The all things technical thread.

No worries, J. :good

Hopkins is a master, but i think he'd be a better advisor than a trainer. I don't think he'd have the patience to be an effective trainer and work with someone day in day out from the get-go.

It's rare that great fighters turn into great trainers for that reason.

 

I love Pedroza, so i let him off too. But my word he was dirty.

For me Pedroza is no worse than the 6th or 7th greatest featherweight ever. He was a wonderful fighter. It’s a shame we never got to see him against Sanchez, Gomez or even Azumah Nelson. Had he beat one of those 3, his historical status would have sky rocketed. As it sits he’s still an all time great.

I think he would have been a handful for all three. Maybe a bit controversial, but i think he may have beaten Salvador Sanchez (and i love Sanchez even more). Sanchez liked to counterpunch and Pedroza would have laid back, i think he would've edged a super close decision. Imagine that historically. WOW!

I think Pedroza gets lost in the sauce because he wasn’t always exciting. He sort of did just enough to win, changing his style like a chameleon depending on the opponent. Sort of like a Bernard Hopkins, but he didn’t speak English and he didn’t have the charisma of say a Duran.

 

Fellas, this is Amir Khan workout with Virgil Hunter if anyone is interested or would like to give their thoughts. What i've noticed from this is that Virgil is trying to get Khan to throw curve balls by not fighting at the same speed all the time, but mixing his punches up. Trying to also improve his ring generalship. The other thing i noticed is he's teaching him the basic blocking technique. Getting him to block punches and then counter back quickly. This is something i've NEVER seen Khan working on. With Freddie Roach it seemed like everything was at the same pace and he wasn't worrying about what was coming back. I'd be surprised if anyone actually even taught him how to block a punch as Hunter is doing here.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fbpxv9ojDo8[/ame]


Blocking is the most basic of boxing defense. It's the best defensive technique for Khan because it's the easiest to learn the quickiest and doesn't require a lot of natural defensive reflexes which Khan doesn't have. Blocking for me is also the easiest way to defend without taking yourself out of range and requires little energy.

That's the reason i think Hunter has chosen blocking for Khan. Blocking is not a first defensive skill, it’s a first COUNTER OFFENSIVE skill. You see Hunter throwing punches at Khan and Khan simply covers his vulnerable areas, doesn't try to “catch” the punch, and fires back after he blocks. Blocking also covers both head and body and doesn’t leave you open to follow up punches.

It remains to be seen how Khan transfers this to a real fight. I personally think he has too many bad habits and they're too ingrained for him to improve significantly enough. But Virgil Hunter is a genius of a trainer.

 

As i say i think he's for me the 6th or 7th greatest featherweight ever. 7 years as champ. Record title defenses, which he should get a lot more credit for. Juan La Porte, Lockridge, Taylor, Lujan, Royal Kobashi, Ford all good names. The level of his opposition was on the most part very good. But that's why it would've been great to seem him with the likes of Sanchez, Gomez and Nelson. History changing bouts they would have been.

He was really a complete fighter, maybe sometimes we put too much emphasis on him being 'dirty' but he was MUCH more than that. A chameleon, very talented and skilled. Freak of a featherweight with his height, output and aggression and he was also very smart.

What makes him even better for me is. Pedroza was knocked out cold 3 times before he ever won the featherweight title while he was a bantamweight. He was around 19 or 20 years old at the time. He moved up to featherweight, became more savvy, more of a technician and was never stopped again in the last 16 years of his career.

Just a man, who as i say gets lost in the sauce of all those other great names at the time.

 

Cheers for that, Mo. I'll watch it later. :good

You got any thoughts on what you've seen?

It's a shame Khan never found someone like Hunter earlier, as i fear it may be too late for him. Also, I don't know if this is true, but i was told that Khan's first choice was Naseem Richardson, but Naseem told him he was fighting at the wrong weight and he would only train him if he moved up. But Khan disagreed and said he wanted to stay at light welter.