the Naz effect by Greg Paterson

heres my highly anticipated articule i said i would write, tell me what you think if you agree or disagree anything you would like to add

The Naz effect​

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In 1995 a brash, arrogant and most importantly unorthodox fighter won the WBO Featherweight title from Steve Robinson. This young man then became a cult figure for young boxing fans around Britain especially the Sheffield area where this young man grew up. This young mans style had never been seen before. He kept his hands low, switched stances, lunged in with punches and showboated. These things are against every single Boxing fundamental but somehow this cheeky lad from Sheffield got away with it. Everything he did was new and exciting and made a boxing purist cringe. However, young kids watching him became enthralled and tried copying him with his style, with lots of kids pouring into the Ingle’s gym in Sheffield.
Now today we are seeing the effects of this fundamental breaking style. When ever I watch an undercard for a British show I always notice at least one fighter trying to imitate the ‘Naz’ style. This style can only be used with a guy with great reflexes and speed and even this is still up for debate in boxing circles as many people me included think Naz could have been a lot better with a more conventional style.
But to investigate the beginnings of this style we have to go all the way back to a fighter called Herol Graham or ‘The Bomber’ as he was known. Herol Graham like Naz broke all the rules he was fast, slick, unorthodox, switch hitter and awkward as hell. He truly broke the mould and his trainers the Ingle family noticed this and studied this style and eventually taught this to every fighter in their gym by using unorthodox pad work, sparring and using lines marked out on a floor. Then eventually Naz was taught this style but made a few changes and really brought this style to the whole of Britain by becoming an International superstar.
If you study a lot of fighters coming out of Sheffield in the recent years they all in one way or another conform to the ‘Ingle style’. They switch hit and are quick and use awkward angles and good movement. This can take some people to a world title like Junior Witter or it can relegate them to the job of a journeyman like Mo Khaled. In my opinion the style is a hindrance as the fighters are off balance a lot open to certain shots and rely to much on reflexes so aren’t great against pressure or faster fighters.
Don’t get me wrong the Ingle’s have served boxing well and have brought through some great fighters but they are teaching this style to kids when it is not in their best interest.

So has this ‘Naz Effect’ damaged boxing? I don’t think it has but I do think potentially some fighters could have become better fighters by learning better fundamentals such as Junior Witter but would someone like Ryan Rhodes have become as good as fighter as he is today.

This effect isn’t only limited to Britain in America they are just feeling the effect of the ‘Roy Jones Jr effect’. Roy Jones Jr in his day was a great fighter he had speed and athleticism to burn. Larry Merchant called him ‘The only fighter who doesn’t need a jab.’ Roy Jones had all the skills in the world but was very unorthodox and often leaped in with lead hooks and uppercuts. Again he used his reflexes and speed to his advantage and became a hard fight for anyone who ever lived at Middleweight to Light Heavyweight. Now though as we see with the ‘Naz effect’ we see young fighters copy him often to a disadvantage for themselves. Most known to most British fight fans is Jean Pascal who challenged Carl Froch for the vacant WBC Super Middleweight title last December. He openly admits to modelling himself on Roy Jones Jr. and this to me make shim at a disadvantage as Pascal has great fundamentals but chooses not to use them and instead try’s leaping in with hooks and uppercuts.

Another casualty of this ‘Naz effect’ and ‘Roy Jones Jr. effect’ is Carl Froch who has been mentioned earlier. This guy is a good fighter with a great chin and bags of heart. He also has great fundamental skills that got him Silver in the World Championships at amateur level. However, when he turned pro he fought with his hands low relying on his speed and reflexes but Carl isn’t the fastest. This brought him great difficulty in his fight against Jermaine Taylor as Taylor made him pay for his big lunges and his hands low and even knocked him down as a result. If Carl had used his fundamentals he could have had a better chance as later on in the fight he started to use these fundamentals and eventually knocked out Taylor in the final round. Carl’s trainer pleaded with him to use his fundamentals but he was too head strong to change but he finally did and just in time too.

In great cases new and different styles can pay off such as in the case of Naseem Hamed or Roy Jones Jr. but for these styles to work they need to be original and make the best of your own talents.

 

cheers mate

do you agree with what i say, is it correct etc..

 

cheers mate i have submitted it to esb so hopefully they choose it

graham is just a big Naz really

 

well i had to hold back 'young man' = '***** or Sheffield = shithole

nah just joking but i did repet too much

cheers for the advice mate, im not looking to be a boxing writet i just thought i could write a good articule about it

i jsut wrote it out of my head i didnt do know editing as i couldnt be arsed really

 

i suppose though but i dont think he is like them, it think he is just an exciting fighter

im not getting at race or religion

 

exatcly why point

i think Naz could have got a lot better if he had better fundamentals

dont get me wrong the Ingle are good trainers but they and tehir fighters neeed to be less fixed to their blueprint

 

cheers