Month: March 2020

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ANTICIPATION (Boxing Training)

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. It’s no different in the fight game. You try and land something they’re gonna attempt to fire back aka a counter. Act too samey they’ll punish it every time, almost to a fault……So why not give them something to bite to get a better boon? One thing to remember is sometimes the missed punch isn’t necessarily a wasted punch if you know what you’re doing with it. If you know the opponent is going to throw at you each time you act, maybe we can discourage them by countering the counter 

One of the best at this is Guillermo Rigondeaux always showing punches as if he is shadow boxing in the fight, he will constantly show you a punch but not necessarily committing to it. Leaving a gamble of should you just look at it and get caught with something or get in and punish the little game?

Or maybe that show is the trap asking you to counter….

If you’re able to tell that someone is ready to engage when they feel like you missed. It can set up other traps to force distance again.

When someone is constantly seeing the same starting punch, it primes one’s reflexes to always act on the potential threat be it offensively or defensively. They may even have the right counter in mind but not be prepared for what follows after due to focusing on that one moment.

We can even do this feigning “bad” technique leaving the jab out long enough to make someone feel confident to counter it with the right hand or a jab themselves.

Roberto Duran would often throw a “lazy” jab baiting you to try and attack giving him a chance to make you pay and slowly close in .

When you practice your fundamentals, you learn how to use those little mistakes to create traps because in the end everyone uses the same punches/kicks, the technique in its most basic sense is the same including basic ideas on how to punish what appears to be poor technique

So get back to your training reassess what you have done and rebuild your game

Article Written by PJ the Fight Architect

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Forgotten Fades: Israel Vazquez vs Jhonny Gonzalez

So how did I come across picking this fight you may ask?  Well with boxing currently on hiatus due to corona virus, I was like let me go ahead and do another Forgotten Fade article.  To be optimistic, it has made go back even more into the archives to watch old fights.  When boxing has been a part of your life for such a long period of time, it is hard to break the habit.  So, it has been quite the adjustment for my weekends, where I usually look forward to sitting down on my couch and catch the latest cards on ESPN, FOX, Showtime, or DAZN.  I hit up Shutterworth da Gawd and asked what division I should be focused on this time? He said, “Look at 118 or 122”.  Then he mentioned Abner Mares, who I was not too keen on doing an article about.  I still hold a little grudge over the Agbeko fights, and I didn’t want to glorify him in any way.  Shutterworth and I had a brief back and forth on it and I mentioned Jhonny Gonzalez sending Mares to the bushes in 1 which was awesome.  Then I said that Gonzalez had some fades and mentioned the fight with Israel Vazquez, which I had remembered being awesome.  So, in the middle of the night I rewatched the fight on YouTube and was like “this kicked so much ass.”. The next day, I told Shutterworth this was the fight I wanted to highlight for this article.

