With Counterpunchers/defensive boxers now dominating the sport(Mayweather,Klitschko,Rigo) now dominating the sport.
Can it be agreed that Pacquiao is "The last Great Brawler"
pacquiao is not a brawler...
he uses movement, angles, timing, boxing skills.
he's probably the most underrated boxer of the last 25 years. he has very good skills. his footwork was freaking out of this world in his prime.
Pacquiao is far from a brawler, in his prime, he was the greatest offensive fighter since a young Tyson.
Pac's head movement, his feints, his punch selection, his accuracy, his punch out put, his work rate, his ability to stay just out of range and then leap in again with his own counter shots, I'm not sure we'll see something like this again for a long, LONG time.
We're getting more and more fighters trying to imitate the shoulder role, guys trying to spoil fights with clinches and elbows, guys trying to lower punch output because they are not effective combination punchers. But these things happen, two of the biggest names in boxing, Floyd in the US and Wlad in much of Europe are defensive fighters. They will inspire a future generation of fighters who want to be like that.
Take Ali in the 60s and 70s, every young fighter wanted to be like that, they wanted to float around the ring, whip out the jab, try a shuffle, lean back from punches, keep their hands down. Now we get the shoulder roll and the clinch.
Pacquiao was only a brawler against opponents who were better than him.
When he starts losing the fight that's when he says **** it and just goes to war. It happened With Morales and Marquez. It would probably happen with Mayweather.
Other than that he was just a knockout machine in his early days. He would use his conditioning, workrate, speed and devastating power and then try to take you out when he knew he had you hurt.
He was a monster in his prime. If you were fighting a prime Pacquiao there was no question what he wanted to do. He wanted to knock you the **** out. If you showed any weakness whatsoever he would go in for the kill and he wouldn't stop until he got you out of there.
Prime Pacquiao was a special fighter. I don't think anybody could have beaten him at 122. It didn't matter how good you were, you could be Rigondeaux X10, he would just use his speed, power and workrate to overwhelm you.
speed power and workrate can all be neutralized by skill and intelligence, anyone who relies on physical ability that much is a highly flawed fighter and just waiting to get taken to school. which is exactly what happened to manny when he fought a good boxer back then.
he was highly flawed at 122, way too raw to beat a guy like rigo. he didnt reach his prime until many years later when roach taught him, well how to fight basically. you talk about there being no question what he wanted to do like its a good thing, its not. dude was so predictable, just running straight in behind the same 1-1-2 damn near every time. you could catch him with the same counter infinity number of times and he never made an adjustment either. going for the KO is good but you need to know how to set it up in more than one way.
manny was better later in his career when he had options. more variation of punches, angles, counter punching ability, sense of distance and an understanding of when to throw what punch rather than just letting it go hoping for the best.
manny at 122 was indeed a monster, physically. but all in all he was a far lesser fighter than he grew to become. his skill level and intelligence was much lower and he would stand absolutely no chance against rigo, he would lose every round and get knocked out.
boxers generally have been dominating the sport, look over the top fighters in history and the vast majority were technicians. even the ones who were aggressive were seldom brawlers but skilled inside fighters and defenders like duran and chavez, both of whom could fight outside as well. highly skilled technicians who used their skills to force a fight as opposed to the brawler who just applies pressure and lets his hands go.
pacquiao is not a brawler either, far from it. even if he was he would be far from the last. brawlers at the top of the sport are usually few and far in between though.
Hell even his nickname suggest someone that relies on his power which is one of the first description of a brawler...
I am a fan of kovalev too, but lets not make him out to be someone he is not...
http://www.thesudburystar.com/2014/05/01/boxing-promoter-sues-canadian-champ-adonis-stevenson
http://griegosportsnetwork.blogspot.com/2013/08/nathan-cleverly-vs-sergey-kovalev.html?m=1
http://www.*************.com/columns/fonfara-gives-stevenson-run-montreal/
I am yet to read a boxing article saying kovalev is other than a brawler..i think people just take it as an insult ..
Even one of nsb writer david greisham has called kovalev a brawler in one of his articles..
Fighters who are classed as brawlers lack certain defensive skills
Pac didn't have any defensive skills till the 2nd Marquez fight...till then his motto was the same as that of a brawler.."If you hit hard,I'll hit harder"
Seeing Pacquiao performances in his best wins..I'll always consider him a brawler before a boxer-puncher
He brawled in his early years cause look who the hell was training him and the guy only knew like one punch. Look what happened after being formally trained.
Pacquiao is an offensive-minded fighter who likes to go toe-to-toe but can also fight different ways. He reminds everyone the essence of fighting. Doing your best to destroy your opponent but ofcourse now boxing has evolved, its good and reasonable but sometimes it loses the essence of fighting, theyd rather play it safe. ppv numbers and whatevers matter more than respect. Marquez is the total package of pacquiao's weakness (mentally and stylistically). I give credit to pacquiao for actually doing well against a fighter he is tailor made to. They said their styles are for each other. NO pacquiao's style is for marquez and not the other way around. The only reason of pacquiaos success against him is because of his physical gifts and ofcourse, balls i guess.
If pacquiao says "Its for the fans". I believe. One of the greatest action pack fighters ever and probably the greatest in my time.
The crazy thing about Pacquiao is he is not a typical fighter, he is one of the few fighters who evolved into a boxer this is what makes him so special.
When he was young he never used the moves he does now, he was just a straight up slug em out brawler who was a head on your chest type inside fighter similar to Armstrongs give some to take some style.
He was so crude, now he forgot how to swarm like that inside he became a speed demon, who used bursts on opponents. He also stopped using his signature missile left hand that was his bread and butter at 122-126 he stopped because Roach basically told him it was too predictable.
Watch this video which basically the evolution of Pacquiao stylistically in the early part as a teen he was a brawler who got hit a lot and threw out punches head to head. by the time he fought Oscar he turned into an offensive minded slick boxer.
Pac needs to bring back that double jab follow by the missile left, the only fighter who was really able to avoid that was Marquez.
Well then if hes not, pardon me but what is he then?...coz i think aint no way is he a boxer puncher, neithe a swarmer and defintely not a boxer by style
Which fight indicated to you that he's a brawler?
Well then if hes not, pardon me but what is he then?...coz i think aint no way is he a boxer puncher, neithe a swarmer and defintely not a boxer by style
kovalev is far from a brawler. He sets his shots up and doesn't go in face first swinging wildly. Some of the guys u mentioned, Kirkland, maidana, segura those guys are brawlers.
11y ago
Pacquiao:The last great Brawler? | BoxingScene Community