Malik Scott claps back at sherdog's own Tim Witherspoon

[mozfonky]

I thought so as well. Malik didn't do bad at all in trying to motivate Wilder and advising him in the corner. I liked the gameplan that they had early to push Fury back with the body jab in order to stay on the front foot. The ref didn't allow as much grappling & mauling which is something I figured would be the case going into the trilogy. Surely Team Wilder mentioned it to the ref (Mora) at the fighter meetings or in the dressing room prior to the fight.

ya, i'd assume a good corner would pressure the ref not to allow that, and really, i'm glad he did. Fighters job is to get away with anything they can and it's the refs job to keep it in check. Lots of it is unintentional, the headlocks I think, are just natural for a taller guy, it's not like he's going to guillotine the man, but it's tiring having a big man's weight on you. That might have been the best thing the corner did for him.

 

[mozfonky]

as far as tim criticizing the video, he just doesn't realize how different an era we're in, everyone has a camera up their ass these days, including fighters, whether us old guys like it or not, that's just how it is. and i don't think it's good for a fighter.

 

[burningspear]

It was kind of a weak sauce question Tim asked Deontay. His videos and interviews also sound like he is vying for a job. Sorry if some don’t like it but that how he sounds to me.

Yeah, everyone's an expert when critiquing a big underdog's performance. Who exactly could have trained him to win? Everyone shitting on Scott just lol
Witherspoon didn't stay long<45>

 

[randomg1t]

Yeah, everyone's an expert when critiquing a big underdog's performance. Who exactly could have trained him to win? Everyone shitting on Scott just lol
Witherspoon didn't stay long<45>

wilder stayed with breland for 12 years. he took him to 42-0-1 with with 41 KOs. then deontay gets his ass kicked and fires the man who worked with him for over a decade, spewing conspiracy theories that cross well over to schizophrenia territory. he literally fired his head coach and promoted his sparring partner to coach him.

i don't know who exactly could have trained him to win, but i do know it wasn't the guy who wilder KO'd in a fight and then kept around as a punching bag. maybe breland could've helped him, god knows he tried. maybe some other high level coach, it's not like there is a huge deficit of quality trainers in the world, or like wilder isn't able to just reach out to someone world class and ask them for help.

and i'm not trying to shit on scott, he did what he could with the situation. but come on.

 

[defjaam]

fucking kids today.

Anyway, I heard a story that Tim beat up someone that took advantage of an old Ali in sparring, nothing he can say will hurt him in my eyes.

A little opinion? Big deal, people today have thin skins. Ali used to laugh off Joe Louis' criticisms. Holmes was holmes and tyson was hypersensitive but if you put yourself out there you have to deal with criticism.

"kids today", "people today"...

Did you grow up in the 17th century or what? You sound as bitter and jaded as someone can be.

 

[listrahtes]

People need to realize that Scott s credentials to get that job was to be Wilders "bro" and kissass about everything even the stupid conspiracies. Wilder has a history of not doing what his coaches want him to do and it got worse with every bit of fame he got. You can do that with someone like Scott whose whole income depends on Wilder and to a point with Breland who is a very mild mannered person and felt a lot of loyalty to Wilder but you try to do that with world class coaches like Nacho, Roach or Furys coaching team for this fight and they tell you to fuck off.

Also its pretty clear Scott would not have thrown the towel no matter what. People even aplaud that but in truth a coach like that should be banned from the sport as it can lead to death or very serious permanent brain damage.

Thats the reason why Wilder doesnt have a competent coaching team. You can bet that a lot of the ideas like bulking up and flashy training came from Wilder and Scott just played along. I get people liked the jab to the body idea. It was a good move but other than that sorry everything was shitty and he stopped doing it as soon as it got tough. Wilder was gassed by the 5th round and fought on autopilot. If you need to do that your training camp and preparation was dogshit to begin with and I would honestly bet 1000$ that his relevant fitness markers would have reflected that if Team Wilder would have taken them (what they most def didnt do). Especially anaerob metabolism.

 

[Old Cat]

For those of you criticizing Scott because he is inexperienced or he lost to Wilder, remember every coach has to start somewhere and many great coaches were not world beater fighters.
Scott’s charge was about as difficult as one could possibly have. Somehow he got Wilder to believe in him; I would say thats pretty darn impressive in itself. Trainers are often part teacher, psychologist, cheerleader, and confidant/friend etc., depending on the pupils need. Scott’s man is as needy as a battered spouse. Really, given the man he cornered, I’m not sure anyone could have done better.

