My thoughts on Garcia vs Herrera
Good enough fight. Herrera is a hustler. To be honest, I am still like ''who the f is this guy?'' but I did decide to watch his fight vs Provodnikov (wow I actually spelled his name right!!) and quickly realised that maybe we'd all been sleeping on him. He's a problem for anyone with a brain (Ricky Hatton would fuck him up!!) Almost a Collazo of his division. Definitely has a power deficiency but he knows who he is and sticks to his game plan immaculately.
This fight was obviously some sort of pseudo home-coming fight for young Danny who I feel was putting himself under undue pressure to impress a crowd he may not necessarily love as much as those he's used to fighting for. You have to wonder if that sort of situation can give a young man an identity complex.
As if Puerto Ricans don't suffer this enough already (JUST JOKING TITO!! ;D)
I do wonder though, not just for the obvious reasons. If young Danny's heart was in this one. To me, he seems to be a heart on his sleeve type of guy.
Anyway, not to take anything away from Herrera who fought a great fight.
Didn't win a great win (that doesn't make sense, I know), it was a close fight and I'd be happy to score it either way IMO but Herrera definitely impressed me more, particularly with the way HE was mostly able to dictate terms in the ring - EVEN MORE particularly with what he was doing with his jab to Danny's middle. Uses it like a real pro. For 6 rounds, Danny didn't really know how to deal with it and certainly didn't have an answer for it and had to wait for spots where Herrera was feinting it to decide what to do with himself, then before you knew it Hererra was inside like a flash making a mess of Danny's thought process.
I mean Danny wasn't completely inept, infact he got off to a fairly decent start, taking the first two rounds on my card with cleaner, harder punching. However, you could see that this was becoming a mental fight - cat and mouse - that Danny became frustrated with (or maybe didn't want no part of? #Bothered? #shouldhavebeen #notreallythough #imsamwatsonsboy).
Round 7 was a bit of a crucial point of the fight contextually as Danny finally decided that doing his best to keep at long range from Herrera, took the game plan away from Herrera who suddenly looked a little more his status and a lot more straightforward in his own approach.
The movement needn't be as excessive as it was, seemed a bit panicked IMO - maybe as it was a seemingly negative move in a situation where he was probably already aware that he was being made to look bad, whatever the current score was. But none the less, the angles were open for Danny to score with a ratio more in his favour than was previously the case, and without less unwanted interruption bar a couple of shots that had him having to fight his way back from under-pressure by the end of round 9. I did winder if this would take the momentum away from him.
Going in to the last quarter of the fight, I wanted Danny to finish strongly. He did everything well in the 10th, made the best of the 11th despite his tactical regression and inability to see that he was being baited in by Herrea who at times during the last three, did a very good impression of a brawler and put Danny under a lot of pressure particularly in the final round where Herrera finished incredibly strong. Looks bad for the champion when he doesn't win the last.
116-112 was too wide in my book but no complaints if I was rooting for Herrera. I had it a draw. But definitely the moral victory was for Herrera who has to be considered as one of the best at 140. I would never call it a robbery but I would say that Danny has to be careful with his tactics because if the fight was scored on ring generalship alone, he'd have to get used to being a challenger because he was searching for obvious answers for far too long in that fight.
Re: My thoughts on Garcia vs Herrera
What a great post, that fight must have really affected you. ;D
Re: My thoughts on Garcia vs Herrera
Yes.... that was a very good post, and a good analysis of the fight. I myself had Herrera winning, and thought Danny looked nothing like the Danny that beat Matthysse in his previous fight. I feel bad for Danny, 'cause I know he wanted to perform well in front of us "identity-confused" fans (ahem..... JB). Kudos to Herrera because he fought his heart out, and he talked very well during the post-fight.
As for Danny.... he wants very much to be accepted by Puerto Ricans, based on his parental lineage (both parents were born and raised in Puerto Rico). And know what? Danny's a good kid. So we'll adopt him even though he fought like shit on Saturday night. ;D
Re: My thoughts on Garcia vs Herrera
LOL @Master I'd decided I was gonna do a proper review and even had a couple of cups of tea (earl grey - an unappreciated mothers day gift from last year) before I sat down to write.
I'm still buzzing with caffeine. Hit me with your best shot!!!!
Re: My thoughts on Garcia vs Herrera
Good post, I don't think you can discount the type of pressure Herrera was under in this fight as well though, he was in a much tougher spot than Garcia coming in. He knew damn well the judges weren't going to be neutral and did indeed even play the brawler in spots as you say. For me Herrera had the better of most rounds on pure boxing, but knew he had to appear the aggressor as well down the stretch, and he balanced the two very well. That's a much more difficult place to be than simply fighting in front of a different crowd or being the favourite, the guy basically had to win the fight on two fronts and to me he clearly did that.
Re: My thoughts on Garcia vs Herrera
Your right, I hadn't really considered Herrera's point of entry into this fight. Partly bias on my part, partly due to me being on one hell of a steep learning curve on who Herrera actually is???
Re: My thoughts on Garcia vs Herrera
great analysis of the fight. i agree. it was a close fight either way. although i disagree with the whole concept of the challenger having to take away the title from the champion (meaning that a close fight will go to the champion), most people think that way for some reason. and if thats your theory on boxing then i think that garcia deserved to win.
i do agree that herrera definitely won the battle in the end though. he looked sharper and proved to be a good fighter while garcia looked less than what he is.
Re: My thoughts on Garcia vs Herrera
Quote:
Originally Posted by
powerpuncher
i disagree with the whole concept of the challenger having to take away the title from the champion
Quote:
Originally Posted by
powerpuncher
if thats your theory on boxing then i think that garcia deserved to win.
@powerpuncher
Are you making a generalisation or do you mean me?
Just to clarify, that's definitely not how I think about championship fights. The winner is the guy who won the most rounds.
In this case, I had them 6-6.
I suppose you could argue that again this is a bad case for the 10-points must system ???
Re: My thoughts on Garcia vs Herrera
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Jimanuel Boogustus
Quote:
Originally Posted by
powerpuncher
i disagree with the whole concept of the challenger having to take away the title from the champion
Quote:
Originally Posted by
powerpuncher
if thats your theory on boxing then i think that garcia deserved to win.
@
powerpuncher
Are you making a generalisation or do you mean me?
Just to clarify, that's definitely
not how I think about championship fights. The winner is the guy who won the most rounds.
In this case, I had them 6-6.
I suppose you could argue that again this is a bad case for the 10-points must system ???
no, i was not making that as a case against you. sorry if it felt like that. i was just making the statement as a generality.