BoxRec

I was watching some old Wlad fights, damn this dude used to be an aggressive offense juggernaut. This mofo was throwing like 5 punch combos with hooks and uppercuts, and hooking off the jab as much as he was throwing the right. He looked like a seriously talented offensive fighter who liked to beat guys up........then, obviously things changed. I know he's a well documented case but just seeing him from his early days it's like a totally different guy

What other fighters had notable style changes in their career?

After they knew about it and made plenty of money and got out with their faculties in tact.

Barrera became a far smarter fighter post the Junior Jones loss.

People also forget Floyd was a lot more aggressive in his younger days.

I'd even say Benn as well to a degree post Watson - he remained agressive, but really honed his actual skills. No-one at that time would have anticipated him having such a long career and improving his boxing skills so much. He was understandably dismissed as a one-dimensional puncher in the wake of that loss.

Lennox changed his style under Steward.

Have any boxers gone the opposite?

Gone from being a defensive minded boxer to a roughhouse.

Apart from Fury.

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑06 May 2020, 03:44 Have any boxers gone the opposite?

Gone from being a defensive minded boxer to a roughhouse.

Apart from Fury.

Lloyd Honeyghan went from a smart boxer/puncher to a seek and destroy brawler after he beat Curry.

banjo wrote: ↑06 May 2020, 04:00

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑06 May 2020, 03:44 Have any boxers gone the opposite?

Gone from being a defensive minded boxer to a roughhouse.

Apart from Fury.

Lloyd Honeyghan went from a smart boxer/puncher to a seek and destroy brawler after he beat Curry.

Yep, great call.

To a lesser extent Naz also abandoned his elusive style as he fell in love with his power - Belcastro couldn't lay a glove on the original version of Naz, while the latter version ended up life and death with the likes of Paul Ingle.

My immediate thought when I saw this post was Arturo Gatti

Agree on Nigel Benn and he changed it back again for the McClellan fight.

Calzaghe after his hand trouble, and he could even do it during fights, Kessler, Bika

Deserter wrote: ↑06 May 2020, 03:30 Barrera became a far smarter fighter post the Junior Jones loss.

People also forget Floyd was a lot more aggressive in his younger days.

I'd even say Benn as well to a degree post Watson - he remained agressive, but really honed his actual skills. No-one at that time would have anticipated him having such a long career and improving his boxing skills so much. He was understandably dismissed as a one-dimensional puncher in the wake of that loss.

Big time with Barrera, the loss to Jones actually made him as an elite fighter

Hector Camacho post-Edwin Rosario.

Coco wrote: ↑06 May 2020, 04:56

Deserter wrote: ↑06 May 2020, 03:30 Barrera became a far smarter fighter post the Junior Jones loss.

People also forget Floyd was a lot more aggressive in his younger days.

I'd even say Benn as well to a degree post Watson - he remained agressive, but really honed his actual skills. No-one at that time would have anticipated him having such a long career and improving his boxing skills so much. He was understandably dismissed as a one-dimensional puncher in the wake of that loss.

Big time with Barrera, the loss to Jones actually made him as an elite fighter

But he still had his agressive nights - ask Morales on 2 out of the 3 times they fought.

banjo wrote: ↑06 May 2020, 04:00

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑06 May 2020, 03:44 Have any boxers gone the opposite?

Gone from being a defensive minded boxer to a roughhouse.

Apart from Fury.

Lloyd Honeyghan went from a smart boxer/puncher to a seek and destroy brawler after he beat Curry.

Steve Collins became a strong brawler from Eubank 2 onwards

Barrera way and by far made the best transition, Camacho and Mayweather made their changes work for them but they were ultra defensive but Barrera went from brawler to not just a capable boxer but arguably the greatest box fighter of all time, also had that brawler still in him when necessary

dapug wrote: ↑06 May 2020, 08:36

banjo wrote: ↑06 May 2020, 04:00

Lloyd Honeyghan went from a smart boxer/puncher to a seek and destroy brawler after he beat Curry.

Steve Collins became a strong brawler from Eubank 2 onwards

I always thought Collins was crazy to fight the way he ended up doing. Early on he was a good smart capable boxer imo

Shhhh wrote: ↑06 May 2020, 09:39 Johnny Nelson def changed something from the de Leon James Warring era

Arturo Gatti was a good boxer until he decided to become Rocky

Was Wilder always that Bloody wild? He won a bronze medal in Olympics and surely he didn’t fight that crazily then

Also - it’s only one fight but the Joshua of Ruiz 2 is different from other fights

Gatti went from Boxer, to Slugger, back to Boxer.

John Ruiz changed his style immensely, though it was a horrible change. He moved and boxed a lot in his early days. After Tua, he fought like a guy who was deathly afraid of getting hit clean, and would grab constantly to null his opponents offense.

Pacquiao changed his style a good bit really. Not that he ever became less aggressive, necessarily but he definitely got way smarter in how he went about it.

His early days he's jab, jab, straight left. Jab, straight left.

When he got to the upper echelon of the sport, and was finding himself having great difficulty with opponents, he started working on his right hook, and focused a lot more on his footwork, and using angles to get clean shots in.

Not necessarily a complete changing of a style, but certainly a vast improvement on one.

JMM after Chris John he became a lot more aggressive.

Wee Tommy wrote: ↑06 May 2020, 12:13 JMM after Chris John he became a lot more aggressive.

banjo wrote: ↑06 May 2020, 03:40 Lennox changed his style under Steward.

Yeah he became more aggressive. Early day’s he used to jab and float around quite a bit

banjo wrote: ↑06 May 2020, 04:00

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑06 May 2020, 03:44 Have any boxers gone the opposite?

Gone from being a defensive minded boxer to a roughhouse.

Apart from Fury.

Lloyd Honeyghan went from a smart boxer/puncher to a seek and destroy brawler after he beat Curry.

Stupidest thing I've seen was how he changed, he could have been way better.

Camacho must be an obvious one who changed, as with others realised he didn't like being hit that hard and could get away with being more defensive.

He didn’t change his style do the rest of his career but Cotto completely changed his Style for the Margarito reamatch he stuck and moved that night and broke margocheato up lovely

Hagler after Antuofermo.

Wee Tommy wrote: ↑06 May 2020, 16:13 Hagler after Antuofermo.

How so? I gotta go back and see. Gimme a couple of fights to see the diff. Hags seemed to change styles depending on who he fought.

oogiebe wrote: ↑06 May 2020, 17:11

Wee Tommy wrote: ↑06 May 2020, 16:13 Hagler after Antuofermo.

How so? I gotta go back and see. Gimme a couple of fights to see the diff. Hags seemed to change styles depending on who he fought.

I’m sure he said himself at the time he wasn’t leaving things in the judges hands again, I’m going simply on memory.