Very telling interview w Emanuel Steward

Didn't Marciano train down in weight for his fights ?

Wasn't his walking around weight greater than his fighting weight ?

 

Tyson was rocked and hurt by Frank Bruno pre Buster Douglas. I would say Bruno was a B+ type of big man.

 

On a fair card, Holyfield is 1-4 vs Bowe and Lewis. Ali would have lots of problems vs the big 4 too. But in Ali's case he was faster, and could fight going backward.

 

Holyfield was not old for Bowe. He was older for Lewis, but I think Lewis' size bothered him. Post Lewis, Holyfield did not look " old " vs Rhaman.

 

Really good interview. Part of his higher than high opinion of Tommy Hearns is obviously from being in his corner. But I think Manny genuinely believed nobody from the current division could have gone with Tommy.

 

I wouldn't rate Bruno that highly. Good power and decent jab but weak chin and terrible stamina. His best wins were against McCall and a shot Jesse Ferguson. He was a C+ or B- level fighter. Yes he did crack Tyson but like I said Tyson performance dipped against big men.

 

Great interview. From a great guy.

 

No. In fact, there's no difference. Maybe a slight benefit to Holy on account of experience.

I'm always amused when Jim Lampley, discussing a 26 yr old and a 30 yr old, mentions that the younger dude has a four year age advantage. In most cases, he doesn't have any such age advantage.

Until a fighter begins to decline physically, the age is not a factor. Mike Tyson was past his best at 25, but not past his physical prime.

Lennox Lewis WAS past his physical prime at 35, but NOT past his best boxing days.

And as for Bernard....

:yep

 

31 and active is a heavyweights prime in my book. Old for the 1990's to 2000's happens after the age of 35.

 

Fighters have two kinds of peak.

And often, if they're 'brought along' carefully and start young, those two should coincide.

The first peak relates to the physical condition of the man and is mostly determined by genetics, though training and nutrition can play roles.


For MOST physical endeavours, and most men, this occurrs between 20 and 23. There's a slow falling off after that. For endurance events, some peak later, say 27-30.

For boxing, I would say the physical peak, all things considered, occurs around 25 and is in decline thereafter.



Then there's the skills-set peak.

In games of physical prowess, you improve with practice and experience.

And this improvement continues well past the physical peak, as you practice and learn more 'moves.'


The two kinds of peak are in an interplay with each other, and the overall peak occurs when there is optimum balance between the skill set peak and the physical peak.

In other words, when there opimal balance between the increasing skill set and the decreasing physical prowess.

IMO, for MOST boxers, this ranges from 26-29.



In Bernard's case, he came to the game very late in life, therefore his skillset continued to improve past an age where most would have 'learned all they were going to learn.'

In addition, his body did not have the physical damage inflicted that other boxers had, at an early age as he wasn't in the sport.

Finally, he has a body type that (with good fitness and nutrition practices) aged more slowly than average.

The result of all of this is that Bernard's peak was postponed well past the age of most boxers.


I would say the same is true (to perhaps a lesser degree) for some other boxers including Sergio, Lennox and Wlad, but BHop is pretty much unique in where his peak lay.

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This post was written five and a half years ago and Bernard is still competing at top level !

http://www.boxingforum24.com/showthread.php?p=3800986&highlight=Echols#post3800986

 

Hopkins is a freak.