By Tom Donelson
Ray Narh, a young boxing prospect, found himself in a boxing match with the aggressive Steve Quinonez on a recent ESPN2 Wednesday Night Fights. Quinonez, the smaller fighter, had one goal in mind and that was to move inside and pound Narh's body. This is the goal of any brawler, especially one deficient in arm reach and height against his opponent.
The Nah-Quinonez fight was one of those classic boxer-brawler confrontations with Nah playing the role of the boxer. Throughout this eight round fight, Narh proved successful in using his height and longer arm reach to keep his opponent off balance.
Throughout the fight, Narh used his left jab to make it difficult for Quinonez to move inside. The one thing that any boxer must possess is an effective left jab. The jab can't just be pawing for that leaves the boxer vulnerable to a counter right over it or in this case a straight left from the southpaw Quinonez. The jab has to be hard and accurate. The boxer needs to double up the jab on occasion to continue pressure the brawler.
Nah's left jab was accurate and Quinonez often found the jab in his face as he tried to move inside. This force desperation on the part of Quinonez, which allowed Nah to use the second favorite weapon of the boxer, the straight right behind the stinging left. As Quinonez jumped into Narh, Narh followed the jab with a straight right.
As the fight continued, Narh's uppercut added to Quinonez's woes. It was only in the eighth round that Quinonez had any success as one of his straight rights nailed Narh flush, but Narh was standing after the punch and his lead on the score card proved far too much of an obstacle at this point.
Muhammad Ali was not your classic fighter and his quickness often allowed him to overcome the occasional lack of technical boxing skills that he failed to learn or use. But his left jab was more than a pathfinder, it was a swift obstacle that often cut his opponent's face. Early in his career, his jab allowed him to blind his opponent and on occasion he faked the jab and began an attack with a straight right cross. Joe Frazier often paid the price of moving inside Ali's jab as his face was badly swollen after confronting Ali.
Larry Holmes was your traditional classic boxer with a sledgehammer jab that set up all of his options. That jab would plow through a boxer's face and like an Ali, cut and discourage any brawler's attempt to get inside. Holmes often used this jab to mask the right hand that would follow.
In boxing, strategy and techniques often can determine a fight but a fighter's size established his tactic. Joe Frazier could never be a boxer for he had neither the size or hand speed but he was blessed with a hammer of a left hook. So the smaller Frazier was forced to improvise by moving inside and pounding the body of his bigger opponents. On the other hand, Ali's height determined his boxing style. While he had power, he did not have the weapon of one punch knockout like a Joe Frazier and his speed allowed him the luxury to escape danger as opposed to standing to fight.
So the game between the boxer and the brawler comes down to the boxer's ability to make the brawler pay too high of a price to move inside. Throughout history, more often than not, it was the brawler who prevailed. Rocky Mariciano outslugged Ezzard Charles over 15 rounds in their first fight and he dispatched Charles in their second fight. Joe Frazier prevailed in his first fight with Ali. (Ali would win the final two fights of the trilogy but not without cost.)
The one advantage that the brawler has is that he can erase all of his mistakes with one punch. The boxer must fight a more efficient and avoid any major mistake that can result in a loss. In last week's bout, Narh succeeded in doing just that by using his boxing skills to win the fight.
