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I was recently thinking of different boxers who were able to change and adapt their style's throughout their career's and do so successfully.
Almost all boxers change a bit throughout their career due to age, but who was able to do it and still compete at a high level? And what was it about their style that changed?
I will start with a few off the top of my head;
Joe Calzaghe - As a young fighter in his early professional and amateur days, Joe was actually known as a bit of a puncher. Winning ABA championships at three weight classes and turning professional in '93, Joe would throw a variety of hard punches, turning his body into his shots and was especially good at looking for openings whilst throwing combinations on the inside.
After a winning the WBO title in a bout against Chris Eubank, Joe started to experience well documented hand related injuries during his title defences and would often go from title defence to title defence, without having thrown a punch in training in between due to his hand troubles.
These injuries forced Joe to change his style (and eventually gloves opting for Elvis Grant's orthopaedics), and he became known to throw a lot more slapping shots (although he did throw some early too) and shots that had no power behind them and were really just scoring shots and began to win fights not on power, but on sheer volume punching and boxing ability, often throwing 100 punches a round with the only shots thrown with power, being body punches.
Joe was able to make it work for him and actually had his biggest wins during this later part of his career with scalps over Lacy, Hopkins and Kessler coming at the end of his career.
Floyd Mayweather - Another superb amateur boxer, Floyd was known as a lighting fast puncher who used speed, power, movement and boxing ability to get the win over his opponents, often making it look easy. Turning pro in '96 Floyd steamrolled most of the opposition with his blistering hand speed and stinging power shots before winning his first title over the great Genero Hernandez.
Floyd was always able to change up the way he fought a fight, but earlier in his career, was considered a strong puncher with a good aggressive offence, consisting of vicious combination punching, mixed with tremendous reflexes and speed with a responsible defence. As Floyd's career went on, he too experienced hand injuries and in one fight against Carlos Hernandez, was forced to touch the canvas after landing a blow to his opponents cranium and injuring his hand.
Again, these injuries, coupled with moving up in weight and having to deal with larger opponents, had Floyd adapting his style. I would say although Floyd fought different in many fights, his first real irreversible change in the way he fought came when he moved into the welterweight division. A change in gloves made at 135 to Winnings (a move to protect his hands) and the shift up to welterweight along with his brittle hands, meant Floyd no longer commanded hurtful power in his punches and was forced to adapt his style to become much more defensive in his approach, often just pot-shotting and moving, only ever stepping up the pace when his opponent forced him to.
Floyd then retired after the Hatton fight in '07 (which he used the Grant's orthopaedic gloves for the first time) in a fight that Floyd actually went back to combination punching for periods of the bout (perhaps on account of his hands feeling good in the new gloves).
After he came back in '09 his style seemed to change again and he became a much more flat footed boxer and would seemingly no longer spend most of his fights moving along the outer ring (as evidenced in fights against JMM, Mosley, Canelo etc) and instead walking his opponents down. His last great performance being a one sided masterclass against the young Mexican, Canelo Alvarez. After this bout, Floyd had really lost his a lot of speed and athleticism and his remaining bouts against Maidana, Pacquiao and Berto were bouts that were largely won on experience, resilience, using old boxing tricks and the ability to control distance and pace (he was far more negative but made it work).
Some other fighters I can think of off the top of my head that changed their styles with success are Lennox Lewis, Muhammad Ali, but I can't be bothered to write anymore, this wasn't meant to be the essay that it has turned into...
Maybe you guys can write something for Lewis and Ali and/or think of some more and write something about how their styles changed...?
NO FANBOY ARGUING ALLOWED
Almost all boxers change a bit throughout their career due to age, but who was able to do it and still compete at a high level? And what was it about their style that changed?
I will start with a few off the top of my head;
Joe Calzaghe - As a young fighter in his early professional and amateur days, Joe was actually known as a bit of a puncher. Winning ABA championships at three weight classes and turning professional in '93, Joe would throw a variety of hard punches, turning his body into his shots and was especially good at looking for openings whilst throwing combinations on the inside.
After a winning the WBO title in a bout against Chris Eubank, Joe started to experience well documented hand related injuries during his title defences and would often go from title defence to title defence, without having thrown a punch in training in between due to his hand troubles.
These injuries forced Joe to change his style (and eventually gloves opting for Elvis Grant's orthopaedics), and he became known to throw a lot more slapping shots (although he did throw some early too) and shots that had no power behind them and were really just scoring shots and began to win fights not on power, but on sheer volume punching and boxing ability, often throwing 100 punches a round with the only shots thrown with power, being body punches.
Joe was able to make it work for him and actually had his biggest wins during this later part of his career with scalps over Lacy, Hopkins and Kessler coming at the end of his career.
Floyd Mayweather - Another superb amateur boxer, Floyd was known as a lighting fast puncher who used speed, power, movement and boxing ability to get the win over his opponents, often making it look easy. Turning pro in '96 Floyd steamrolled most of the opposition with his blistering hand speed and stinging power shots before winning his first title over the great Genero Hernandez.
Floyd was always able to change up the way he fought a fight, but earlier in his career, was considered a strong puncher with a good aggressive offence, consisting of vicious combination punching, mixed with tremendous reflexes and speed with a responsible defence. As Floyd's career went on, he too experienced hand injuries and in one fight against Carlos Hernandez, was forced to touch the canvas after landing a blow to his opponents cranium and injuring his hand.
Again, these injuries, coupled with moving up in weight and having to deal with larger opponents, had Floyd adapting his style. I would say although Floyd fought different in many fights, his first real irreversible change in the way he fought came when he moved into the welterweight division. A change in gloves made at 135 to Winnings (a move to protect his hands) and the shift up to welterweight along with his brittle hands, meant Floyd no longer commanded hurtful power in his punches and was forced to adapt his style to become much more defensive in his approach, often just pot-shotting and moving, only ever stepping up the pace when his opponent forced him to.
Floyd then retired after the Hatton fight in '07 (which he used the Grant's orthopaedic gloves for the first time) in a fight that Floyd actually went back to combination punching for periods of the bout (perhaps on account of his hands feeling good in the new gloves).
After he came back in '09 his style seemed to change again and he became a much more flat footed boxer and would seemingly no longer spend most of his fights moving along the outer ring (as evidenced in fights against JMM, Mosley, Canelo etc) and instead walking his opponents down. His last great performance being a one sided masterclass against the young Mexican, Canelo Alvarez. After this bout, Floyd had really lost his a lot of speed and athleticism and his remaining bouts against Maidana, Pacquiao and Berto were bouts that were largely won on experience, resilience, using old boxing tricks and the ability to control distance and pace (he was far more negative but made it work).
Some other fighters I can think of off the top of my head that changed their styles with success are Lennox Lewis, Muhammad Ali, but I can't be bothered to write anymore, this wasn't meant to be the essay that it has turned into...
Maybe you guys can write something for Lewis and Ali and/or think of some more and write something about how their styles changed...?
NO FANBOY ARGUING ALLOWED
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