By Robert “Big Moe” Elmore: I love to watch every style of boxing, although technical fighters are my favorite. Exciting-all-out-fighters sells tickets and they bring the fans back to see them fight. But they lack one thing that can probably sustain their career and that is defense. It doesn’t have to be that much if they don’t want to. I say just enough not to have your brain rattled to the point of concussion (as Tim Bradley said he had in his post fight interview in his bout with Ruslan Provodnikov).
What I saw last Saturday night from Alfredo Angulo in his bout with Erislandy Lara fight was utterly ridiculous. The man was being hit with the same 1-2 combo repeatedly. Did anybody in Angulo’s corner’ or more importantly Alfredo himself stop say “I need to do something about this. I’m getting hit with same combination”. Was he that focused on trying to finish off Lara or please the crowd that he disregarded safety?
Didn’t anybody see the swollen eye? Forget having heart. Having heart is good, but it doesn’t win fights. Period. Skill gets the job done. When Angelo’s heart was needed the most (in those last few rounds) it failed him. He willingly stopped fighting and his loyal crowd quickly silenced themselves in disbelief. At some point, the mental or common sense part must kick in. I guarantee you a few adjustments in his defense, and I believe Alfredo wins this fight by at least a split decision.
Look, everybody gets touched in boxing and I mean everybody. But the idea is not to continuously get hit with the fighter’s favorite punch or the same punch. We all saw what happened to Josesito Lopez. When he boxed Marcos Miadana he controlled the fight. When tried to brawl and be exciting, he paid the price. I re watched the classic Meldrick Taylor-Julio Cesar Chavez Sr fight?
How does Taylor land 457punches and his face ended up looking the way it did? I have to give Taylor’s trainer, Lou Duva, and his cut man George Benton credit. They were trying to get Taylor to slow down so he wouldn’t punch himself out. There was even a time in the fight Taylor swung so hard that he fell on the canvas. He already had Chavez beat in the speed and movement department. All he needed was a little defense. One brawler I saw make a great (at least for him) defensive adjustment and that was Mike Alvarado.
He was stopped in his first fight against Brandon Rios. In the second fight, from the ninth to the twelfth round, he boxed and moved. He had learned from his previous fight. Good job. Of his 61 victories, Thomas Hearns, seem to be defined by his loses to Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler; and very unjustly I might add. And the fact that his rematch with Leonard was called a despicable draw that kind of throws more salt on the wound.
Before his first fight with Leonard, he was knocking everyone out. His record going into the fight was 32 wins with 30 knockouts. Either two things were happened. One Emmanuel Steward was teaching defense. Or Two, Hearns felt like felt it wasn’t all that necessary to use it because he laying opponents on the backs like rugs. Hearns was 6 foot 1 inches tall and had a reach that could touch an opponent from Detroit to California.
In my humble opinion, Heanrs could have easily out boxed Hagler. He said in the HBO documentary Legendary Nights that he felt he had to go right after Hagler and take him out right away. That played right into Hagler’s hands. In the first Leonard fight, he was doing fairly well, until he let Leonard get too close. Ray was deceptively fast, but his eye was closing nearing the end of the fight. Had Hearn boxed and moved the fight would have been in the bag.
To close having heart and will is cool, but skills get the job done. It should be skill, will, and heart. If your skill slips up in a round or moment, then will should kick in. And when that is used, then heart should kick in.
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