McGirt gives pretty decent advise about slipping off the line while still being in positin to counter, how good was his defensive during his prime? This content is protected
Buddy is usually one of the more interesting high-level trainers to listen to. Although he always stresses that he's really more of a 'teacher' than a trainer. McGirt wasn't one of these almost unhittable types and I wouldn't call his defence outstanding, but nevertheless it was pretty good, sometimes very, very good during his peak years, especially his ability to step around his opponent's attack while staying close enough to counter and let his hands go, which he touches on in the video here. His fights against Frankie Warren (II) and Gary Jacobs are decent examples of him doing this to good effect, off the top of my head. His all-round masterpiece (defence included) was obviously against Simon Brown, though. Less stepping around in that one, given Brown's height and punching power, but Buddy controlled the range beautifully with his footwork and timing and picked his shots brilliantly. Might have even got Brown out of there if he'd had another thirty seconds at the end of the tenth round. Buddy was a good technician first and foremost, but he could really scrap and do some damage when he let his hands go and started sitting on his shots a bit more. Could handle himself on the inside and switch combinations between head and body. Even though he lost it, the first Whitaker fight was a very good performance and basically the toughest (certainly the closest) fight prime Pea ever had. He was a little vulnerable against really blazing, raw speed, as Meldrick and the Whitaker rematch proved, but no doubt a really good all-rounder. I think Buddy probably should have been a bigger star during his era than he was, but having Al Certo as his chief handler put him at a bit of a disadvantage, given Al's reputation for rubbing people up the wrong way.
I always liked watching Buddy fight, he was a fighter that had success because he was well schooled. What he says there is of value but it is too short a clip and I know that he could tell it all the way through. When the Atomic Bull gets around to doing his YouTube channel, keep an eye out for Buddy, and others you may recognize, talking about the mechanics of boxing.
I had the pleasure of speaking to Buddy in A.C besides being incredibly nice and making you feel like you've known him for 20 yrs he told me that while he was still a fighter he would pick the brains of all the famous and not so famous teachers of his days as a fighter. Men like Arcel and Benton to the guys who nobody really knew picking up knowledge. Awsome guy.
