Money Mayweather wrote:
Looking forward to Friday Fight Night tonight. Paul Smith, Kell Brook, and Enzo (I think) all on. If Enzo gets beat again its time to give it up.
The first two should be ok (Enzo is a yard dog). Still not entirely sure about Brook - more over his early Brendan Ingle programming than anything else. Ingle moulded some excellent attacking fighters during the 80s and 90s that were all hamstrung to some lesser or greater extent by their defensive weaknesses. Instead of teaching them to hold their gloves up, elbows protecting the short rib, keep their head moving at all times etc. he taught them to rely solely on their reflexes and draw the other fighter onto them with stupid clown tricks. You can get away with that in the lower leagues, but top level fighters aren't top without having equally fast reflexes. Whilst Naz was sharp (before he went to America and indulged in every taboo activity imaginable) he had the reflexes to get away with pricking about. But the moment those reflexes started to let him down he found he was getting caught. The writing was definitely on the wall when a shot Kevin Kelley had him down three times (although he was never really hurt, IMO) and then it wasn't long before Barerra put him out of the sport with a boxing masterclass (Naz had ditched Ingle by then and gone with Emmanuel Steward, although he never turned up for training). Herol Graham was another. He gave Mike "The Bodysnatcher" McCallum (who for me is one of the modern greats) fits in his world title fight but conceded too many easy shots through "Ingle" defence. Soon after he boxed the LETHALLY powerful Julian Jackson's head off for four rounds and then walked straight onto a regulation bomb like an amateur (if you HAVEN'T seen this KO, find it on Youtube - it's in my top 5 of all time). Ryan Rhodes was another - tipped as the new Naz when he arrived on the scene. The results were depressingly familiar until he ditched Wincobank and got himself a trainer who knew something about holding hands high.
So, I'm withholding judgement on Brook. He IS very talented. But if he starts clowning around in the ring with that old Wincobank style it won't be long before someone puts him on queer street.
Also I notice Enzo Calzaghe is retiring. Good luck to him, I still think he's been the most overrated trainer in the sport. I think Joe Calzaghe achieved all he did inspite of his father's influence.
Enzo taught himself boxing - and you can tell. If you listen to him it's clear he hasn't much tactical appreciation of the sport. I mean, this is the guy who sent Calzaghe into the ring against Bernard Hopkins with "no plan". Hopkins sure had a plan and if it weren't for the Joe's chin and FREAKISH recovery powers he'd have been out of there within three minutes.
Where I do give Enzo credit is in completely overhauling Joe's fighting style once it was established that his hands were shot. Joe went from being a big-hitting brawler to a beautiful high-octane boxer who could switch fighting styles, bamboozle his opponents with weird angles and maintain a blistering punching rate.
I'm sure if you asked Enzo how he achieved this he'd struggle to explain. Which is the reason his other fighters can't repeat it. ATEOTD - Joe & Enzo were the perfect union in training. Apart the magic just doesn't work.