 

[listrahtes]

For those of you criticizing Scott because he is inexperienced or he lost to Wilder, remember every coach has to start somewhere and many great coaches were not world beater fighters.
Scott’s charge was about as difficult as one could possibly have. Somehow he got Wilder to believe in him;

Have to disagree. He got Wilder to trust him because he is a yes man and doesnt challenge Wilder were Wilder is delusional.
Sure you are best buddy then with each other but as a fighter that is as bad as it gets. And yes you start somewhere as a coach but not in preparing a former world champ for the most important fight of his career as head coach. That is suicide and it was. But the biggest problem really was that he played into Wilders delusions instead of helping him getting a grip of reality and by that a realistic outlook about his strenghts /weaknesses. Regarding training what we know he imo made some beginner mistakes. I wouldnt fault him if it wasnt such a big fight.

It never goes right if a former athlete thinks he can skip any kind of education and just be a top coach. Doesnt work like that. Maybe Zidane at Real Madrid is the one shining example it can work but everyone else crashed hard. And even Zidane had a learning curve with the b team.

That Scott lost to Wilder in embarassing fashion isnt even important. You can be a shitty fighter and fantastic coach and Scott wasnt even a shitty fighter, just not on the highest level.

 

[RDL81]

Have to remember Tim was part of the media team for talk sport in the uk

 

[Via Heeto]

It was kind of a weak sauce question Tim asked Deontay. His videos and interviews also sound like he is vying for a job. Sorry if some don’t like it but that how he sounds to me.

I was actually sitting directly behind Tim when he asked the question. It was certainly not the right time or place for it. And he actually tried to continue on with more, raising his hand and going to the fence trying to yell further questions, but they told him to sit down and be quiet. What I actually noticed was that when he announced himself as Tim Witherspoon to Deontay, it seemed the name meant nothing to him. I think Deontay had no idea who he was

 

[Old Cat]

Have to disagree. He got Wilder to trust him because he is a yes man and doesnt challenge Wilder were Wilder is delusional.
Sure you are best buddy then with each other but as a fighter that is as bad as it gets. And yes you start somewhere as a coach but not in preparing a former world champ for the most important fight of his career as head coach. That is suicide and it was. But the biggest problem really was that he played into Wilders delusions instead of helping him getting a grip of reality and by that a realistic outlook about his strenghts /weaknesses. Regarding training what we know he imo made some beginner mistakes. I wouldnt fault him if it wasnt such a big fight.

It never goes right if a former athlete thinks he can skip any kind of education and just be a top coach. Doesnt work like that. Maybe Zidane at Real Madrid is the one shining example it can work but everyone else crashed hard. And even Zidane had a learning curve with the b team.

That Scott lost to Wilder in embarassing fashion isnt even important. You can be a shitty fighter and fantastic coach and Scott wasnt even a shitty fighter, just not on the highest level.

Scott said in an interview after the fight that wilder asked him what went wrong. That’s a fairy big deal given where a wilder has been IMO. One can only help a man as much as he will allow. Sometimes steps need to be walked before a person can handle the full weight of the truth.

we are just gonna have to agree to disagree.

 

[listrahtes]

Scott said in an interview after the fight that wilder asked him what went wrong.

But what was Scotts answer? That the bulking up was a bad idea? That the unrealistic combination drills without the footwork were not really helping at all? That it was basically the same reasons he lost the second and that the conspiracies should be left alone as not relevant? That they should not have changed gloves? I doubt it. But as Wilder will continue to fight we will see how it goes from there.

 

[GolovKing]

I was actually sitting directly behind Tim when he asked the question. It was certainly not the right time or place for it. And he actually tried to continue on with more, raising his hand and going to the fence trying to yell further questions, but they told him to sit down and be quiet. What I actually noticed was that when he announced himself as Tim Witherspoon to Deontay, it seemed the name meant nothing to him. I think Deontay had no idea who he was

I think maybe he didn't know exactly who he was but he had to have had an idea. Wilder would have went off and got angry had a regular journalist asked him that same question. Tim claims to have reached out to them on occasion as well and Malik Scott knows him pretty well

 

[Old Cat]

But what was Scotts answer? That the bulking up was a bad idea? That the unrealistic combination drills without the footwork were not really helping at all? That it was basically the same reasons he lost the second and that the conspiracies should be left alone as not relevant? That they should not have changed gloves? I doubt it. But as Wilder will continue to fight we will see how it goes from there.

