James Toney v Marvin Hagler

[mozfonky]

He was washed up?

I think he was, I thought he was washed up in the Mugabi fight, great fight, epic but that's not how he won a few years before. Marvelous had the image as a mean slugger but he rarely fought that way. He was a versatile fighter who could fight going backwards, change his pace really well and fight with his brain. What happened with Mugabi just showed all that was gone for whatever reason. Maybe he just wasn't interested anymore or maybe he really was shot.

One of his trainers said that the Mugabi fight took more out of him than all the ones before it. If that has any truth to it, not only was he shot before the fight, he lost more during the fight.

James toney wasn't as versatile as Hagler was. He had fast hands but his legs weren't really all that special which is how roy made a fool of him, not by punching with him. toney was expert at riding punches, could grind down opponents like Hagler could. I see the lack of versatility as the biggest problem against hagler. Roy had faster feet but Hagler could still fight well without being set, which Toney really couldn't. He'd slide in and fight from there, he'd be behind all the time unless Hagler just slugged with him, which he probably wouldn't. He didn't slug with Hamsho or scypion or Sibson or even Duran. His image was that of a killer but he didn't fight that way all the time.

 

[mozfonky]

It's not uncommon for fighters to take more damage in the gym than they do from actual fights. Not only can they spar day after day it also depends on who, if anyone, is supervising the sparring.

Hard sparring for years on end definitely is a huge factor in the damage boxers take. Also, running is the singlemost important excercise for fighters and anyone not willing to do it is inexcusable.

With sparring, with what we know today, I'd say there probably should be no more than 5 percent hard, serious sparring where anyone could potentially take damage, the rest it probably isn't necessary at all. Some really believe ali took most of his damage in the gym, not only because he was doing it from 12-39 but also because people just didn't care as much about damage as we do today. story goes that the only time ali was kayoed cold was in the gym as a teen, his trainer proudly said he was back sparring with the same boy the next day. Today that wouldn't be allowed by any trainer worth their salt.