thats absolutely true about fighters having rhythms or essences to them. Great fighters are able to accurately read their opponent's 'essence' and then react with the appropriate tactic. This is a product of the brain and can only be strengthened or exercised by lots of sparring and tape watching; in other words experience. This goes back to the subject of the shoulder roll in that the young james toney had that same sixth sense Chris was talking about. The shoulder roll appears dangerous and risky but to someone with the ability see into their opponent its actually quite safe. You never could see Toney or say mike mcallum getting hit alot because they knew what their opponent was trying to do to them as though they were in control of their opponents without them knowing they were. This ties into the basic foundations of what I've gathered from boxing over the years in that your opponent can only do what you allow him to do.

But for the shoulder roll always remember that you must roll away whilst doing it so as to 1. take steam off of the punch and 2. gain leverage to start up your counter right hook/uppercut. This counter is a necessary thing to learn if you want to learn the shoulder roll as they go hand in hand since he is exposed upon throwing the right.

In this way the shoulder roll is very unique in boxing in that its is technically a block but really preformed more like a slip.