:thumbsupthanks lora! yet another fighter i need to look a bit more into more. any particular fight you'd recommend?
Generalship isn't about imposing your will, not for me anyway. It's about marshalling your physical and technical capabilities to the greatest possible advantage (whatever they may be). Lopez did not excel in this to the .1% IMO.
Lopez throws punches as fluidly as anybody this side of Jose Napoles but I think mechanically he's a Harold Johnson jr. Not as good on the inside, less straight punch wise, not as married to the jab but does everything right.
Can you be a great fighter with little generalship assuming an abundance of other talents? on the other hand, by this definition, is current Klitschko the best heavyweight ring general?
i agree with this but i also feel it involves neutralzing your opponents physical and technical capabilities. great fighters can use styles that maximize their gifts to the maximum (i.e. roy jones) but that for me doesn't necessary make a great general unless they force their opponents into a fight wherein there own skills are rendered irrelevant. hopkins against tito is an example. hopkins style for perfect for him and perfect for the type of fight he wanted to fight against tito...one where tito's punching power was neutralized and the pace was slowed down to where hopkins was at his most effective leonard dominated by making the most of his gifts but in the first fight, could not force duran to fight his type of battle, could not control the distance or pace and allowed duran to maximize his OWN strengths. that was duran being the general against the athletically superior leonard if any of that makes sense :hat i have been drinking...
lopez gets **** on a lot for his inside fighting but i've always thought that was a sign of his ability to control the distance. i see what mcgrain is saying though: that when taken out of his comfort zone he was nowhere near as effective
Personally, I'd recommend his bouts with Darrin Van Horn and Duane Thomas. The guy personified what it means to "win ugly." The most aesthetically displeasing style I've ever seen in a fighter, absolutely bar none.
Can you think of a guy who was clearly great and wasn't a great general. Riddick Bowe? For Klitschko I meant more all time speaking that his style is all about maximizing his talents. And as for Lopez, nightcrawler, I think his comfort zone was in between the ropes.
Lots of good mentions, but surprised no one has mentioned Robinson yet. The last one against LaMotta was a masterpiece in this department. Maxim less so, of course. Herol Graham deserves a shout as a borrdeline great ring general, I think. Yes he was caught out stupidly by Jackson, but that was more down to his technical flaws. Also, Frazier is a no go for me. Yes, great at taking fighters out of their comfort zone, but seeing him repeatdely march straight into Foreman's cannons in their first fight excludes him from this discussion imo.
Pac was right in front of me and I missed it. Probably have to ritualistically disfigure myself for that one. And I think Robinson was at least as good against Maxim as Conn was against Louis.
That's truffles Frank pure truffles! Look at how well he did at 118. Sanchez would've been in a world of hurt.