I saw a post earlier today about fighters simply being unprepared for the "ferocity" and intensity of opponents for lack of a better word... In regards to the Kovalev/Cleverly match. That is a rare intensity that some fighters bring into the ring that wins them fights, even more so than the pressure, or power said fighters usually employ. It's just their mentality, aura, presence... Whatever you may call it. It's not something that can be particularly trained against in the gym, say as finding southpaw sparring partners to prepare for that situation. It's not easy to find the type of intensity that some fighters bring to the fights. I feel this is even more true for countries that have weaker talent pools in general available to them when it comes to spar. I think this applies to both the UK among other places, especially Australia. Billy Dibs failure against the super intense Evgeny Gradovich highlights a fighter not being tested in hostile situations when it comes to the actual moments of the fight. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- A good example of a fighters ferocity simply being something the undefeated, more highly touted fighter couldn't deal with was Michael Katsidis against Kevin Mitchell. There's also Maidana/Ortiz. I think it had more to do with Maidana's warrior mentality than Ortiz being overly mentally fragile. Another solid example that also happened tonight was Kiko Martinez against Romero. The man was just an absolute pit bull, and I think fights like that as baptisms by fire that many fighters simply can't pass. He had a number of disadvantages but simply put his opponent in a place where it was do or die, because he was just feral in there. So, similar examples of a less talented fighter simply being too intense for potentially more talented, more highly touted fighters? They say the game is 75% or more mental, and I'm curious just how many examples of this there are in the game.
Great topic, I'll have to have a think about examples. One of the biggest things I've learnt from boxing which has so many applications in life is that many times the best way to defend against an overwhelming force is to move toward it. Put pressure on a guy and suddenly he's getting frustrated and wearing himself out cause he can't believe you keep coming.
That would be a double edged sword as you could be doing half my job for me. It may work well vs a guy whose ferocity is his only real advantage (you blunt his beak, and let your strengths overcome his) but in a case like Kovalev, he had/has a lot more than just that in his favor.
Oh yeah it's definitely not the 'one size fits all' way to fight and I don't mean blinding plodding forward face first Rocky Balboa style, more so 'smothering' someone so they can't punch effectively. That's the sort of pressure I meant, making them throw sloppy punches cause they don't have time to plant their feet and fire the way they're accustomed to. I suppose the counter against that tactic is to be patient and be prepared to give away rounds whilst you're getting your timing down then as you say they do half the work for you and walk into your punch. I probably should have specified the significance of that tactic is that it goes against natural instinct, to defend by closing the distance rather than increasing it.
Bute-Froch I just think Bute was overwhelmed from the very beginning. He really never had a chance once Froch turned up the heat. I almost felt sorry for the guy, to be honest. Momo-Martinez Martinez came in from the onset and walked through Momo's shots and crushed him. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought Martinez was the champ. Matthysse-Peterson Just had no clue what the fcuk he was getting into when he stepped his ass in the ring.
Foreman and GGG have this type of thing too. They just hit you so f-king hard and then they hit you again and again. Not that they don't have skill but seems like it's more of a case of them walking into the ring and then just f-king hit you so hard.. if you know what I mean... Like they genuinelly have a reason to hate and destroy you. Like it's not a sport. Mercilles destroyers.
It's a very good point, some fighters just have that "presence" about them where every punch seems to register even through the guard, you mentioned Kiko Martinez, after Martinez vs Frampton, people were actually trying to say it was a bad sign that Frampton struggled with Kikos pressure before he knocked Kiko out...forgetting that Kiko is a ****ing monster and looking better than ever, there was also bad blood between those two, unlike with Kiko and Momo
Good post. Kiko isn't an overwhelmingly powerful puncher in my opinion. He had to beat Momo have to death to stop him and it took dozens and dozens of punches with no knockdowns. But as I said I feel it was more the intensity of the fight that beat him. Some people simply wilt under that kind of situation bearing down on them. In Momo we're talking about a guy that just went to a SD against Alejandro Lopez... being thrown in there with Kiko, he wasn't ready for that. What high quality sparring does the guy have to prepare him for a pitbull opponent like Kiko? The gut check thread got the ball rolling in my head in regards to this thread.
I feel the perfect example of this might be Ricky Burns against Gonzalez. He had literally no advantages in that fight. Skill, size, power, height, reach. Nothin'. Work rate maybe? He simply had the tenacity and that 75% mental aspect of the game, which in the end nullified Gonzalez completely.
What amazes me is not so much the ferocity of some of the fighters we mention, but how relaxed some fighters can be in the ring. Kovalev and Golovkin are prime examples. They look like they are going about their housework, then they get you hurt and suddenly their ferocity/primal instinct kicks in. I can't remember where I read this or who said it, it may have been about George Foreman, but someone mentioned how calm his breathing was, how natural it all was to him, and I think that seriously helps. Anxiety and tension can be good, but guys like Kovalev, Golovkin, Foreman before them, all seem to see so clearly in the ring. I guess it comes with experience and exactly how much you fit in within a boxing ring. It sorts the true hardmen out from the pretenders.
