The inaccurates

Some fighters punch with deadly accuracy: you could take a pen and put a dot on a guy's cheek and they could hit it.

Other guys have managed to accomplish great things without being accurate punchers.

I'd put Nigel Benn in this category, and Holyfield -- watch his fights and you'll see him miss or not land flushly (especially with the right) on a regular basis when he has an opening. Yet those guys found ways to land the important punches and win a lot of important fights.

Who else would you put in this category?

 

What gave it away? My listing him as an example?

 

Go watch the first couple of rounds of Holy-Tyson I -- see how many times he throws over Tyson's head.

Or if you attribute that to Tyson's mesmerizing head movement, try Holy against Vaughn Bean. Or Bert Cooper. He hits both a lot due to volume, but watch how many times he also misses these rather stationary targets. I just checked out the early rounds of those two to see if I was seeing things, and he tries a left hook/uppercut against Stewart like six or eight times in the first round and whiffs every time. Against Bert he knocks him down with a body shot and misses like 9 of his next 10 punches (and that's not a wild flurry, he took his time rather than raging after him).

Evander is a great fighter, no doubt, but until he wears guys down he misses a LOT of wide open punches -- he'll loop the right long or either throw short, kind of winging it right in front of the opponent's face. And the hook often goes over the opponent's head.

In the pocket, he rarely misses but that's at a range where he's bodying up to the guy and punching on feel rather than sight. If you're leaning on a guy and throw a left hook to the body, it's hard not to miss. Or even the head.

Nigel Benn, maybe it's just that when he misses he often misses by a country mile. He'll loop that right hand in there 5 or 6 times in a round and connect on a couple but the others wouldn't hit the side of a barn.

Shavers and Marciano are good examples. Some clubbing punchers like Juan Roldan also fit the bill. Vaughn Bean also made him look bad in spots with Holy overshooting his punches.

Obviously any fighter worth discussing is going to land punches. But I'm talking about guys who aren't snipers who still managed to achieve on a high level.

 

I apologize, didn't mean to embarrass you.

But I'm glad you came around. I was worried for you for a minute there.

:smooch

 

No, Joe Louis was a very accurate puncher. I'll have to agree to disagree with you on that.

 

I realize that, which is why I was disagreeing. He was being sarcastic so I was playing along.

It's basically an oil-and-vinegar thing. He digs the Village People and Sesame Street, where I'm more of a Rolling Stones and Electric Company kind of guy.