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Whats the most essential thing you need to succeed at the higher weights?
Im not sure whether its height, power, speed, great defense, or what, all those seem to factor in, but there have been fighters who have only had a combination of 1 or 2 of those assets.
Take Meldrick Taylor, even though arguably past his best, not shot to the point where he was not still a very good fighter imo, but i thought Merchant said it best when he lost to Crisanto Espana, he said something along the lines of, Taylor is not tall enough to Box from long range, and Espana is too big/strong for Taylor on the inside, a bit like how Rios was for Peterson on the inside. I also thought the reason Taylor lost to Norris, was not so much cause he was significantly smaller, or shot, because cause Norris wasn't that big at 154, but because he lacked the power to demand Norris's respect, infact Norris told him he would walk right through him if he decided to pity patter.
Then you have a guy like Buddy McGirt, who had good/decent Boxing skills, a smaller guy with power, who was able to step upto welterweight and beat a big punching guy like Simon Brown, infact if i remember right, im sure Buddy hurt Brown toward the end of the fight.
You have a guy like Pernell Whitaker, who, whilst some might argue was not at his best 147, did have some good wins over the likes of Vasquez, a natural 154lbs who beat Winky Wright up, then again, i guess you could say his other successful fights at 147 were against men who had moved up, that being McGirt, Chavez etc, but then toward the end, you have to factor in whether the drug abuse had started to take its toll on him, or whether he just wasn't as effective at the higher weight cause of his lack of height, power.
You have Pacquaio, a short guy who is essentially by trade, an aggressive fighter, now you would think that the last thing you want to do against a bigger man, who is use to getting hit harder, can most likely punch harder, is make it a high contact fight, so in theory, that might suggest that it does not bode well for a high contact fighter to move up, that said, Manny has speed and power, albeit not such a great defense, you might also argue that his selection of opponents has allowed him to be as successful, i dont know if i believe that, just putting it out there.
Whats the most important quality do you think a fighter needs to move up and being a success?
Im not sure whether its height, power, speed, great defense, or what, all those seem to factor in, but there have been fighters who have only had a combination of 1 or 2 of those assets.
Take Meldrick Taylor, even though arguably past his best, not shot to the point where he was not still a very good fighter imo, but i thought Merchant said it best when he lost to Crisanto Espana, he said something along the lines of, Taylor is not tall enough to Box from long range, and Espana is too big/strong for Taylor on the inside, a bit like how Rios was for Peterson on the inside. I also thought the reason Taylor lost to Norris, was not so much cause he was significantly smaller, or shot, because cause Norris wasn't that big at 154, but because he lacked the power to demand Norris's respect, infact Norris told him he would walk right through him if he decided to pity patter.
Then you have a guy like Buddy McGirt, who had good/decent Boxing skills, a smaller guy with power, who was able to step upto welterweight and beat a big punching guy like Simon Brown, infact if i remember right, im sure Buddy hurt Brown toward the end of the fight.
You have a guy like Pernell Whitaker, who, whilst some might argue was not at his best 147, did have some good wins over the likes of Vasquez, a natural 154lbs who beat Winky Wright up, then again, i guess you could say his other successful fights at 147 were against men who had moved up, that being McGirt, Chavez etc, but then toward the end, you have to factor in whether the drug abuse had started to take its toll on him, or whether he just wasn't as effective at the higher weight cause of his lack of height, power.
You have Pacquaio, a short guy who is essentially by trade, an aggressive fighter, now you would think that the last thing you want to do against a bigger man, who is use to getting hit harder, can most likely punch harder, is make it a high contact fight, so in theory, that might suggest that it does not bode well for a high contact fighter to move up, that said, Manny has speed and power, albeit not such a great defense, you might also argue that his selection of opponents has allowed him to be as successful, i dont know if i believe that, just putting it out there.
Whats the most important quality do you think a fighter needs to move up and being a success?
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