The all things technical thread.

The X's and O's of Meldrick Taylor.

Strengths:

Hand and foot speed: Awesome punching speed. He had VERY fast punch release. Meldrick didn't try to punch hard he just let it flow naturally. Blessed with incredible speed. He had this speed in his whole body.

Combination punching: Because of that speed Meldrick could get off first and shoe shine like hell. He had a combination in mind and he would just let it go. He really put his punches together really well. He didn't hang on to his fist once he throw a punch. What i mean by that is once he let his punching go with the first burst he wouldn't tighten up his arms. Key to combination punching.

Big Heart: Meldrick had incredible heart and guts. Perhaps too much for his own good. But he was fearless. He had balls of steel.

Weaknesses:

Not quick enough in the mind. Although Meldrick was extremely fast in the body his quickness of mind didn't match it. He really wasn't the smartest fighter and seemed like he was trapped in the wrong body for the attitude he had. He was in a boxers body with a brawlers mindset. As a result he would fight when he should've boxed and it was easy to draw him into a tear up. This made his defence suffer. Meldrick should've fought more boring but he didn't have that makeup in him.

Bad balance: When Meldrick shoe-shinned, after finishing it off he became easy to counter. If you watch him closely he would throw a fast flurry underneath and bring it upstairs then finish that shoe-shine with a left hook. But his balance was very bad after doing this. He would fall in too much and give you an opportunity to counter punch him. This is exactly what undid him against JC Superstar. Chavez would wait for the shoe-shine to finish. Medrick would almost always finish with a left hook, go off balance and Chavez would side-step him, sort of pulling the carpet from up underneath him and set him up for the power punches.

 

Any techical breakdowns of Bute/Froch? Anyone give Froch a decent shot? I know i do.

He's ganna struggle with that bow and arrow bad habit he has though. Bute could potentially tear him up with the left hand once Froch jabs and pulls his right hand. Ward found a home for the left hook all night for this very reason.

Froch's problem is he has a very poor punch recovery. His arms don't naturally return 'home' in a relaxed manner after he's thrown a punch. We could see Frochy Froch badly hurt for the first time in this fight.

I'm the happiest camper alive that this fight will be a goer for May though. I'm a fan of Bute and this will answer a lot of questions and could solidify certain things. Maple leaf aka Prince Dracula Bute doesn't get enough credit for just how well he can avoid certain lunge shots even when the opponents use aggression to parlay those pole thrusts. Frochy's bow and arrow in the centre, has me seriously nervous when facing a southpaw because he'll have to nullify it by doing things properly.

The saving grace is that very few fighters can come into the fight with such moxie and deceptiveness as Froch and Bute has shown some weaknesses in the past, plus this will be a step up away from home which cannot be overlooked. Carl will have to rely on a meaningful jab, keep his workrate high and pop those rights..not always easy to do with a southpaw who is sneaky as hell, can put you into ambien land with one shot to the solar plexus and can give you every single geometrical angle in the Queensbury rules' pamphlet.

Mr Maple leaf Bute can you perform like Mayweather in MAY weather.

 

Going back to Mel Taylor. I just wanna say f**k you Lou Duva. Pardon my French fellas.

 

Benton tried his best to change Meldrick but Duva wasn't having any of it and he had more influence over him. F*** you Lou Duva.

 

Yep. Mentally it would've helped him too. It tears me apart to hear Mel is walking around Philly broken in Hebrew robes.

What did Lou Duva do for him after effectively getting him beat against Chavez? Fed him to a killer in Terry Norris. F*** Lou Duva.