The best amateur boxer, who had a very bad professional career

My fault I I got my posts confused.

 

Because, to put it simply, you ain’t him.

Just because someone is tall and lanky and has a little pop doesn’t make them Thomas Hearns. You yourself have listed guys who tried to be that and failed, as have I. So why is that the best model?

Mike McCallum was also a tall and lanky guy with reach who was a world champ. So why not, if you’re built like that, follow that model? Or one that blends Hearns and McCallum and … some other things that you do well.

Sandy Saddler was proportionally also similar to Hearns. Fought completely different. He was a world champ and arguably has three wins on his resume that are as good or better than any three wins by any boxer ever in that he stopped Willie Pep three times. But he was a physical guy and a rough houser. Thomas Hearns didn’t have the physicality nor the mentality to fight Saddler’s way … but by your post they should have tried to make him a carbon copy since a guy with a similar build won a championship that way.

To thine own self be true.

Looking at Riddick Bowe and Lennox Lewis, they shared physical similarities. But Bowe was much better at in-fighting and Lennox was more of a jabber to set up a big straight right. If Manny Stewart had spent 5 years with each, I don’t think he’d have tried to make them fight exactly alike. Same as he didn’t try to make Klitschko into Lewis.

Any trainer who simply tries to cookie-cutter guys based on body type lacks imagination and the ability to see beyond the obvious. A fighter should be trained to his strengths and worked with to shore up his weaknesses, not made to fit a suit off the rack because he has a build similar to another.

 

Thomas Hearns was well after Saddler.
Holmes borrowed parts of Ali style and made it work for him.
90% of fighters borrow something from another fighter and incorporate it into thier style.
Hearns was a very successful pro boxer who won titles in multiple divisions.
If you want to show say a lanky boxer with power how to set up the right-hand he could watch Hearns who was a master at that. Or Arguello.
If you want to show a young boxer how to incorporate a body attack into his offense you could show him MCcallum as an example.
But none of that is going to work if say the boxer is 5'5 because the mechanics are going to be totally different.
And don't put words in my mouth - I didn't say THEY should make Breland into a Hearns I said I understood why they did when those two were a carbon copy physically of each other and add to the fact that Breland was reminding people of Hearns at the time.
Knockouts are what makes most fighters marketable.
Most people aren't interested in moving and boxing.
And for your information MCcallum lacked the speed to fight like a Hearns.

 

A little basic facts:
When Milton turned pro he most certainly did fight like Hearns and they even tried to say he hit harder then Hearns as he broke Tommy's record of 17 straight knockouts by getting 18 knockouts.
Hand problems also forced Milton to box alot more as evidence in the Stafford fight.
Also Milton could pop but not like a Hearns.

 

Wait a second didn't Howard Stewart fight Tony Martin of Philadelphia?

 

Studying different fighters to pick up parts of their games, absolutely. But copycat/clone … it’s shortsighted because there’s more to it than just ‘these two guys have same body type therefore they should fight the same.’

You were agreeing with a guy whose thesis was that Breland should have fought, in his word, EXACTLY like Hearns. I disagree with that thesis. But sure he could pick up some things from him. And some things from Saddler and McCallum and a hundred other places.

As you noted, Holmes learned some things from sparring with and watching Ali that worked for him, but he did not fight Ali’s style. Larry was himself. As should any fighter or anyone in any profession be.

 

Well done, Pat. I'm really quite amazed it has to be explained and also at the hostility you're facing for pointing it out. But, gotta say, you're keeping your head and every post is a banger. I might put your contribution to this thread in the thread about greatest shows of composure.

 

Very silly haircut too