                This fight was for the WBC Super Bantamweight Title, the 2nd defense of the title by then champion Vazquez.  For Jhonny Gonzalez, then WBO Bantamweight Champion, it was a chance to move up and win a belt in a second division.  It took place on the undercard of Marco Antonio Barrera vs Rocky Juarez rematch.    Both men were right in the middle of their primes.   This fight was a tale of two fights.  It started off with both boxers having a little feeling out round.  Keeping their distance and using their jabs as stated by the late great Emanuel Steward.  But from the start of round 2 it didn’t take Gonzalez long to get going.  His jab and right hand caused a blood blister to appear on Vazquez right eye in contrast to shots returned caused blood to come from his nose.  In Round 4, within the opening seconds Gonzalez floored Vazquez with a beautiful left hook lead that deposited him right on the seat of his pants.  Vazquez though got up in little to no time, a look of frustration over getting dropped trying to get inside.  The left hook it seemed was not too flush just happen to catch Vazquez slightly off balance.  For the rest of the round Gonzalez started whipping 3-4 punch combinations onto Vazquez, whose right eye was still bleeding. This continued for a couple of more rounds with Gonzalez throwing punches with almost near reckless abandon. Sometimes reckless to the point where he would be off balance and Vazquez would be trying to get inside to take advantage of.  Near the end of round 6, Gonzalez would land 3 consecutive right hands that landed flush followed by a whipping left hook that again sent Vazquez to the canvas.  This time that left hook seemed to really hurt Vazquez as he got up with his mouthpiece sticking halfway out of his mouth.  Lucky for him the bell sounded as Gonzalez moved in. He would need all the time in the corner to recover.  Jhonny’s ring generalship and knockdowns gave him a sizable lead on the cards halfway through the fight.  The second act of that fight though would change things almost immediately. In round 7, Gonzalez is stepping on the gas whipping combinations from head to body seemingly going for the KO. With a minute left, Vazquez counters Gonzalez’s uppercut on the inside with a quick right hand which rocks Gonzalez.  A follow up 1-2 combination would put him on the canvas split legged.  What a turnaround that was!!!  In the 8th round, it looked like Gonzalez had taken control, but you couldn’t help but noticed that he was getting more and more busted up.  Vazquez’s mentality at this point was “KNOCKOUT.”  There was a moment where it looked like a hook to the body dropped Jhonny to the canvas again, but the ref ruled that a slip.   In round 9, Gonzalez started looking increasingly sloppy. Throwing punches and being completely off balance and Vazquez closed the distance even more.  In Round 10, Jhonny throws an errant low blow which earned him a stern warning from the ref who told him a point deduction would be next.  With almost a minute left, Vazquez connected with a 4-punch combination that drops Gonzalez for the second time in the fight.  Gonzalez gets up although looks very beaten up at this time.  While the ref was getting ready to send him out to fight, Jhonny Gonzalez’s cornermen came on the apron and waved the white towel to signal the end of the fight.  Larry Merchant and Emanuel Steward were voicing their displeasure loudly at the corner stoppage. Israel Vazquez clawed his way back from being significantly down on all 3 cards to win and retain his title.  It was an extraordinary fight between 2 of the most top-level super bantamweights at the time.

                Each fighter would go on their own unique paths after this fight.  For the winner and still super bantamweight champion Israel Vazquez, he would go on to earn more acclaim in 3 straight fights with Rafael Marquez.  Each fight a ridiculous war which would see both men knock chunks of flesh along with their primes off each other.  All 3 of those fights took place within a year.  The first fight saw Vazquez surrender his title by a 7th round TKO to Marquez in war.  The second fight saw Vazquez regain his title by 6th round TKO.  The third fight with Marquez would see Vazquez retain his belt via split decision.  Vazquez though would pay a very high price for these fights with a detached retina which would keep him sidelined for a year.  When he came back 19 months after the 3rd Marquez fight, he looked very much badly faded struggling to score a 9th round TKO over journeyman, Angel Priolo.  Then in his final fight, he took on Marquez in a 4th fight that respectfully should have never happened.  Marquez would stop him in 4 rounds.  A final career record of 44 wins against 5 losses with 32 coming by way of knockout.   In retirement, Vazquez had been struggling with the retinal injury that he got from the Marquez fights.  Numerous operations on his damaged right eye proved to be unsuccessful resulting with it being removed and being replaced with a prosthetic.  A very high price to pay indeed.   Jhonny Gonzalez would go on to lose his bantamweight title in an upset 7th round KO loss to Gerry Penalosa.  He would also fail in a second attempt to become a super bantamweight champion against then champion Toshiaki Nishioka.  He would rebound and finally achieve his goal of being a champion in 2 weight divisions. Defeating then WBC Featherweight champion Hozumi Hasegawa by a 4th round TKO.  He would keep this belt for a little over a year before losing it on an upset technical decision to Daniel Ponce de Leon.    His biggest win and upset to date would come in 2013.  He scored a decisive 1st round KO of an undefeated Abner Mares for the WBC featherweight title.  He would keep for it for a year and half before losing it to Gary Russell Jr.  As of August 2019, Jhonny Gonzalez is still an active fighter and a veteran of 79 fights.  In the twilight of his career but I wouldn’t put it past him to win a big fight one last time before he hangs it up.  But the fight these two waged was something else and should not be forgotten. Full recommendation to watch.

