I don't mean that he had a great jab or even a good jab, I meant that he has a jab, because it's about the only punch he threw from what I saw, outside of a couple of wild right hand attempts. Perhaps he found it difficult to deal with such a short opponent. How would Valuev for example deal with someone who's 5'8 or 5'9? Especially if the opponent was doing their best to make himself even shorter as Norfolk was doing. Tate just couldn't get off at all.
Maybe; but look at his control of distance. Norfolk edges in and he doesn't even move back, out, sideways, watever it is....he just lets him edge in and hit him. I don't mean to go overboard but he really does look like a club fighters. Maybe I owe it a second view. But you have a similar impression? I mean I pressed go excited about seeing KN and just ended up jaw dropping at how bad Tate was.
I mean............after Norfolk throws that left for the 20th time you think Tate would've figured out a way to at least not get hit by it. The way Norfolk muscles him around after landing it every time is strange too. Tate=Not that impressive.
I was mostly looking at what Norfolk was doing and didn't pay much attention to Tate, who was basically doing whatever he could to survive the distance. There's a lot to criticize about his non-effort but I'd give credit to Norfolk for being a quick, explosive fighter who was overwhelming a man 50 lbs heavier and 10 inches taller than him. I don't think Tate was outrageously bad or anything. He actually reminds me of Jess Willard a lot in the early rounds against Jack Johnson. Flat-footed, defensive and occasionally throwing the jab. Willard of course turned it up late in the fight while Tate never did.
If you want to see something truly horrible then watch Lovell's effort against Joe Bugner: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZNUrHpnI34[/ame] He is hilariously bad for a veteran of 40+ fights who also scored some decent wins.
Holy ****. I do disagree with your Willard-Tate comparison though: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp7IoSvrgAI[/ame] Willard leads with the right,leads with the jab, seems very very awayre of distance in applying pressure, is able, as the bigger man, to hold his own in clinche, and just flat out seems inovled in the fight in a way Tate flat out is not. Was Bill possibly on the take here? Any speculation?
To be honest I did contemplate that possibility when first watching the fight, but then there's no real proof outside of Tate's lacking performance and Norfolk was doing a good job with his boxing.
Mcgrain, Couldn't look any worse than Keene Simmons could he? Simmon is AWFUL [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cORMVijZh1k[/ame] A swarmer who doesn't know how to fight inside
Yeah, how was able to land so many big fights with this being the case? I mean here he is on a huge card against one of the world's leading men...seems bizarre. Maybe some interest in his size?