Is this style a lost art today?
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The Art of Swarming
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Originally posted by Wild Blue Yonda View PostCertainly not.
He's about as far removed from the style as I could think of, in fact. Whatever gives you the idea he could fit the category?
Anyway, yes the art of it is very lost today. People look at someone like Margarito, Hatton etc and think of them as great inside fighters and yet they are absolutely terrible at it. They use none of the tricks that every great inside fighter should work on and know.
The classic boxers of earlier eras were better inside fighters than the majority of fighters today. Well, a perfect example is this: Three of the best 'boxers' today are Toney, Hopkins and Mayweather. They are better inside fighters than any purely 'inside' fighter today. The reason they are called old school is because they fight like the old era guys. They know all the tricks of the inside and outside game.
They know how to work inside, rest inside, clinch, counter, defend, walk an opponent around, smother them etc etc etc. The skills those guys use are classic inside fighting techniques and they aren't employed at all by these supposed great inside fighters like Marg, Hatton etc. Hell, we all saw Hatton get badly beaten inside by Mayweather.
Then you have the opposite in a guy like Berto who can't fight inside to save himself. Collazo, who is ok inside, dominated him there. It's kind of sad, because a great inside fighter is truly a thing of beauty of the sweet science. It's really an art, and one very, very few fans of boxing today see or recognise and there are very few fighters left that have the old skills of being both a great boxer as well as knowing the inside game and yet, it used to be nearly mandatory to know how to do both well otherwise you got your ass kicked. The inside fighters were actually good at it and the great ones were nearly always brilliant boxers. Benny Leonard is a good example.
Calzaghe was actually another very good swarmer. He had great inside skills, would smother and halt his opponents offense and make them fight how he wanted whether it was him swarming, smothering and working inside or boxing on the outside. His overall skill and adaptability if very under-appreciated.
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Originally posted by VERSATILE2K10 View PostManny in his last 3 or 4 fights have become a swarmer. Dude is fearless.
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Originally posted by BennyST View PostThe early version of Hopkins could be considered a swarmer. He used it brilliantly in fights. He would swarm his opponent, smother their offense, get his own inside shots in and get out. He was great at it.
Anyway, yes the art of it is very lost today. People look at someone like Margarito, Hatton etc and think of them as great inside fighters and yet they are absolutely terrible at it. They use none of the tricks that every great inside fighter should work on and know.
The classic boxers of earlier eras were better inside fighters than the majority of fighters today. Well, a perfect example is this: Three of the best 'boxers' today are Toney, Hopkins and Mayweather. They are better inside fighters than any purely 'inside' fighter today. The reason they are called old school is because they fight like the old era guys. They know all the tricks of the inside and outside game.
They know how to work inside, rest inside, clinch, counter, defend, walk an opponent around, smother them etc etc etc. The skills those guys use are classic inside fighting techniques and they aren't employed at all by these supposed great inside fighters like Marg, Hatton etc. Hell, we all saw Hatton get badly beaten inside by Mayweather.
Then you have the opposite in a guy like Berto who can't fight inside to save himself. Collazo, who is ok inside, dominated him there. It's kind of sad, because a great inside fighter is truly a thing of beauty of the sweet science. It's really an art, and one very, very few fans of boxing today see or recognise and there are very few fighters left that have the old skills of being both a great boxer as well as knowing the inside game and yet, it used to be nearly mandatory to know how to do both well otherwise you got your ass kicked. The inside fighters were actually good at it and the great ones were nearly always brilliant boxers. Benny Leonard is a good example.
Calzaghe was actually another very good swarmer. He had great inside skills, would smother and halt his opponents offense and make them fight how he wanted whether it was him swarming, smothering and working inside or boxing on the outside. His overall skill and adaptability if very under-appreciated.
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