Tweet
It's pretty amazing that people watch the fight but don't seem to have any idea what they're looking at.
The eye test requires you to know what you're looking at. When you outclass your opponent, and he did that thoroughly against the #10 Ring ranked contender, you look at how he does it. You don't just say "well his style was made for Ennis." Because he didn't just win a competitive fight. He swept basically every round, and did so doing a ton of different things.
Let's start with basics.
Jab. Is it there? Can the fighter land it with consistency? Does the fighter alter the intensity, rhythm, and trajectory? Can the fighter use it to disrupt their opponent and prevent them from starting offense? Does the fighter go to the body with it? Are they defensively responsible on the exit or are they getting hit? Does the fighter use the jab to set up other shots? Do they double or triple it up? Do they use it as traffic to prevent their opponent from being able to throw their own jab or cross?
Boots demonstrated all aspects of a good jab, and did so from both stances.
Body work. Do they do it at all? Do they alter trajectory and type (body hooks, straights, etc). Do they have enough power to have it affect their opponent? Are they going to head to set it up, or switching levels frequently to set up shots?
Boots could have gone to the body more consistently and did some head hunting, but he DID go to the body regularly, although he was better at using body hooks on the right. I would like to see him use more liver hooks, and target the liver more with his body crosses, and time it as a counter to the cross so he can get the liver flush as the body rotates in.
Defense, adjustments, and chin. Are they getting hit a lot? Is their head always in the center, or do they change lanes, especially on entries and exits and sometimes as they punch? Do they pull back straight in the center lane, or do they angle out? Do they use frames and posts to set up shots or prevent their opponents from getting off? If they do get hit by the same shot several times in a round, do they make adjustments and stop getting hit with that shot again? Are they doing the same patterns so the opponent can set them up? Are they consistently defensively responsible (hands up when in range, or taking a good positional defense, or occupying the center with traffic or blinding shots or a well timed jab or lead cross, etc). If they do get hit flush, how do they take it? If they're affected, how do they respond? Do they just dive in and try to tie up blindly, do they cover up and try to just survive, do they try to counter blindly, or do they have an educated response, like using head and body movement to survive and exit?
Boots demonstrated very good defense for the most part. He had a few bad habits but used positioning or hand frames to mitigate and didn't really fall into a consistent pattern that could have gotten him set up. He got hit flush a few times and didn't seem to be affected at all, and that's against a guy who's primary game is power punching, with close to a 90% KO rate going in. He got hit by a bunch of uppercuts in one round, and then made the adjustment and didn't get hit consistently by that shot again. I'm not concerned by the crosses he got hit with for the most part because he was using a body defense on most of those and clearly saw them coming, so they mainly didn't affect him at all. When he got caught and had a flurry come at him, he was able to dodge most of the incoming, and use a bump, frame, and pivot exit to get out of danger without taking more damage.
Power and speed. Do they sit down on their punches? Are they crisp and clean? Are they using weight transfer or just arm punching? Do they alter tempo and power or is it the same all the time so the opponent can get used to it? Do they load up? Are they in balance at all times? Can you hear the punches? How do they affect the opponent? Are they faster than the opponent, or if not, do they have the timing to beat the speed? Do they only have power in one hand or a few punches, or can they hurt their opponent with any tool?
I shouldn't need to say much here. He's got speed and power in abundance. Timing could have been better, but he was in control the whole time.
Footwork and ring awareness. What's their distance control like? Can they take angles? Do they know where they are in the ring? Can they cut off the ring if they're on the front foot? Can they use pivots to escape or get an angle to land a shot. Do they get off balance? Are they flat footed all the time?
Boots clearly has the skills, but didn't use them as consistently as his corner wanted. He did get stuck on the ropes unexpectedly a few times, which tells me how ring awareness isn't complete yet. His fight against Chukadzian says he needs to work on cutting off the ring more effectively, although that's very hard against a skilled runner who doesn't come to fight. He can fight effectively from both stances, and was effective on the front foot, moving back, in the pocket, and in close.
Just in this one fight, he demonstrated he can fight and dominate in multiple styles and stances, hurt his opponent with basically every tool in a very wide set of punches, and stop a ranked contender who was very tough and powerful and had never been stopped before. He's got frames and pins, hand fighting, long guard, high guard, Philly shell, body defense, positional defense, and head movement.
He's got a more diverse skill set than many of the P4P stal*****. He's got flaws, but so do all fighters, and we're not talking anything that looks like it could lose him a round, let alone a fight. When the flaws are more about "you could maybe have stopped this undefeated guy who's never been down before even faster", or "you might have lost one round", that's a different thing than "you came forward face first without a jab or changing lanes."
He's going to be a tough out for anyone in the division, and is likely going to be king. I doubt he'll be able to get Spence or Crawford at 147 any time soon if at all, and if he fights Ugas or Thurman, it's going to be a vacant title fight. Stanionis will likely be a unification, and I don't fancy Stanionis' chances in that. Ortiz probably not until 154, if ever, because of those health problems.
