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I was out and missed the fight, but just watched the whole thing. I just have to say what a great job Manny did in the corner.
You can now see that he's finally developed a true trainer relationship with Wlad. I think for their first few fights Manny was so worried about Wlad getting nervous or losing confiendence that he basically just poured praise on him in the corner, to get him to relax (Brewster, Williamson, Peter, etc) but last night you could see him really showing some urgency with Wlad at times. He wasn't afraid to tell him Brock won the 2nd, and "maybe was winning the fight." And Wlad wasn't flustered by it, didn't lose confidence. He seemed to feed off of it, get more aggressive and that's what led to the KO.
And when Manny called for the "left hook- right hand" combo after the 6th, Wlad went right out and delivered and hurt Brock the first time he threw it. Then you could see Wlad later in the 7th before the KO making a conscious effort to not hold and give himself space (something Manny also emphasized after the 6th). That's really the key to the relationship, having a fighter as intelligent as Wlad, who listens to a great trainer and follows the instructions. It reminded me of Lennox and Manny at their best, as a team.
The only difference is that Manny clearly defers to Vitali when Vitali wants to say something to Wlad. Manny looked the tiniest bit annoyed by it when it happened, but you can see he respects the relationship of the brothers.
Not only that, but here's the prediction he made earlier in the week....
"I predict that Wladimir will win the fight within 7 rounds, but I think it's going to be, maybe, very difficult up until then because of the basic foundation that Brock has, which is very good."
If they stay in synche like that, Team Klitschko is going to be tough to beat.
You can now see that he's finally developed a true trainer relationship with Wlad. I think for their first few fights Manny was so worried about Wlad getting nervous or losing confiendence that he basically just poured praise on him in the corner, to get him to relax (Brewster, Williamson, Peter, etc) but last night you could see him really showing some urgency with Wlad at times. He wasn't afraid to tell him Brock won the 2nd, and "maybe was winning the fight." And Wlad wasn't flustered by it, didn't lose confidence. He seemed to feed off of it, get more aggressive and that's what led to the KO.
And when Manny called for the "left hook- right hand" combo after the 6th, Wlad went right out and delivered and hurt Brock the first time he threw it. Then you could see Wlad later in the 7th before the KO making a conscious effort to not hold and give himself space (something Manny also emphasized after the 6th). That's really the key to the relationship, having a fighter as intelligent as Wlad, who listens to a great trainer and follows the instructions. It reminded me of Lennox and Manny at their best, as a team.
The only difference is that Manny clearly defers to Vitali when Vitali wants to say something to Wlad. Manny looked the tiniest bit annoyed by it when it happened, but you can see he respects the relationship of the brothers.
Not only that, but here's the prediction he made earlier in the week....
"I predict that Wladimir will win the fight within 7 rounds, but I think it's going to be, maybe, very difficult up until then because of the basic foundation that Brock has, which is very good."
If they stay in synche like that, Team Klitschko is going to be tough to beat.
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