By Robert Jackson: 41 fight veteran Paul ‘The Punisher’ Williams’ most recent venture into the squared circle garnered him a beating and an controversial victory. Against Erislandy Lara, poor footwork, defense and head movement made him a sucker for a ‘left hand’, just as it had against Middleweight Champion Sergio Martinez who 9 months earlier landed it squarely on Williams chin leaving Williams out cold on the canvas for several minutes. Williams habit of leaning in when throwing his own punches ‘left’ him susceptible in both fights to counter left hands. Timing is all that was needed.
In 2009, 12 – year boxing veteran Ricky Hatton on an upsurge in his career since switching trainers to Floyd Mayweather Sr., and then defeating Paulie Malignaggi challenged Manny Pacquiao for the P4P title. Defense and head movement a staple of the Mayweather brand of fighting and training is drilled into any Mayweather trainee. In there against Pacquiao, Hatton decided he was the bigger-stronger man as all the media outlets had proclaimed him to be. This proclamation lead Hatton to a foolhardy decision to abandon his training and fight Pacquiao on his own terms which lead to the neglect of head movement and defense, in fact Hatton fought Pacquiao with his head held straight up in the air and his arms closer to his waist then his chin. Needless to say Pacquiao landed the perfect shot also a left hand that ended Hatton’s boxing career.
Roy Jones in 2004 during his 2nd fight with Antonio Tarver was walked into a ‘left hand’ that removed forever his ‘aura of invincibility’ crafted throughout his 50 fight professional career. Rising before the 10 count, Jones on unsteady legs wasn’t allowed to continue by the referee saving Jones from further damage. Many consider that shot to be the perfect punch. Jones was greeted by a similar result in his next fight when Glenn Johnson – not known for his punching power KO’d him, leaving Jones down on the mat for what seemed like an eternity. To date Roy has 2 additional KO losses on his record.
Contrasting these cautionary tales to that of Briton’s own Amir Khan who early in his career in his 18th fight- 3 years into his professional career, was KO’d by a left-right combination from Breidis Prescott, this KO left Khan’s promising career in shambles, while also raising questions about his chin. Khan decided then that new and better training was needed to continue and get to the next level, so he crossed the pond and found his way into LA’s Wild Card gym so that trainer Freddie Roach could oversee his renewal. Khan has since overcome his only setback with few if any residual effects.
In all of the aforementioned cases these fighters were basically down for the count, out cold, what’s different here is that 3 of these fighters were veteran fighters with an established fighting identity, many rounds of fighting and at least 30 professional fights. Jones was quick and athletic, depended on his reflexes and used his legs as part of his fight game. Williams asset was his overwhelming length and his swarming offensive output. Hatton was also a swarmer, a brawler and a pressure fighter, he was expected to be on his opponents chest all night. And Khan…hadn’t yet developed a fighting identity, nothing was special about him except his amateur pedigree which earned him a Silver medal in the 2004 Olympic Games for Great Britain. Khan not being established or set in his ways made him adaptable and capable of revamping his fight game, while the others due to previous success and experience plodded on, changing nothing, and repeated failure.
Sergio Martinez also had a KO loss in his 18th fight to Antonio Margarito and look where he’s at now after 50 fights? Pacquiao was KO’d in his 12th fight and 28th fight. From all of these cases it’s obvious that fighters who lose by KO early in their careers have the ability to recover and come on strong later in their careers, while those who lose late in their career by KO may never recover.