught Hedge in the 9th

 

This is a really good one. I recall reading somewhere that the intention was to make Tyson aware of Spinks power, probably similar in concept to the Qawi fight?
However on that night I don’t there was a plan of any kind that was going to give Spinks a path to victory.

 

I mean, when you come into the ring in a knee brace, it's kind of over.

 

Juan Diaz vs Juan Manuel Marquez 1. Diaz did an excellent job backing Marquez up with his lead right cross and left jab combinations in the early rounds. The rights would usually miss but the jabs were landing flush. Then he also started adding another right cross to end the combinations in 2-1-2 combinations. Once he got him against the ropes, he started unleashing combinations which were very effective since Marquez didn't have the time or space to react well.

But then Marquez started moving his head off line avoiding Diaz's follow up left jabs while landing blistering right crosses. These were extremely effectively because Diaz was falling into his punches and would run right into these right hand counters. While Diaz did a great job getting Marquez to the ropes, he did a very poor job of keeping him there. He continuously let Marquez to circle away to one side and he would follow him instead of cutting him off.

Diaz also did an excellent job springing from a crouched stance into a Frazier style left hook. He would also use the lead right to set up this crouched left hook. But then Marquez started using uppercuts, especially lead uppercuts, to counter Diaz' crouch.

All of these adjustments led Marquez to eventually counter Diaz' aggression and knock him out. Diaz had a great strategy which yielded a lot of early success, but he just couldn't keep up with the adjustments of the second greatest counter puncher of the 2000s. No shame in that.

This is a great video analyzing how all this played out.

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Briggs v Lewis

Fury v Usyk

Lyle v Foreman

Golota v Bowe I and II

and many other fights

 

Well in my experience, at least. I imagine Holmes was effectively done by that moment anyway. Tyson had him reeling, & put him away with one shot that I have to think was going to land, rope or no rope. Agreed a prime Holmes has every chance of reversing the outcome.