It's so easy for all of us to sit home and play armchair quarterback and say "he should do this or that". I usually hate when people do that **** but I was guilty of it tonight. I really feel that Klitschko could have put that fight to bed with one simple strategy. HOOK OFF THE JAB!!! He did it twice and it worked to perfection. Manny kept telling him to land "the missile", the straight right. He landed it several times. The problem is that it's tough to get leverage on that punch against a southpaw. The fact that Sultan leads with his right foot minimizes the impact of the straight right but also leaves him more succeptable to the jab (as we saw) and the left hook. Also, what is Manny thinking putting Old China Chin in danger in the 12th round when he should be on cruise control??? I really feel that Manny gets a lot out of taller fighters (obviously) but I don't like him as a primary trainer.
Well, the straight right is the money punch against the southpaw. Wlad just didn't even try to land it enough. I agree though, more left hooks as well. hell i'd have been happy with anything, an adventurous glint in Wlad's eye perhaps? I dont know, I think Wlad is mentally timid, he has no confidence in his chin, thats what his whole style is designed to accomodate.
Manny has expressed his belief that Wlad has ATG ability, I think he merely wanted Wlad to go out and show it. He thinks Wlad is so good that it is not okay to just go out and win, but that he must win big. Personally, I don't see a problem with it as it speaks to the confidence Manny has in Wlad.
Most trainers today fall into either the category of the motivator "your blowin’ it son", or are conditioning experts "no pain, no gain". But they lack any real knowledge of the intricacies of the game.
In this case though, he could of easily ended the fight early but throwing 4 right hands the entire fight wont do it.
Emanuel was being straight forward with him and was speaking for the health of his boxing career. It was obvious Ibragimov was of not real danger to Wladimir in there, so he felt it was safe to at least put forth an effort to get Ibragimov out of there. Unfortunately, he didn't convince many that he put that effort. I think Manny was looking at the bigger picture. Perhaps Wlad didn't need anything but a jab to win this fight tonight, but how about in the future, when he gets to fight someone who challenges him more, and he needs to use all his arsenal. What will happen then? Will he be reluctant to use all his weapons then too?
Manny was remembering the last time he had a heavyweight fighter fighting a unification bout in the Garden. That fighter seemingly won a lopsided victory by keeping an ovematched oponent at the end of a jab. The (corrupt) judges did not see it that way... that fighters name: Lennox Lewis. Manny likes knockouts. It keeps the results certain, it keeps the fans happy, and it means more money in the future.