Every so often a match is made between two awkward, unconventional fighters, each of whom has a style all his own. Being as styles make fights, these kind of fights are always intriguing to me because you never know how their styles will mesh. Sometimes you get a dandy of a fight; other times unique styles nullify each other and neither can really find a rhythm. I don’t recall this ever being a topic, so I figured I’d see what kind of discussion we can have about these quirky matchups. I’ll try to get us started with a few. Bazooka Limon vs Idelfonso Bethelmy: They met for the vacant WBC super featherweight title and boy was it a strange affair. Bazooka had those looping punches that often came in bunches, but he had trouble figuring out the zigs-when-you-expect-him-to-zag Venezuelan, who threw mostly straighter punches but from really weird angles. Bethelmy had an unconventional stance and a herky-jerky rhythm where he often seems in perfect position to throw one punch and instead throws another, like he’s ready to throw a hook and instead throws an off-balance right. Southpaw Bazooka would miss wildly (as he often did), then throw just as wildly on his next punch and land. Limon won by KO in 15 in an impossible-to-describe scrap. Roy Jones Jr vs Merqui Sosa: Bombs away between the force of nature that was Roy Jr, who defied all convention in his approach, and knock-kneed Sosa, who seemed to be swinging from the fences every time and fought like he learned his style from caveman drawings. Roy won in two (over a guy he called he hardest puncher he ever faced, a sentiment echoed by James Toney and Frankie Liles) in a strange fight. George Foreman vs Dwight Muhammad Qawi: Big George had that clubbing attack behind a telephone-pole jab and at this stage was using a cross-armed defense while standing straight and tall. Dwight was short and squat (and round in this fight at heavyweight), bobbing and weaving but really more of a counter-puncher than the Frazier-style pressure fighter you’d expect him to be based on his crouching style and compact stature. George got the stoppage win mostly because Qawi ran out of gas. What are some other fights of this variety, what made them interesting and how did their styles mesh … or clash, as the case may be.
I thought I’d give this a bump for one more try. If I could, I’d change the title as I’m sure upon looking at it that it’s a bit confusing and not enticing enough for some to give it a gander, but among our cognoscenti we could surely find some interesting fights where both participants fight ‘outside the box,’ so to speak. Perhaps @scartissue @salsanchezfan @AntonioMartin1 and @Jel could show the way?
This is a great thread idea. I need to think about it some more because I am sure I can come up with better one, but one that comes to mind was Cooney vs Spinks. You have the left hand dominant Cooney who really was a difficult guy to fight because of his size, awkwardness and brutal power with his hook against Michael Spinks and his herky jerky style. The size difference alone made unique, especially for that time period. It was pretty surreal watching Spinks carve Cooney up with that fight ending combination. Of course, Jerry was pretty passed it t the time but it was still a big knock out in a weird and ugly style match.+
Michael Spinks is one of the kings of the awkward fighters. If I had to choose just 1 fight of his perhaps Spinks vs Qawi or Marvin Johnson.
For me, I’d say you’re half right here — Rosi is awkward as hell but Van Horn is very conventional. I think Rosi vs Gilbert Dele is more in line with my thinking — Dele is very crude and strong, looks like he’s been taught proper but in the heat of battle he loses that and throws from all sort of odd angles. Btw, Rosi is low-key one of my favorite fighters to watch. He is so effective at turning every fight into a slog and it’s like fighting an octopus. Poor Rene Jacquot looks like he’s drowning in there against Rosi and keeps looking to the ref with this ‘please make the bad man go away’ plea, haha.
