El Radar Wilfred Benitez and James Toney come to mind and fighters that were able to come into a fight in poor condition and still dominate/ hold their own. What are everyone's thoughts?
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El Radar Wilfred Benitez and James Toney come to mind and fighters that were able to come into a fight in poor condition and still dominate/ hold their own. What are everyone's thoughts?
Danny Williams ;DQuote:
Originally Posted by spekterscript
Nah - seriously though , I would say Duran - reputed to be a very lazy trainer at times, but nearly always still performed.
Toney and duran...Quote:
Originally Posted by BIG H
The comparisions never stop between the two....
James is known for not doing alot of what he needs in training but doing hundreds of rounds of sparring...
Roberto was the same..He ballooned up in weight between fights and sometimes did nothing but sparring to train...
Both two of the tougest mofo's ever though no doubt...
At some point they had a good work ethic which over time dwinggled
mike tyson post jail
Im not sure about toney...Quote:
Originally Posted by Scrap
But i always got the feeling that after a certain point in time that roberto started caring less and less for his legacy and more so for doing what he does..Fight..To put food on the table..
Props to the guy he fought far past his prime because he's a born fighter and thats what he knows..
And he still got some big wins way past his prime...
In my honest opinion i think by the time duran fought hagler and hearns...
He was both slighly past his best..And way out of his depth bieng a great lightweight fighting at middleweight... Bit of a de la hoya job.. He wasnt shot ..Just a bit far..
And he was far past his best when he fought the third leonard fight 9 years after they first two...
But he was still winning world titles at light middle...
And he managed to beat a great fighter in iran barkley the fight before leonard...
Truely a great bloke...But he probably took alot of years of his prime with his actions outside of the ring...
Without a doubt, the most entertaining non-training boxer was 'Two Ton' Tony Galento in the 30's.
HAHAHAH i member his fight with Rocky Marciano, i saw it on ESPN classics, boi he was one fooking fat mofo! Toney would struggle to keep up with him!Quote:
Originally Posted by X
He used to train on cigars and beer. His catchphrase was 'I'll moider da bum' and he was lined up to face a prime Joe Louis (I don't think he fought Marciano as he was around before Rocky came up). There would be press shots of him 'training' .......... and his sparring partners would be pulling him on a rickshaw as he smoked big fat cigars. he said "I'm paying these bums wages, you think I'm gonna be doing all the work?"Quote:
Originally Posted by cockey cockney
One press wag asked him what he thought of Shakespeare and he said "I bet he's one of those fancy English fighters I've never heard of. I'll moider da bum"
he actually caught the Bomber cold and dropped him but was then absolutely pulverised by Joe. Louis hit him so hard and so fast that he didn't have time to fall down. Author Peter Wilson (who was ringside) swore that Louis actually cut him so badly that he lost his eyebrow and it went flying off into the crowd.
Ya, but the huge fast weight loss (resulting in leg cramps) cost Duran in the No mAS that people will never forget and tarnished his legacy of greatness.
Same for Toney in his failed attempt to be a successful HW. The differance is while Toney may have embarrassed himself he can redeem his legacy with some "SUPERFIGHTS" that are available at cruiser
Pernell Whittaker had a streak where he was training very very little, just when h e was getting into Cocaine I believe... THe few fights before he fought DLH were the worst I think... He needed to fight Wilfredo Rivera twice to get a convincing decision(though he wasn't a total bum at the time), and then was way behind and had been dropped twice by Disobleys Hurtado.
Ya, Whitaker never actually tested positive for cocaine until the Pestriev fight, which was the one after DLH, but I've always believed his lifestyle started to unravel way before that. I believe cocaine only stays in your system for 2-3 days, so since he failed a drug test, that means he was snorting coke right up until the days before the fight, which is crazy. I assume it had to take a couple years for him to get to that point of abuse.Quote:
Originally Posted by p4pking
The last fight where he really looked good was the second McGirt fight, which was in late '94. After that he always looked out of shape and undertrained, he got knocked down in several fights in a row against mediocre opponents, and his behavior and attitude in the ring seemed to get bizarre.
I think he temporarily cleaned up his act for the DLH fight, because he obviously knew he couldn't mess around if he was going to go 12 rounds with a young guy like Oscar. But once he lost that fight controversially, I think he fell apart for good.
Seeing him fight at age 37 with a flabby beer gut on ESPN2 was pretty depressing.
Maybe for his boxing career, but he has his act cleaned up now. And he managed to keep money over the years. I read an article on him a while back on here, fantastic article, in which he said he's all cleaned up and all he does is play chess. It wasn't so much an interview as it was an in depth look at his life. It was really a great read for me since he was my first boxing hero. I lived in Norfolk, Virginia and was 4 years old at the time of the second McGirt fight and I remember my parents having tons of people over for it. CC 35 by the way.Quote:
Originally Posted by SweetPea
You mean Louis. He never fought Marciano.Quote:
Originally Posted by cockey cockney
Ya I was just referring to his boxing career. I hope the stories that he's cleaned up his act are true.Quote:
Originally Posted by amat
I know he's doing some work as a trainer now, although I always feel that great athletes in any sport make bad coaches, managers, trainers, etc. Everything comes so naturally to them that it's hard for them to understand that the fighter/players they're teaching can't do the same things they did.
For example, I know Whitaker never watched tape of his opponents. He preferred to just go in the ring and adjust on the fly as the fight went on. How many guys can do that and win?
When I watch "later" Duran I always see a second chin on him, beer belly etc. He seemed like he was always plump and chubby
;D
Lol...Thats cos he had all that...Quote:
Originally Posted by MrB
But like i said..All he knew was how to fight..After a certain point in his career..He started worrying less about legacy and more about putting food on the table...
But yet all the while he was still having competative bouts..