after the cotto fight paulie pointed to his corner as not getting him on the right track and letting him fight a poor fight, due to a lack of exp and command, so he brought in buddy mcgirt. now my question is twofold since the cotto fight was the catalyst, did a)cotto ruin paulie, yeah he won a title but he hasn't looked good since that fight, in fact he has looked terrible.. imo. B) has mcgirt done anyhthing for paulie at all, is buddy telling him right and paulie can't or won't execute or are mcgirts limitations as a trainer being exp.
I think Paulie is limited as far as his own confidence goes....I watched a documentary film leading up to his fight with Cotto, and saw HUGE indicators of self-consciousness limiting performance. For example, in the weeks leading up to the fight, his trainer took him to a camp in Boston to get with the right sparring partners and get away from the distractions he has at home. They showed him performing poorly against a viable sparring partner at his camp in Boston, after which he got out of the ring fuming... He was ranting about how this is what happens when he's gotta go to other gyms, and he never has problems at Gleason's (where he's been training since amateur). The reason being that at other gyms he's gotta worry about what everybody at that gym says and he's gotta live up to how good he's supposed to be for the other fighters, and can't just work on what he needs to work on. All of that makes sense, but if you can't do what you gotta do in front of some strangers at another gym, wtf are you gonna do with Cotto in front of 20,000 drunk puerto ricans.... boxing is the business of the unexpected and you've gotta be ready for anything.....ask the best trainers' fighters in the middle of the night 'you wanna spar'--yes, 'run sprints'--yes, you're gonna spar 6 guys in a row without a break in between'--sure no fucking problem. At another instance in the doc film, he's crying to dibella at dinner a few days before the fight that something in the spanish language newspaper that cotto said about him is inaccurate and they need to retaliate with a correction. DBLA basically told him to stfu and worry about the fight and if cotto wants to underestimate him then let him.
wow that is good stuff, i wonder about paulie; i think he has good skills and ability, but i don't feel he is a top tier fighter at 140 and i def feel the cotto thing has dropped him down a half step or a full step. i guess all that cockiness and swag is a cover up for something else
Hey Me...great breakdown. Thanks for that. IMO problem #1= paulie problem #2= he hired mcgirt. I can't bag on Mcgirt too much thanks to Versus fucking up the whole broadcast with quick breaks and shitty replays. We never really got to hear what Buddy was telling him in every round. I only heard the bell ending a round twice the whole night. I talked to a buddy of mine about Paulie and its funny cuz there have been a lot of great, HoF fighters that don't have any pop and still dominated and knocked out guys that nobody thought they could. Paulie brings the same look everytime he gets in the ring. My buddy brought up a pretty good point....when paulie is dominating for 6 rounds or so but can't put a guy away why doesn't he 1. go to the body and 2. start pot shotting his opponent. Break his guy down or pot shot him so clean that the ref starts worrying about the damage adding up. We came to the conclusion he does things Paulie's way and if you don't like it tough shit. He won't evolve as a fighter and won't be much if he keeps this up. Instead of mocking a guy you're clearly beating why don't you beat him to a pulp then do your thing. I'm no doctor but I don't THINK cotto ended Paulie but I wouldn't be shocked if he did. That was a savage beatdown.
i think paulie looked brilliant in the first fight against N'dou he put on a real display of speed and movement . IN the second fight he injuried his hand again and basically struggle to the finish line for the last 4 or 5 rounds as for the Ngoudjo fight , i think Ngoudjo is really underrated . he beat castillo theres no doubt about it imo castillo got a gift because the hatton fight was already set up . i think paulir could he a real handful for hatton because hes so fast and hatton will eat a lot of left jabs on his way in .
I really don't like McGirt as a trainer, he just blows hot steam up his fighters ass, then gives him seemingly useless advice between rounds, then as soon as the fight's over and his guy loses, he starts ragging on his guy for 'not listening'.
good point...i really wonder how much that plays into his thinking. BUT...Gatti and Floyd and many others don't seem to think about their hand after breaking them in previous fights.
I've seen several pics of Paulie throwing punches with an open hand. Thats probably why he can't hurt anyone.
i disagree, even if paulie starts tht way once hatton gets in on him and starts to land, paulie will either try to meet his aggression w/his "power" punches and up his workrate; this won't work cus he can't crack REALLY and he is not used to having to move his hands and it will result in him fading, which is fine against ndou/but a guy w/hatton's style, stength, and commitment to the body, will make him pay/ i have never seen a so called slick boxer, who is so limited in his off; an gets hit, cut off and bullied around the ring so much. palie might have fast hands good footwork and mobility but he is no def genius and hardly rates as a slick boxer.
I think alot of his problems come from some form of this. They were saying that Paulie was training in Sicily, and buddy didn't like it. I can't imagine that Buddy endorsed the extensions. You can bring in a top trainer, but if you don't work together neither one gets anything out of it. Ask JT and Manny about that.
I think you guys make a lot of valid points, but to an extent I think we might be going to hard on him. Two bad performances, especially in fights he won, doesnt make him a horrible fighter. I mean he has looked pretty crappy but hes managed to win and is a title holder. Hopefully Paulie and Hatton both perform well against eachother.
