Quote Originally Posted by FinitoElDinamita View Post
Quote Originally Posted by El Kabong View Post
Toney the best Not Floyd? Floyd stays in the pocket quite nicely and can thump out some brutal counters while picking off punches with his guard.
I was going to include Floyd in the list but everything he does on the inside, Toney has been doing it long before him and he's more of a natural imo..

I wouldnt argue with your claim though.. They are close...
They are completely different, Toney could slip stuff, but Floyd switches up his inside fighting way more than TOney, That's why Toney looked so lost against Jones, he was great offensively on the inside against a guy standing right in front of him, but he was pretty flat footed, and mostly stuck with his shoulder roll, Floyd would clinch up more, COme in like he did against N'dou with the shoulder roll or come in with his guard high, he actually steps in at an angle against his opponent more like Hopkins does. He didn't just stay in front of the guy. Toney would have had nightmares against a guy like Hatton, where Floyd didn't. He uses his arms and feet way more on the inside than Toney.

Guys like Hatton, Castillo were really good modern inside fighters, but they didn't have all the defense on the inside.

The guys I really like on the inside are the guys who can dish it out and avoid whats coming back, while always switching up what they are doing. Hopkins, Bradley, Andre Ward, Whitaker, Duran, Leonard. Guys like Cotto, JCC, Castillo are really great on the inside, but I think defense should never be forgotten anywhere in the ring, and for me just dishing it out. Even Wladimir gets all this hate for what he does on the inside, but he is doing a lot of stuff that doesn't get appreciated to not let his opponent get off punches. What Holyfield did to Tyson was a great example of what a good inside guy can do against a guy who is faster, stronger, etc.

IMO great inside fighting needs to be blended with the outside stuff. If you are a great inside fighter then you face what JCC did against M. Taylor and Whitaker he looked lost. If you can only fight on the outside then what happened to Khan will happen to you. If you don't know how to work and find openings at a high level you will see what Holyfield did to Tyson.