Boxing misconceptions that bug me
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gensu3k1
- Heavyweight

Boxing misconceptions that bug me
1. "Ray Mancini vs. Duk-Koo Kim was a mismatch."
Mancini probably wasn't even the best lightweight in the world at the time, and Kim was certainly top 15. And it was perfect matchmaking: two sluggers with near identical physical dimensions and styles, one orthodox and the other a southpaw. The first 10 rounds were as evenly matched as boxing gets, with both fighters giving everything they had and trading rounds. While Mancini turned the tide and controlled the 11th, 12th and 13th, it was never clear that Kim was out of the fight and there were no obvious signs that he was in trouble. A few shots of Kim in his corner seemed to show him in some distress, but there wasn't anything that occurred in the ring that made it clear that the fight should be stopped. Fighters die; it's a brutal sport.
2. "Robinson-LaMotta VI was one-sided."
I don't know how it happened, but everyone seems to have forgotten that Jake dominated the early rounds against Robinson. The biggest reason for his loss was Robinson's greater endurance (perhaps due to LaMotta's struggle to make weight). Without question, Jake took a horrific beating late in the fight, but it was not a one-sided fight.
3. "Liston was knocked out by a phantom punch in the second Ali fight."
A phantom punch is one that doesn't really land, or never even existed. Ali clearly caught Liston with a quick counter. Whether it was powerful enough to KO Liston is debateable (I don't think it was hard enough), but it was NO phantom.
Mancini probably wasn't even the best lightweight in the world at the time, and Kim was certainly top 15. And it was perfect matchmaking: two sluggers with near identical physical dimensions and styles, one orthodox and the other a southpaw. The first 10 rounds were as evenly matched as boxing gets, with both fighters giving everything they had and trading rounds. While Mancini turned the tide and controlled the 11th, 12th and 13th, it was never clear that Kim was out of the fight and there were no obvious signs that he was in trouble. A few shots of Kim in his corner seemed to show him in some distress, but there wasn't anything that occurred in the ring that made it clear that the fight should be stopped. Fighters die; it's a brutal sport.
2. "Robinson-LaMotta VI was one-sided."
I don't know how it happened, but everyone seems to have forgotten that Jake dominated the early rounds against Robinson. The biggest reason for his loss was Robinson's greater endurance (perhaps due to LaMotta's struggle to make weight). Without question, Jake took a horrific beating late in the fight, but it was not a one-sided fight.
3. "Liston was knocked out by a phantom punch in the second Ali fight."
A phantom punch is one that doesn't really land, or never even existed. Ali clearly caught Liston with a quick counter. Whether it was powerful enough to KO Liston is debateable (I don't think it was hard enough), but it was NO phantom.
Re: Boxing misconceptions that bug me
That punch wouldn't have knocked out a 12 year old girl...gensu3k1 wrote:3. "Liston was knocked out by a phantom punch in the second Ali fight."
A phantom punch is one that doesn't really land, or never even existed. Ali clearly caught Liston with a quick counter. Whether it was powerful enough to KO Liston is debateable (I don't think it was hard enough), but it was NO phantom.
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gensu3k1
- Heavyweight

Re: Boxing misconceptions that bug me
Sigh...... BUT IT'S STILL NOT A PHANTOM PUNCH!Tantum wrote:That punch wouldn't have knocked out a 12 year old girl...gensu3k1 wrote:3. "Liston was knocked out by a phantom punch in the second Ali fight."
A phantom punch is one that doesn't really land, or never even existed. Ali clearly caught Liston with a quick counter. Whether it was powerful enough to KO Liston is debateable (I don't think it was hard enough), but it was NO phantom.
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SugarRoyRobinson
- Heavyweight

