That's actually very true, Cain was the one dictating the pace and Junior relied too much on his countering ability. Just like in the first fight, Junior got off first and he landed that overhand and put Cain down. In the second fight, he let Cain throw first. Like me and JayElectra are discussing, Junior needs to find a way to counter Cain's jab and that 1-2, every time Junior threw first, Cain countered him with that almost every single time and landed clean.
Every time Junior threw his uppercut, Cain countered with his jab or the 1-2 and it would just push Junior back more and more until he was cut off at the fence, then Cain really started to light him up and this happened throughout the entire fight.
Yeah, that's the thing - Cain countered that uppercut with a jab, or a 1-2 over and over and over again. The worst thing is, Junior's corner wasn't giving him very much information when he went back to his corner after being completely destroyed for one round after another, they told him to do the same thing every time. Jab, jab, uppercut, now I know that's a good strategy, but Cain kept countering it rather easily and Junior's corner wasn't giving him any different tactics when he went back to his corner, they didn't help him at all. It's like Junior was there by himself all night and then you look in Cain's corner, they were giving him very good strategy. It's kinda sad, IMO.
There's no doubt in my mind that Junior's uppercut wasn't a bad thing to go for, it's one of his best punches, but Cain saw it coming from a mile away every time, same with the overhand, Cain easily blocked it or moved out of the way just in time and then came back throwing more punches.
In this next picture, you see that Junior went for a jab while he was moving backwards, but you're able to notice that Junior didn't step into his jab at all, it wasn't a 'stiff' jab, he just threw his arm out without planting his feet and Cain walked right through it and landed his right hand and dropped Junior and nearly finished him. After the first round, Junior wasn't the same. It was a beating from there until the end of the fight. The gif may be a better example of how Junior didn't plant his feet and step into his jab.
It's pretty crazy IMO, unbelievably impressive. Cain is a complete fighter, he's good on the feet and just amazing on the ground and his cardio is his biggest weapon and he used it so perfectly in the second fight against Junior.
Junior is incredible, a true talent, but to see Cain come back after such a brutal loss and end up dominating Junior like that for 25 minutes straight is unreal. I cheered for Cain, I always will cheer for him, but I didn't expect that at all. I remember all the people picking Junior to win, people saying that Junior was going to crush him within a round or two, and well.. wow.. just wow.
Another thing that Junior didn't seem to do is 'keep his hands up at all times'. Against Cain, when he was backed up towards the fence he would more rely on head movement or trying to roll with the punches, he did the exact same thing vs. Hunt as well. He would get cut off, drop his hands and that's why Cain landed so many strikes to the head, and that's why Hunt also landed some pretty decent punches to the head too.
Just like in that gif, you see that Junior was backed up towards the fence, had his hands dropped and Cain landed clean. Of course, Junior was dead tired, but he did this throughout the entire fight for some reason. I really don't know why he was dropping his hands in the first place, later in the fight, that's understandable, but earlier in the fight.. strange.