The eye test requires you to know what you're looking at. When you outclass your opponent, and he did that thoroughly against the #10 Ring ranked contender, you look at how he does it. You don't just say "well his style was made for Ennis." Because he didn't just win a competitive fight. He swept basically every round, and did so doing a ton of different things.
Let's start with basics.
Jab. Is it there? Can the fighter land it with consistency? Does the fighter alter the intensity, rhythm, and trajectory? Can the fighter use it to disrupt their opponent and prevent them from starting offense? Does the fighter go to the body with it? Are they defensively responsible on the exit or are they getting hit? Does the fighter use the jab to set up other shots? Do they double or triple it up? Do they use it as traffic to prevent their opponent from being able to throw their own jab or cross?
Boots demonstrated all aspects of a good jab, and did so from both stances.
Body work. Do they do it at all? Do they alter trajectory and type (body hooks, straights, etc). Do they have enough power to have it affect their opponent? Are they going to head to set it up, or switching levels frequently to set up shots?
Boots could have gone to the body more consistently and did some head hunting, but he DID go to the body regularly, although he was better at using body hooks on the right. I would like to see him use more liver hooks, and target the liver more with his body crosses, and time it as a counter to the cross so he can get the liver flush as the body rotates in.
Defense, adjustments, and chin. Are they getting hit a lot? Is their head always in the center, or do they change lanes, especially on entries and exits and sometimes as they punch? Do they pull back straight in the center lane, or do they angle out? Do they use frames and posts to set up shots or prevent their opponents from getting off? If they do get hit by the same shot several times in a round, do they make adjustments and stop getting hit with that shot again? Are they doing the same patterns so the opponent can set them up? Are they consistently defensively responsible (hands up when in range, or taking a good positional defense, or occupying the center with traffic or blinding shots or a well timed jab or lead cross, etc). If they do get hit flush, how do they take it? If they're affected, how do they respond? Do they just dive in and try to tie up blindly, do they cover up and try to just survive, do they try to counter blindly, or do they have an educated response, like using head and body movement to survive and exit?
Boots demonstrated very good defense for the most part. He had a few bad habits but used positioning or hand frames to mitigate and didn't really fall into a consistent pattern that could have gotten him set up. He got hit flush a few times and didn't seem to be affected at all, and that's against a guy who's primary game is power punching, with close to a 90% KO rate going in. He got hit by a bunch of uppercuts in one round, and then made the adjustment and didn't get hit consistently by that shot again. I'm not concerned by the crosses he got hit with for the most part because he was using a body defense on most of those and clearly saw them coming, so they mainly didn't affect him at all. When he got caught and had a flurry come at him, he was able to dodge most of the incoming, and use a bump, frame, and pivot exit to get out of danger without taking more damage.
Power and speed. Do they sit down on their punches? Are they crisp and clean? Are they using weight transfer or just arm punching? Do they alter tempo and power or is it the same all the time so the opponent can get used to it? Do they load up? Are they in balance at all times? Can you hear the punches? How do they affect the opponent? Are they faster than the opponent, or if not, do they have the timing to beat the speed? Do they only have power in one hand or a few punches, or can they hurt their opponent with any tool?
I shouldn't need to say much here. He's got speed and power in abundance. Timing could have been better, but he was in control the whole time.
Footwork and ring awareness. What's their distance control like? Can they take angles? Do they know where they are in the ring? Can they cut off the ring if they're on the front foot? Can they use pivots to escape or get an angle to land a shot. Do they get off balance? Are they flat footed all the time?
Boots clearly has the skills, but didn't use them as consistently as his corner wanted. He did get stuck on the ropes unexpectedly a few times, which tells me how ring awareness isn't complete yet. His fight against Chukadzian says he needs to work on cutting off the ring more effectively, although that's very hard against a skilled runner who doesn't come to fight. He can fight effectively from both stances, and was effective on the front foot, moving back, in the pocket, and in close.
Just in this one fight, he demonstrated he can fight and dominate in multiple styles and stances, hurt his opponent with basically every tool in a very wide set of punches, and stop a ranked contender who was very tough and powerful and had never been stopped before. He's got frames and pins, hand fighting, long guard, high guard, Philly shell, body defense, positional defense, and head movement.
He's got a more diverse skill set than many of the P4P stal*****. He's got flaws, but so do all fighters, and we're not talking anything that looks like it could lose him a round, let alone a fight. When the flaws are more about "you could maybe have stopped this undefeated guy who's never been down before even faster", or "you might have lost one round", that's a different thing than "you came forward face first without a jab or changing lanes."
He's going to be a tough out for anyone in the division, and is likely going to be king. I doubt he'll be able to get Spence or Crawford at 147 any time soon if at all, and if he fights Ugas or Thurman, it's going to be a vacant title fight. Stanionis will likely be a unification, and I don't fancy Stanionis' chances in that. Ortiz probably not until 154, if ever, because of those health problems.
Comment