i wanted to write this thread in the classical forum becuase i was reflecting on his career in the early nineties up to now. i remember this fighter as being constantly critiqued and belittled because of his fight with marquez, but i saw some old fights of him against kevin kelly and he had alot of talent. he had alot of physical similarites to roger mayweather and possibly both the power and the chin to match. good wins over norwood and medina thoughts?
Did he KO Norwood with low blows in their fight? I cant remember if that was the fight I was thinking of. Very talented, good athlete but I feel he lacked actual boxing talent. His chin wasnt great and he knew it, sometimes after he took a clean hit he would turn from a decent counterpuncher to a straight up runner. He had the straight left but if that wasnt doing the job he was a bit clueless and ineffective, his athleticism let him get away with that a lot of the time. He was a good fighter at feather. His style and his rangeyness made for a hard fight for most but I think his mental game held him back from reaching his potential.
i never saw the norwood fight, i was just browsing around (as always) on boxrec. him and fellow florida native roy jones are so similar in that they where such phenominal athletes that they could get away with their weanesses.
Not even close my friend. Gainer used his to survive more than anything, he had some close wins in his title reign and the only reason Marquez didnt stop him is because he was on his bike all night. His southpaw stance added to his awkwardness. Roy is just on another level in every department.
well i never felt he had the one shot power. he was a counterpuncher and used his lean long body to good effect. he was a runner and very defencive but i didnt think it was becuaase he was glass chinned or didnt like getting hit more becuase he had to outpoint the guy to win...a ko was an accident in his book. so he would do his best not to get hit...merchant dispised him. he said "he is complaining of getting hit from a punch" to in the replay you saw a huge huge headbutt for m marquez on the temple.
