Fighters' changes in tactics for rematches
Posted: 18 Sep 2010, 06:10
i was re-watching McCallum - Toney 2 the other day and i found it fascinating to think of the several tactical/strategic changes McCallum made 2nd time around.
when inteviewed after the first fight, McCallum when asked what he would do differently a second time round, says he would 'box more'
its bloody interesting to see how that translates into his tactics for the 2nd fight.
for one thing perhaps contrary to what you might have expected, this actually involves moving much less in the 2nd fight than in the first, where McCallum rythmically moves to both sides to the beat of his own double jab.
for another thing, what McCallum changes in terms of his 'boxing' is actually quite heavily dominated by the dark, or at least darker, arts. the low blows he always indulged in were worked perhaps more heavily than ever against Toney, who most people seem to have thought didn't like it much to the body. MM was always one to stray around or below the beltline, invariably on the ref's blindside, and against Toney he gave a masterclass of illicit (and often unacknowledged) low blows and hip-shots.
similarly, as ever McCallum was the master of subtle fouls on the inside, pushing off or nudging with shoulder and elbows to create space.
to an extent this all served as a sneak preview for what would become the late, somewhat spoiler-ish McCallum's style-his mouthpiece 'fell' out maybe 4 or 5 times, he worked the low blows, and was much cleverer about how and when he chose to go to work- gone were the days at 154 when he could be blase about taking any return fire
so one of the things i love most about this performance is the way McCallum- compared to the first fight- managed to set up shop at close range to Toney and take advantage of the long periods of low workrate from Toney. as compared with the first fight, when Toney's counters all but shut down McCallum's normal body attack, McCallum managed to get inside and throw 2's 3's and 4's to the body, albeit generally not hard shots with much leverage to them.
the key here was that he took a half-step closer, and threw the combinations mentioned above with his head somewhere around toney's shoulder, mostly precluding any chances for Toney to counter heavily upstairs, whereas in the first fight McCallum was working at his usual mid-range and ever in danger of the counters Toney was whistling around his head.
this would then be followed by a tactic McCallum almost never used before this fight, but was familiar with thereafter, hitting with or throwing a couple of shots and then falling in to clinch, which was put to great use here further highlighting Toney's own problems with workrate.
in terms of the style contrast between the two men once again this was the guy throwing fewer, bigger shots, against the guy throwing more of them, but there is a great difference in the way McCallum set about out-working Toney 2nd time around.
so, any other calls on changes in tactics or strategies for rematches?
when inteviewed after the first fight, McCallum when asked what he would do differently a second time round, says he would 'box more'
its bloody interesting to see how that translates into his tactics for the 2nd fight.
for one thing perhaps contrary to what you might have expected, this actually involves moving much less in the 2nd fight than in the first, where McCallum rythmically moves to both sides to the beat of his own double jab.
for another thing, what McCallum changes in terms of his 'boxing' is actually quite heavily dominated by the dark, or at least darker, arts. the low blows he always indulged in were worked perhaps more heavily than ever against Toney, who most people seem to have thought didn't like it much to the body. MM was always one to stray around or below the beltline, invariably on the ref's blindside, and against Toney he gave a masterclass of illicit (and often unacknowledged) low blows and hip-shots.
similarly, as ever McCallum was the master of subtle fouls on the inside, pushing off or nudging with shoulder and elbows to create space.
to an extent this all served as a sneak preview for what would become the late, somewhat spoiler-ish McCallum's style-his mouthpiece 'fell' out maybe 4 or 5 times, he worked the low blows, and was much cleverer about how and when he chose to go to work- gone were the days at 154 when he could be blase about taking any return fire
so one of the things i love most about this performance is the way McCallum- compared to the first fight- managed to set up shop at close range to Toney and take advantage of the long periods of low workrate from Toney. as compared with the first fight, when Toney's counters all but shut down McCallum's normal body attack, McCallum managed to get inside and throw 2's 3's and 4's to the body, albeit generally not hard shots with much leverage to them.
the key here was that he took a half-step closer, and threw the combinations mentioned above with his head somewhere around toney's shoulder, mostly precluding any chances for Toney to counter heavily upstairs, whereas in the first fight McCallum was working at his usual mid-range and ever in danger of the counters Toney was whistling around his head.
this would then be followed by a tactic McCallum almost never used before this fight, but was familiar with thereafter, hitting with or throwing a couple of shots and then falling in to clinch, which was put to great use here further highlighting Toney's own problems with workrate.
in terms of the style contrast between the two men once again this was the guy throwing fewer, bigger shots, against the guy throwing more of them, but there is a great difference in the way McCallum set about out-working Toney 2nd time around.
so, any other calls on changes in tactics or strategies for rematches?
