As the old addage goes, in sports, speed definitely kills. It doesnt matter the sport, if you have the speed advantage, whether it be in football like a Deon Sanders, basketball like a Steve Nash, or baseball like a Nolan Ryan, speed kills. For the last half of this year, I have noticed that speed definitely kills in the sport of boxing. As I watched Pacman demolish ODH, ala lil mac beating up glass joe from punch out, I was reminded again that if you have the speed advantage, you always have a chance to win, despite all of the other circumstances. Not just hand speed, but foot speed, and the speed to adjust mentally and physically. The two top p4p fighters currently have all of this (Pac and Joe). When you have a fighter that can fight with the speed of these two, you have an amazing combination thats hard to beat. The more I think about it, its been like this with all of the top boxers from the past, and today. For example, Tyson was amazingly fast for a heavy weight. He not only had fast hands, but he had explosive lateral movement and fast head movement. Ali had incredible hand speed and was very fast on his feet. You go all the way back to Willie Pep even, incredibly fast. Even today, look at PBF, he has great physical speed, but where he excels is the speed in which he adjust to his opponent. Its the same with Joe. Give me a fighter with average speed, and I will give you an opponent with speed that will defeat him.
Speed can also be overrated, though. Judah found that painful fact out when he stepped into the ring against Carlos slower-than-a-hedgehog-moving-through-a-swamp Baldomir.
True, but he never used his speed advantage against Baldi. I dont know if it was over confidence or what, but he fought Baldi's fight. He should have used all of his natural advantages to outbox him. I guess we can put Zab into the mentally slow speed category
Oh, I'm not putting Pac down. Pac is a great fighter. I think people go on about his speed way too much, though -- Pac is special because he combines many elements. The power, the chin, the determination/heart, the teaching of Roach, the stamina to fight hard for a full 12, etc. Speed is certainly his major weapon, but it's the combination with his other assets that really turn him into such a deadly fighter. And I'd actually say that Judah has some fairly quick feet too, when he's on his game.
You are right about Pac's attributes, but against Oscar, it was all about his speed. He doesnt have the power against an opponent of Oscars size to keep him off, nor does he have the chin to take Oscar's shots. I dont care how much determination/heart and teachings from freddie he has, if he didnt have the speed to execute that gameplan and befuddle Oscar like he did, he would have been KO'd.
Agreed.. Many people don't see the skills he's got, thus calling him a one-dimensional fighter and such.. If you watch his recent fights closely, you'll see he's got skills.. I guess some people don't see it because maybe he's an awkward fighter..
Check out the head movement and the combinations thrown in the fight.. Speed was definitely a major factor, but Manny's footwork and head movement made it to where DLH couldn't land squat..
remember, you can time speed. pac-man didnt just have speed, he was bobing and weaving as well staying on his toes. he was turning dlh keeping him off balance. the man had a gameplan. its not just about, speed, power, size etc. a fighter can have all type of strengths but its how to use it. paquiao knows how to use his strenghts.
Exactly my point. The speed at which he was able to get combo's off and get out of range was the reason he never really got touched by the much slower Oscar. Steve forbes had good head movement, but Oscar busted him up because he wasnt as fast as Pac.
Forbes lost because he didn't roll out of Oscar's hook or block Oscar's hook...nor did he jump in or out...He ran into DLH trying to come in with fists flying and paid the price...he could've clinched in the process or possibly made it an aggression fight but his aggression was quite sloppy and he lost because of it Quite frankly you're correct in the sense that speed gives you quite a lead in advantages against slower opponents...but the answer to speed is pressure and power...the two P's Cotto had good footwork, great head movement, bobbing and weaving...the speed was there, the power was there... But overall Margarito's steel chin and relentless aggression is what broke Cotto down... Speed certainly kills but it's not the most important weapon...speed is only good if you have the stamina to back it...
Speed is a great attribute for a fighter, but without accuracy and/or timing it's pretty useless. Being good at only one department doesn't do the trick.
