Swarmer vs Pressure fighter

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by masterold, May 25, 2012.


  1. masterold

    masterold Active Member Full Member

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    Is there a difference between these two terms?
     
  2. whosthere

    whosthere Knock Knock Full Member

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    This is how I define the two terms:
    A swarmer, is a fighter that attacks immediatly, all offense and little regard for defense. His objective is to overwhelm his opponent with the sheer aggressiveness of his assualt. and the high number of puches landed. Ray Mancini might be a good example of this style.

    A pressure fighter is one who stays in front of his oponent and keeps moving forward, never letting his opponent dictate the style, and always looking to make his opponent pay for any mistake or weakness. The pressure fighter may or may not throw a large volume of punches, but will attack any opening, occasionally exposing himself in order to deliver a punch. Roberto Duran is an excellent example of a pressure fighter.

    The primary difference IMO, is that the pressure fighter is more controlled and more calculating, looking to expose weakness, where a "swarmer" seeks instead to create a weakness.

    I'm sure other posters will define them differently.
     
  3. red cobra

    red cobra Loyal Member Full Member

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    I think they're one and the same. the modus operandi of a swarmer is to apply pressure through volume..pressure is pressure.
     
  4. whosthere

    whosthere Knock Knock Full Member

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    True. Maybe "swarmer" then would be a subclassification of "pressure fighter, " since it is one of several ways to apply pressure.
    How would you differentiate the styles of Mancini and Duran, if you had to put a label on them?
     
  5. Duodenum

    Duodenum Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    I wouldn't describe Foreman as a swarmer, but he was certainly a pressure fighter due to his economic efficiency at cutting the ring off, and the continual threat his power posed. I suppose there's some distinction that can be made between a swarmer and a pressure fighter, the matter of economy, whether or not making the other guy work harder, or simply overwhelming him with superior volume and conditioning. (This wasn't carefully deliberated, just a quick reply to the question which might provoke further discussion.)
     
  6. red cobra

    red cobra Loyal Member Full Member

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    Well, Duran was more the complete package of course, than Mancini..but there were similarities as both were relatively short armed aggresive type fighters, but Duran used more intelligent pressure than Mancini, with many changes in his tempo..a more varied tempo than mancini's. pressure played a great part in both of their styles.
     
  7. the cobra

    the cobra Awesomeizationism! Full Member

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    Thinking about it, I guess I've always just thought of swarmers as being pressure fighters that are built more around speed and volume. Joe Frazier's a swarmer, Rocky Marciano's a pressure fighter, and so on, but they work in much the same way.
     
  8. red cobra

    red cobra Loyal Member Full Member

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    To properly address your question, both could be described as "pressure fighters, but neither could be properly called a "swarmer", ala Fighting Harada, but Duran, Mancini and harada were alll "pressure fighters" just the same.
     
  9. red cobra

    red cobra Loyal Member Full Member

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    But both centered their styles around applying pressure....insane pressure.
     
  10. whosthere

    whosthere Knock Knock Full Member

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    Actually, this is a pretty interesting question.
    We use the term pressure fighter to describe fighters with very different styles, just as we say Locche and Whitaker were great defensive fighters even though they were stylistcly very different.
    So, I've changed my mind.
    "Pressure" much like "Defensive" I think is more about philosophy than style.
    "Swarmer" then, would be more about style, so the two are not really comparable, as swarmer is a style with a pressure philosphy.
    Kind of like comparing "transportation" with "car."
     
  11. masterold

    masterold Active Member Full Member

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    Cheers for all the replies but I think this is the best description. So in essence a swarmer is a type of pressure fighter, ie someone like JM Marquez or even Andre Ward could be described as a counter punching pressure fighter where as someone like Segura or Kirkland would be the more traditional swarming pressure fighter. Agree?
     
  12. whosthere

    whosthere Knock Knock Full Member

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    :good