- Posts: 42
- Joined: 26 Jun 2003, 16:30
Not a phantom punch, but I watched it in slow motion and it kind of grazed from the temple slightly more down. Overall it did not hit the jaw. But Ali often hit like that and punches to the temple are always a bit strange. He was not in a position to hook him to the jaw cleanly and was too close to make the punch look harder.
That's a bit sexist though.
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If she was standing on a book, tilted her head to the right and twisted her upper body into the punch while holding her mouth wide open, it would knock her unconscious.That punch wouldn't have knocked out a 12 year old girl...
That's a bit sexist though.
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Dutch Windmill
- Heavyweight

- Posts: 369
- Joined: 06 Mar 2002, 20:00
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SugarRoyRobinson
- Heavyweight

- Posts: 42
- Joined: 26 Jun 2003, 16:30
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Dave1armedTua
- Heavyweight

- Posts: 204
- Joined: 01 Apr 2003, 22:29
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Dutch Windmill
- Heavyweight

- Posts: 369
- Joined: 06 Mar 2002, 20:00
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gensu3k1
- Heavyweight

Yup, that's a misconception. If Louis won ALL three rounds he could actually win. Louis was more in the fight than people realise.Jaclem wrote:back to the topic:
misconception....."all billy conn had to do was stay on his feet for three more rounds after the 12th."
Then again, if Billy Conn kept up what he was doing he would have won, as I say in my site.
lopman...yes, if Conn had kept to the style he showed in his winning rounds he MIGHT have won the fight. But...the 12th was his most impressive round...by moving in and out and attacking, which gave him the confidence to go on thr attack again. Another but....I'm not so sure he COULD have gone on with his earlier style....I think the footwork might have been gone...he took a terrific battering to the body in the early rounds. It's a "we'll never know for sure" speculation, but my take on the fight is that Louis simply caught up with him and when he did Conn made a mistake that lasted no longer than a nanosecond and which was all Louis ever needed to land the one punch that stunned and started the barrage.
Regardless....no one can take away the great acheivement that Conn demonstrated in that fight.
Regardless....no one can take away the great acheivement that Conn demonstrated in that fight.
terap...there are times when I think I'm alone in my assessment of the louis/conn fight....but rarely....as now for example, someone agrees with me.
a real study of joe louis shows that just when he looked at his worst he was most dangerous. he has said he told his corner he'd knock conn out in the next round (the 13th) and he was the most honest of men and i believe him. he also, (as i wrote some other place here) was the essence of calm after he did win and said to his trainer, the cigar chewing manny seamon..."how many seegars did you swallow, manny)...not the words of a guy who felt he narrowly avoided defeat.
the more I look at that knockout the more I marvel at Conn's chin.
a real study of joe louis shows that just when he looked at his worst he was most dangerous. he has said he told his corner he'd knock conn out in the next round (the 13th) and he was the most honest of men and i believe him. he also, (as i wrote some other place here) was the essence of calm after he did win and said to his trainer, the cigar chewing manny seamon..."how many seegars did you swallow, manny)...not the words of a guy who felt he narrowly avoided defeat.
the more I look at that knockout the more I marvel at Conn's chin.
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gensu3k1
- Heavyweight

(Legitimate boxing = EIGHT weight classes----::
I understand why people complain about the huge number of weight classes, but I really think the strawweight division is legitimate. It's a 7 pound jump from strawweight to flyweight, which is even greater than the jump from flyweight to bantamweight.
Also, even though a lot of the fighters bulk up to fight in the heavyweight division, I think the Cruiserweight division is legitimate as well. There is a difference between the best 190 pound fighters and the best heavyweights (who are usually 220 and up).
So I think at a minimum that there should be 10 divisions.
I understand why people complain about the huge number of weight classes, but I really think the strawweight division is legitimate. It's a 7 pound jump from strawweight to flyweight, which is even greater than the jump from flyweight to bantamweight.
Also, even though a lot of the fighters bulk up to fight in the heavyweight division, I think the Cruiserweight division is legitimate as well. There is a difference between the best 190 pound fighters and the best heavyweights (who are usually 220 and up).
So I think at a minimum that there should be 10 divisions.