BoxRec

There are plenty of fighters out there who are avoided due to their awkward styles.

Who best symbolises this type of fighter for you and what is it about their style that makes them so awkward?

HH

Pacquio is a good example, hits equally hard with both hands, can switch hit but prefers southpaw, swarms then backs away, fast, hard, unothadox, determined and hyperactive in the ring....... :)
maybe not any one charicteristic makes him so awkward but all the above put to gether. thats one difficult night work for sure.

Sam Soliman surely has to be right up there on this list - elusive, ungainly and can make any opponent look bad, even when he loses.
Another worth a mention is Matthew Barney.

(i) Matthew Barney.

(ii) The whole of Ingle's stable.

Peter Oboh for looking very bloody awkward has to be there too.

Muhammad Ali was unique in that he held behind the head. All his opponents were at a loss how to stop him doing that.

Ken Norton, that crab-like style gave Ali fits.

However, Foreman took the right approach, just get a big hammer, and smash your way through the crab's shell.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:Ken Norton, that crab-like style gave Ali fits.

However, Foreman took the right approach, just get a big hammer, and smash your way through the crab's shell.

Yeah, Norton was awkward. Real awkward. If you allowed Norton to come forward (as Ali did) you were in trouble. But push him back (as Foreman and Shavers did) and he was lost.
But can you imagine what Norton would do to Vitali?

bennie wrote:Muhammad Ali was unique in that he held behind the head. All his opponents were at a loss how to stop him doing that.

The idea behind that grabbing behind the head was to tire his opponents with it. The neck would start to get tired and over the duration of 12-15 round, the tiredness would spread to the shoulders.

How come nobody ever pulled him up on it? I don't recall Ali ever getting warned for holding etc, despite the fact he did clinch a lot. Ali really was a shrewd fighter.

Lewis did something similar by sort of leaning over his opponents putting weight onto their head. HOlyfield sead when Lewis leaned on him it was like walking around with a lead overcoat on.

I have a feeling Vitali is going to come out much more aggresively in the remainder of his career than peopel think, the confidence he gained against Lewis is going to make him hard to beat.

I think he is going to annihilate sanders.

Floyd Mayweather

Manning Galloway has a horrible spidery style with long arms and unorthodox, pecking punches.

Fighters such as Colin McMillian were a nightmare to fight but were SLICK as opposed to awkward.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:How come nobody ever pulled him up on it? I don't recall Ali ever getting warned for holding etc, despite the fact he did clinch a lot. Ali really was a shrewd fighter.

Lewis did something similar by sort of leaning over his opponents putting weight onto their head. HOlyfield sead when Lewis leaned on him it was like walking around with a lead overcoat on.

I have a feeling Vitali is going to come out much more aggresively in the remainder of his career than peopel think, the confidence he gained against Lewis is going to make him hard to beat.

I think he is going to annihilate sanders.

He got away with it because he was clever. He would land good shots, dance a little, smother, hold, then land more good shots, etc. It's hard to pull up a fighter who is doing far more than just holding.

Roy Jones is a very awkward fighter.

Pernell Whitaker, he didn't get hit too much.

Sven Ottke was pretty awkard. He was so small and unathletic looking for a champion - but he was pretty hard fighter to figure out a way to beat. Armand Kranjc showed plenty of ambition (and isn't completely clueless) but by the 8th he had given up cause Ottke had an answer for every tactic he tried.

Nazeem was another one, you would have thought counter punching such a fast and hard hitting counter puncher was suicide, but that proved to be the way to beat him. If it was me in the ring with him before the Kelley fight I would have put pressure, pressure, pressure (ala Ingle). Nobody really tried that with him (before Ingle), that didn't work though. In the end you just needed to counter punch him and stick to your gameplab.

Also, you'd have him hurt but you couldn't follow up your attacks, because he seemed more dangerous when hurt.

remember that Argentine...Pastor Maurin who fought Michael Brodie. He threw the craziest uppercuts. He was a nutbar.

Herol Graham, recently Sergio Martinez and Manuel Medina. Winky Wright and maybe even Johnny Nelson.

jonny nelson by a mile.

Emmanuel Lucero had very awkward style, too bad that didn't keep him from getting a beating from Pacquio.

Jamir wrote:Emmanuel Lucero had very awkward style, too bad that didn't keep him from getting a beating from Pacquio.

that was a hell of ko wasnt it, blokes was wandering round like an extra from "shaun of the dead". The lights were on but no one home

From the sublime to the ridiculous:

Pernell Whittaker and Marlon Starling had really awkward styles. For awkward, read very difficult to tag whilst simultaneously hitting you very often.

Tony Montana is avoided but he makes fighters look really bad. Elusive and better than his record suggests. Made Vanzie look awful.

Yes Ian, who could forget his contest against Vanzie?

All they needed was a beat box, some Lino and you had all the makings for a retro breakdancing movie.

Omar Weis makes his opponents look really bad, even when he lost to Judah I felt Judah looked like a twat at the end of it.