I think that's because they rely on their feet for their entire defence, Jeff. So they may give you the run around early by just jumping all over the place but as those legs start to slow they have no answers.
Me and my mate sparred the other night, a conditioned spar but compared to other spar's that night ours was most skilled by far. Neither of us box now although my mate may be going pro in September. He boxed AM a few years back and is a decent fighter who just needs drive. Compared to others that night i was shocked at how stiff these lads nowadays and i'm not that old but being out of the gym environment for a while i'd expected at least to see some skills...a feint or a least some head movement..
@DanielJFiasco. The same goes for the likes of Leonard, Spinks, Holyfield etc, etc. Very little difference between their amatuer styles and their pro ones. There was no need to transition to anything. The scoring system has had a big affect. Look how settled and seasoned Pete looks here, even in the headgear era. And how much he goes to the body (even gets a standing 8 with a bodyshot). The scoring system discourages body punching. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoHfZuFvQBs[/ame]
Yeah, that's also a great example of your point about modern amateurs defending too much with their feet. Whitaker is more than happy to stay in range and use his upper body, and when he does move it's with purpose, not just bouncing around like the canvas is on fire.
You can see from the ending of that vid how Naseem by that point had totally fallen in love with his power. An 'all i need to do is land' type of mindset had enveloped him. It's an interesting 2 and a half minutes which basically encapsulates how his career and mindset evolved. He tells us how he works for his opening (what he used to do) and at the end gives away where his mindset was right that point in his career..talking about his power. It was coded but that's exactly what he was saying. I always think of Hamed as Dorothy from The Wizard Of Oz. lol And his power/style as her red ruby shoes. You may be captivated or dislike Dorothy's shoes, especially if you're a young girl but what you have to know and quickly come to realise is that the road Dorothy travels is more important then what she wears when she walks. That's what i came to realise with Hamed. What he did and not how he did it.
I don't blame the boxers themselves for the jumping around style, it's the only obvious way to make the opponent miss by far enough so as to prevent the judges from pressing the button. Whitaker doesn't look all that impressive on that vid IMO, a bit upright for my liking.... he always looked far better with his knees slightly bent in the crouching style. Once they change the scoring system I'll start watching the ams again.
Picking up on an old point here but this is unfair and one eyed look at modern strength and conditioning. You have also not really factored in that this is a Tyson that by that point had very much fallen out of love with the sport. If your looking at a bastion or example of modern strength and conditioning then there is no better case than Alex Ariza. In that case it is a wise thing to look at how Khans condition was pretty much the only thing that ket him going during a prolonged beatdown from Maidana Marquez recently took aboard a new school s&c guy and he wasnt exactly doing badly down the home straight Then there Bernard Hopkins who DOES lift weights In fact I think your Jones example is ropey as hell anyway because with Mackie Shilton, Jones did a lot of weights, strength etc to bulk up for Ruiz and he was in superb shape
Good point about making fair comparisons. Marquez has adapted to 140lb and stopped drinking urine after advice and work with new S&C guy
I think some strength and conditioning work has it's benefits - for me a fighter should be as strong as is reasonably possible within their weight class. Kerry Kayes said a few times that he could have made Hatton a lot stronger - bearing in mind Hatton was a strong ****er anyway that speaks volumes. Certainly a more advanced weight making technique is beneficial, as opposed to just starving, for sure. Work on the boxing first and foremost, and then factor in the strength work as an added bonus. I think some fighters and trainers get too carried away with the S & C work rather than what they're actually doing. Boxing isn't rugby league, where a vast % of the training is purely conditioning based.
Everyone gets caught up in today’s technology and showy muscles. Whenever someone brings this up, I always come back to this point and ask why is it that fighters today get tired quicker. Nobody has been able to answer me this question. Apart from someone saying "Old school fighters opponents punched like females." LOL! Why is it they get tired quicker, But yet they only fight 12 round fights, they fight in bigger gloves, so there is less wear and tear. They fight less often so they get much more time to peak out physically and they weigh in the day before so they have all the time you would want to replenish properly. The fighters of yesteryear had stamina that was twice as good. Today if you fight at a fast, assertive pace for 12 rounds, people accuse you of being on PEDs. But yet guys routinely fought like that. See Tony Canzoneri, Barney Ross, Henry Armstrong, Beau Jack, Ike Williams, Fighting Harada, Aaron Pryor, Roberto Duran the list goes on. Watch each one of those guys and you will see a frenetic, hellacious pace. If they fought today no one would fight them.