Wuz Fernando Montiel a "prime" fighter when he lost to Mark Johnson?

[Walt Liquor]

That loss was probably the best thing that happen to Kochulito. Some times a loss is all you need to get your sht together.

He really came into his own after the Gonzalez loss. That's when he started watching "***** eye for the straight guy". Ever since he's been dj emz hero.

[Guest]

Was he a prime fighter when he lost to Alejandro Valdez?

The answer is YES.

9-12-09

That fight has been weighing on my mind and the Jhonny G fight as well.

[elgranluchadore]

k so if montiel wins on saturday? would his prime be just starting?
i mean considering he has looked excellent since the hasegawa win

[jrosales13]

I don't think Montiel was in his prime when he fought "Too Sharp" but he was much closer to his prime than what Johnson was at the time.

"Too Sharp" was badly faded when he fought Montiel.

That was considered a crossroad fight where the young lion was suppose to win.

But, like every great fighter, they have one great fight left. And, that was Mark Johnson last hurrah, Morales had it with Pac, Whitaker had it with Hurtado, you can go on and on. That was Johnson last great fight.

[The Gambler1981]

He really came into his own after the Gonzalez loss. That's when he started watching "***** eye for the straight guy". Ever since he's been dj emz hero.

That was when I wrote him off personally the Jhonny Gonzalez fight, Jhonny is good so losing a split decision (although it seemed pretty clear Gonzalez won to me) to him isn't that crucial just the way that fight went just made it seem so much worse.

To his credit he really turned it around and has had a better second chapter to his career than the first not a lot of fighters can say that.

[Guest]

That was when I wrote him off personally the Jhonny Gonzalez fight, Jhonny is good so losing a split decision (although it seemed pretty clear Gonzalez won to me) to him isn't that crucial just the way that fight went just made it seem so much worse.

To his credit he really turned it around and has had a better second chapter to his career than the first not a lot of fighters can say that.

I know Jhonny G is chinny but it still trips me out how easily Nishioka blew him away.

[Alex_Hayden]

Don't think so either, I watched more and more of Montiel and saw better improvement. I was thinking that Moreno could have done what Johnson did in the first half of the fight, I now doubt that he can, well atleast not to that extent.

Physically Montiel was prime but skill wise and mentally he was probably far less disciplined.

I think fighters need to mature two ways in order to become a complete fighter. Physically they need to mature and mentally. It's like JMM, when he first came out he was ridiculously fast and had power. But throughout his early career he would get lazy in the ring and sometimes put on what looked like a half ass performance. But now he's disciplined and aggressive making him far more complete than when he was younger and faster. Now he's slower but he's also far more efficient in every category. He still gets lazy and knocked down but all that does is wake him up and he usually starts to perform even better after knock downs, to the point where whatever punch he was initially knocked down with is rendered useless by his adjustments.

Montiel seems to matured his skills and mental aspect of the game later in his career as well because I don't know how many times I'd ignore his fights just simply because he's been around for a while and I thought he was finished and irrelevant. The guy keeps proving me wrong though. His aggression and ability to find his openings has vastly improved and that's all mental not physical.

[The Gambler1981]

I know Jhonny G is chinny but it still trips me out how easily Nishioka blew him away.

Don't get me started on Jhonny Gonzalez I was high on him. if someone would have told me after the Montiel fight that Montiel would be really challenging for a high place in the sport and Gonzalez would be way behind in stature I probably would have laughed in their face, how fortunes in boxing can change~

I still can't believe Penalosa knocked him out with that punch to the body and he looked so good against Vazquez only to have it completely turn on him.

On the plus side he is fighting Hasegawa for a title coming up maybe he can finally make good on what I saw in him.