BoxRec

How much influence can a new trainer have on a seasoned pro, any examples of someone who successfully changed their style late into their career?

It takes great determination to shed bad habits and ineffective technique you've used for 10 to 20 years... Wladimir Klitschko did that when he went with Emmanuel Steward at the age of 27 or 28.. His professional record was already 40-2 with 200 or so amateur fights.. But he had serious problems.

Wladimir patently brought his in feet closer, put less bend in his knees, revamped his stance and footwork, brought his head back, retooled his jab, left hook, and right hand... You could recognize a Steward trained boxer after 2 years -- and he was super after 6 years... It's worse than starting out with a fresh amateur -- because whatever bad habits he has aren't deeply ingrained.. It can be extremely frustrating for both boxer and trainer if the belief isn't there.

For a one fight example: whoever re-trained Vinny Pazienza for Haugen III.

How was that significantly different than their 1st fight, which was a 15 round decision for Pazienza??? ... Paz was 27 years old and 32 fights into his career for their rubber match -- so it would have been very difficult to make changes and teach him new stuff at that point.

But what did he do differently?

Kalan wrote:How was that significantly different than their 1st fight, which was a 15 round decision for Pazienza??? ... Paz was 27 years old and 32 fights into his career for their rubber match -- so it would have been very difficult to make changes and teach him new stuff at that point.

But what did he do differently?

Oh no, Paz kept getting beat on the inside in fights I & II - Haugen (should have) won both - the last time out though Paz completely changed his style, moving in and out (Camacho like) and won an easy decision. The new trainer at the time is a known name but I'll be damn if I recall it (maybe Atlas or Rooney); but he did successfully change Paz' style for the third encounter and it made for an easy fight. (For what it's worth, I was pulling for Haugen in all three fights.)

Atlas and Rooney don't teach that.. Find out who that guy was... That's what Conor McGregor needs...a coach who can work wonders in 1 camp...

First, teach him how to do 5-mile runs real early -- like 6 AM... rest for an hour and do wind sprints... Build up your heart and lungs up like a boxer does so 12-rounds is no sweat at the hardest pace.. Then give him a correct Boxing stance and get his head out of the air so he's not ripped with straight rights and everything else you throw when he's winded.. And show him how to set up and sit down on his punches so you can't walk through them like Floyd did.. The correct balance and footwork sets to evade attackers who walk straight in -- and basically setting up hard counter shots so opponents won't run you over like Joe Frazier.. McGregor is strong and fast enough and can hit real good -- he just doesn't know what he's doing and had no conditioning..

Some of it was not doing the dehydration/rehydration regimen right -- De La Hoya got that wrong for Pacquiao and was a limp dishrag the whole fight.

Conor McGregor had NO Boxing trainers at all in his camp -- It was the blind leading the blind on everything he did... He's an old dog...he's 29.

Kalan wrote:Atlas and Rooney don't teach that.. Find out who that guy was... That's what Conor McGregor needs...a coach who can work wonders in 1 camp...

First, teach him how to do 5-mile runs real early -- like 6 AM... rest for an hour and do wind sprints... Build up your heart and lungs up like a boxer does so 12-rounds is no sweat at the hardest pace.. Then give him a correct Boxing stance and get his head out of the air so he's not ripped with straight rights and everything else you throw when he's winded.. And show him how to set up and sit down on his punches so you can't walk through them like Floyd did.. The correct balance and footwork sets to evade attackers who walk straight in -- and basically setting up hard counter shots so opponents won't run you over like Joe Frazier.. McGregor is strong and fast enough and can hit real good -- he just doesn't know what he's doing and had no conditioning..

Some of it was not doing the dehydration/rehydration regimen right -- De La Hoya got that wrong for Pacquiao and was a limp dishrag the whole fight.

Conor McGregor had NO Boxing trainers at all in his camp -- It was the blind leading the blind on everything he did... He's an old dog...he's 29.

A McGregor miracle I doubt. - Let me clarify on Paz, he already had the in-out moment in his repertoire but had a bad tendency to stay inside when he didn't have to (e.g was out boxed by Haugen on the inside consistently) but come the third fight what changed was that Paz learned to disengage when Haugen began to counter. I offered this fight as only half an answer to the thread's question; it was more of a fine tuning than a 'new trick" but it was enough of an adjustment to dramatically alter the fight. (Pretty sure it was Rooney.)

You can actually learn new tricks, even if you're into your 30's if you're motivated, talented, and hard working enough and have the right coaches.

There was an experiment conducted where they took a guy with a genius IQ level, like 190 or so, and offered him an undisclosed sum of money if he could learn Icelandic in a week... He was like 40 years old and apparently it's one of the more difficult languages to learn... They gave him several thousand dollars and he had to rely on his own devices.. He hired a language coach who told him it was impossible, but he did it. He learned grammar, word usage and the whole bit..

Their 2nd experiment was finding out if he could learn how to count cards in a week, so he would win at 21.. Apparently it's a very difficult skill to learn -- but he nailed that down too and won big with the stake they gave him.

Dennis Andries springs to mind.....a brave, fit, strong and incredibly hard/hungry fighter but essentially deeply limited on the technical and tactical front.

Hearns and Steward were amazed by his spirit when they fought for the world title and after the inevitable defeat by Tommy....Steward suggested that Andries should go to the Kronk and try to add some skills/ringcraft to all that toughness. Dennis was aready a 9-year pro and there's also a strong suggestion that he was a great deal older than he was thought to be.

Dennis undoubtedly improved and would go on to win the WBC title again and be a half-decent cruiserweight contender.