The Curse of Being Defensively Proficient

[JAHamilton77]

The main goal of boxing is of course to hit and not be hit. There is a feeling I and others have though that it is possible to be alittle too good at avoiding contact and that it will eventually reach up and bite you. It doesnt have to do with what is actually happening in a given fight, but deals more in pereception of what is going on.

Think about when you are judging a Floyd Mayweather, Winky Wright, Pernell Whitaker, James Toney, or any defensive specialist fight. You are not used to seeing an opponent make seriously solid contact with them, so when an opponent does land a solid shot or a series of shots it is like its multiplied do to the shock value of seeing the defensive fighter get caught. Its like you just saw the opponent do something really special when all he did was land a few shots. You feel like you need to give him the round in which it happened, because you dont expect to see that solid of contact again in the fight.

On top of this if the defensive fighter also happens to be regarded as the better fighter in the ring, this can be compounded as the human psyche wants to make the fight seem closer so they will grant the marginal rounds to the lesser fighter, since they feel the better will win most of the other rounds anyway and it wont effect the final outcome except to make it closer.

I think this is why you often see judges with such divergent scores when a defensively skilled fighter is in the ring.

Anyway just a thought on why some of these fighters end up with such contreversial wins.

[kayjay]

That's all partly true, but inappropriate on this forum. There are dozens of kids on this forum who want to prove themselves as boxing know-somethings (though they're not!), and so they overstate the improtance of a defensive move. People who watch the first Peter-Toney fight and were rightly impressed (as they should have been from 70 previous fights) by Toney's sophisticated defense, but who mistook this for him actually "dominating" the fight (remember, landing punches on the other guy is what counts, dosging his just means HE'S not likelwise landing on you)., these kids ABOUND here. And most of them are Mayweather fans who think this guy will never lose. Save your energy for putting this little ****s I speak of in their places.

[kayjay]

In other words, the judging is fine, and on this site there's a backlash in favor of the defensive fighter. People explain their scoring with reference to "superior elusiveness." That not a judging criterion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[tito yuca]

People explain their scoring with reference to "superior elusiveness." That not a judging criterion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Actually, it is.

[squealpiggy]

Effective defense is, but it is less important than effective aggression and clean effective punching.

[The Troll]

I don't think it's the correct mindset to go into a fight thinking defense first. The exception is if your defense is part of your offense.

[The Troll]

I would say the main goal of boxing is to beat your opponent to a pulp, to knock him unconcious but having you yourself weakened or knocked out would obviously impede you in that goal.

[The Troll]

Some guys I dont know how to put but it's like they're exploiting the rules. I say exploit because when the rules were drawn up they were never intended to be used for the purposes they sometimes are.

[JAHamilton77]

I don't think it's the correct mindset to go into a fight thinking defense first. The exception is if your defense is part of your offense.

I agree, because if your goal is to never get hit, when you do catch a shot its effect seems to be amplified. One should instead not be scared to take a shot, but try not to get hit with multiple shots in a row.

[Ranger2408]

I agree, because if your goal is to never get hit, when you do catch a shot its effect seems to be amplified. One should instead not be scared to take a shot, but try not to get hit with multiple shots in a row.

Dude, no its hit and dont get hit.
Many instances abound of one punch kos.