BOXER & Styles

I'm interested to hear which boxers people model or try to clone in their own fighting.

For the technical side of hit and don't get hit I like Erol 'Bomber' Graham.
That guy was amazing in his day and he was British!
I remember to earn cash he used to go down the pub and bet people they couldn't lay a hand on him. He would hold his hands behind his back and they would fight for one round. A very talented fighter.

Naseem Hamed was awesome at throwing punches from unusual angles.

Marvin Hagler was my all time favourite fighter. Hard as nails and always going for the K.O.
In his day 15 round war were common place.

Also, does anyone study old boxing footage to master a K.O. punch?
I appreciate it's the punch that you don't see coming that causes a K.O. (hard or soft).......but has anyone investigated the various ways the old boxers threw K.O. punches?

Hi Adam

I think its great to have people who influence and inspire you, but in my opinion it’s a dangerous approach to model ourselves on anyone else.

In Boxing and Martial Arts people have an understandable but flawed tendency to model themselves on people of exceptional talent. Roy Jones Jnr is a good example in Boxing, but his success came from a phenomenal athletic gift, one that you or I will never come close to – therefore our approach has to be different. In martial arts the best example I can think of from my own experiences is Paul Vunak. I have seen a thousand wannabe Vu’s over the years, all of them trying to emulate what he does, but they simply can’t emulate his talent.

I do think you can achieve supplemental learning through observation, but the choice of influence has to be a logical one. For example (and to actually answer your question) I have always looked to Tommy Hearns for a guide on good form. When he fought, Hearns was the same height as me, the same weight, the same body type and the same long, rangy, on the back foot counter puncher style. Therefore I have gained from his example, it makes sense for me to watch and learn from him, more so than it would trying to learn from Mike Tyson – who’s boxing bears no resemblance to mine. I hope that makes sense.

Ultimately though, I believe you should model yourself around the man in the mirror. Taking a long, hard look at him is a lot of what I think our training is all about.

MW

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the reply and I appreiate what you are saying........
'My jkd will be different to yours', etc, etc.

Thing is I believe we can learn from other styles of boxers and we can gain a little extra dimensions to our game.....boxing OR street. I don't expect to be a Roy Jones jr, but if I train his style I add a little extra to my fighting style, it's got to be better than being one dimensional, no???
For example, I luv fighters.......not boxers. I've always liked Hagler, Tyson, Nigel Benn, Marciano's etc.
I personally like to cut off the ring, be aggressive, punching from various angles, pressure the opponent.
Yes I can stick and move and box going backwards but for most of my life, these sort of fighters and this style bored me. I'd always want to go for the K.O. rather than collect points and win. I've seen waaay to many fighters robbed because they boxed their opponent and their punches didn't get counted. Especially in ABA bouts.

My build leans to economy of motion or be a come forwards fighter looking for the KO. IMO Chris Eubanks was the ultimate (JKD boxer) fighter when it came to economy of motion in the ring. He never bouced around like the average boxer is taught to, he stood his ground and counter punched. He saved his stamina and it worked for him. I can't remember how long he was world champ, beating a brawler - Nigel Benn twice and a terrific 'boxer' in Michael Watson.

The reason why I have had a slight change of mind recently is because when we train knife defence, I see a lot move use of the in & out style of boxing. Being an aggressive, tyson style fighter doesn't benefit you in these circumstances.....unless you immediately land a KO punch before you are cut by the blade.

In Senshido we say ' Distance creates oppotunity', but sometimes against multiple opponents, especially with blades, the hit and don't get hit style is needed by me and others.

Like the most rounded fighters in MMA, the boxer that has more strings to his bow it certainly at an advantage and able to change his game plan mid fight if the need be.

ATB


Adam.

Its like anything else Adam, each person’s point of view will be determined by where they are in their own journey. I spent about ten years always looking round at what everyone else was doing. When I stopped and took a good look at me, that’s when things started to move in the right direction.

To re-iterate, that’s not to say influences are not important, I have many of them. But I maintain that many people focus far too much attention on emulating what is going on around them, as opposed to honest personal assessment and often uncomfortable realisation. To answer what I think is the main thread of your response, that also doesn’t mean you become one-dimensional, we are limited only by our own creativity.

Great posts guys
top advice as usual mike....boxer wise for me i'm going for steve collins and mickey ward
mick x