I don’t know the in and outs of what they discussed. He said he was honest with him about what he did right and what he did wrong. We can only take him at his word. I did however listen to the man discuss the fight over several lengthy interviews. He “appears” to have rightly assessed his man’s performance and the opponents work Saturday night. He sounds to me to be a fairly level headed man, again sounds.

I agree the glove change was retarded. I suspect it was one of those pick your battles situations. Do you get your fighter worked up right before the match starts if he is dead set on making the change? Look it, I said this before, Wilder might really have something wrong with him emotionally/mentally. He most likely forces people around him into “what hill do I want to die on” type scenarios. Unstable people do that to those who are closest to them.

I really don’t know what else to say about the matter.

 

[Seano]

I don't really get people piling on Scott here. He did a good job with Deontay in the short time he had him. He didn't reinvent the wheel but Wilder was jabbing more, going to the body more and straightened up a lot of his punches.

 

[JSN]

I don't really get people piling on Scott here. He did a good job with Deontay in the short time he had him. He didn't reinvent the wheel but Wilder was jabbing more, going to the body more and straightened up a lot of his punches.

It’s fun to pile on them because Wilder is such a dummy, really.

They had a pretty impossible task.

 

[mozfonky]

honestly, i kept waiting for wilder to loop the right after his jab or, worse for him, get caught with a big right when he was throwing it, neither happened. Good fighters always say it's a "no-no" (evander holyfield) to throw a jab to the body but they would go out and do it all the time. It is risky if your oppnent has a good right and it's just not a good position to be in if it gets thrown when you're delivering the jab. Tyson's pet move was to throw a quick jab to the body and a hail mary right to the head, he got some mediocre fighters out quickly by doing that. Never saw him do that to Holyfield.

 

[Old Cat]

honestly, i kept waiting for wilder to loop the right after his jab or, worse for him, get caught with a big right when he was throwing it, neither happened. Good fighters always say it's a "no-no" (evander holyfield) to throw a jab to the body but they would go out and do it all the time. It is risky if your oppnent has a good right and it's just not a good position to be in if it gets thrown when you're delivering the jab. Tyson's pet move was to throw a quick jab to the body and a hail mary right to the head, he got some mediocre fighters out quickly by doing that. Never saw him do that to Holyfield.

It was obvious the point of that jab was to sling something upstairs later. Tyson was ust too smart to let himself get set up like that. Shoot , he took that jab away w a little parry and spacing in the second round. Wilder gave up on it. Haha

hum. I guess it’s like anything else, if you are predictable a smart man is gonna make you pay. Dropping your body down at the same time are getting your head off the line makes it harder for a man to get to you. Two recent fighters, Ward and Floyd both were pretty darn good at throwing that shot and not getting countered.

 

[mozfonky]

It was obvious the point of that jab was to sling something upstairs later. Tyson was ust too smart to let himself get set up like that. Shoot , he took that jab away w a little parry and spacing in the second round. Wilder gave up on it. Haha

hum. I guess it’s like anything else, if you are predictable a smart man is gonna make you pay. Dropping your body down at the same time are getting your head off the line makes it harder for a man to get to you. Two recent fighters, Ward and Floyd both were pretty darn good at throwing that shot and not getting countered.

It can work, Duran took the defining Hearns kayo because he was paying too much attention to the jab to the body and hearns half-killed him with that cross. That's a case of a great fighters falling for it and hearns was so much taller he was never that low when he did it. the idea of course is to get the hands to drop and throw a punch upstairs, usually a right but you sacrifice a lot of mobility crouched down like that.

 

[Old Cat]

@mozfonky
I still think Scott did the best he could do w what he had in a pupil. It’s seems he tried to give him a few tool / tricks to set up the sledge hammer righthand. It was up to the man in the ring to listen and use them.

During the build up, It was strange hearing Wilder say he didn’t teach me anything, he’s just working on things already had. Stubbornness like that it’s tough to get through to. You would have to make them think it was their idea. Lol. Poor fellow, I hope he is able to reflect going forward. I liked his attitude much better before he got caught up in his own hype.