Over the last few years I have seen many fighters show up for fights way out of shape and I wonder " man what happened to those years when the fighters actually were pushed by their coaches to lose weight and show up in shape for their fights?" I mean most recently David Diaz was all flabby against Paulie, then you have Chris Arreola who looked horrible against Vitali. Then you have James Toney, Rahman, Kirk Johnson, Sam Peter and the list goes on and on... how do all these fighters ever expect to be great when they can't even push themselves to be fit? Thoughts anyone?
Its mostly the heavyweights as most lighter weight class fighters have to be in some kind of shape because they need to make the weight. Body looks can also be deceiving. Juan Diaz even as a lightweight which is his natural weight always looks a big chubby but we is always in shape to fight 12 rounds at a tough fast pace. The heavies def need to do something about their shape but. Not having to come in under a certain weight is no excuse for coming into fights out of shape.
Some guys just do not have the drive. You have guys like Mayweather, PacMan, Vladimir and Hopkins whose trainers admit they need to keep them from working out too much to guys like Toney who need an asswhuppin' just to get motivated. This problem has been going on for decades. Some guys have it, others do not.
Some times I wish they could set a limit on these heavyweights, maybe this would make for more interesting fights and less clinch-fests. Not to discriminate but I am definitaly happy that these other HW that are in shape don't lose against these guys that don't take care of themselves.
the issue is that very few fighters are smart, dedicated or diciplined. think about it, if you were those things you probably wouldnt be a fighter so its logical...