Written by Patscorpio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHD87Vee4Bg
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The Career Mode Glitch

Let’s take a little trip down memory lane.  Its 2011 and you’re a hardcore boxing fan probably still in your twenties.  It’s the weekend and boxing After Dark on HBO just ended.  The fights weren’t great, but they weren’t bad either.  You don’t have to work the next day, so you don’t have to go to bed any time soon.  These are simpler times my friend.  Boxing is over, but that blood lust for compelling fights is still nagging at you.  Before you know it, you’re turning on your PS3 or Xbox gaming console. 

If you were a boxing fan during this era that indulged in video games, you knew there was only one game that could quench your thirst for more boxing.  This masterpiece was Fight Night Champion, the last great boxing video game to exist in the free world.  It goes without saying that this game is already in your system so once it’s fired up you proceed to get that boxing monkey off your back.  You start out playing a few bullshit random matches before finally loading up the highly coveted career mode.  Career Mode was everyone’s little pet project in Fight Night Champion.  You created your boxer and controlled his attributes, training, and career trajectory. 

Now you’ve had steady progression with your created boxer’s career and see that a title shot is only a few fights away.  You’re faced with a few options.  You can take the slightly more challenging step-up fight that would prepare you for the champion or you can take the same type of fight that’s gotten you to this position.  You won’t improve your stats much, but the odds are in your favor and another win won’t hurt. It’s getting late and you’re starting to get a little sleepy, but you don’t want to shut the game off just yet.  With that in mind, you don’t want the stress of having a tough fight now, so you go for the easy match up. 

You start out dominating the infamous “Jobber Magee”, but for some reason you can’t put him away like all the others in the past.  He weathers the early storm and manages to land a punch that causes a bad cut on your eye. The blood seems to reinvigorate your opponent and he begins to increase the pressure.  Now you’re thinking to yourself that you should have just taken the tougher fight if it was going to be this much trouble.  Your early onslaught has your stamina looking funny in the light and before you know it, Jobber Magee lands a heavy shot that sits you down on the canvas.  You try to get up, but its no use.  Your head is cloudy, and you have noodle legs.  The ref counts you out and the rest is history.  You’re the latest victim of the Career Mode Glitch. 

Fast forward to the present and you’ll see art imitate life more often than it should.  Boxers allow themselves to spoil on the vine, by facing sub par competition as soon as they’re on the verge of being world class.  Challenging character-building fights are scoffed at an ignored for easier opposition.  To be fair, not every boxer operates this way, but its certainly becoming the majority.  Super fights die on the negotiation table and potential meaningful fights fall to the wayside due to cannon fodder fighting above their level causing upsets.  As a boxer you should always want to improve and take fights that can add to your foundation or legacy.  Hoping to get rewarded while on the path of least resistance can come back to haunt you.  There are no shortcuts in boxing and sitting on your lead whether in a fight or in the rankings can be detrimental to the result you seek. 

Unlike Fight Night Champion, real life boxing has certain consequences.  You can get injured or seriously hurt.  Certain performances will catapult you to the top of the world while some will make you plummet to the nether realm of boxing social media.  It’s better to face these boxing challenges with pride and determination than to prolong the inevitable hoping to build your confidence with inferior opponents.  Cherry picking competition and fighting infrequently are a recipe for disaster.  These career journeymen know what’s at stake and one good performance on a night where you have a bad performance can be the difference in propelling or stagnating your career.  Father Time is undefeated, but the Career Mode Glitch will always be the biggest risk a boxer takes before Father Time get a chance to lace up his gloves.  Proceed wisely.

Written by Shutterworth for Ring Gang Radio.

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Forgotten Fades – Clifford Etienne vs Lawrence Clay-Bey

The spirit of the forgotten fade is finding that one fight that delivers above and beyond expectation where there are little to no expectations.  As a bonus, the fight may sometime surpass every other fight on the card it’s on, including the main event.  The fight that I am about to reminisce on is one of those that fit the above criteria.  An unexpected war between then rising Heavyweight prospects/contenders.  The fight I am referring to is Clifford Etienne vs Lawrence Clay Bey.  This fight was scheduled on the undercard of Lennox Lewis defending the undisputed heavyweight championship against David Tua.  Unfortunately, that fight is the opposite of a forgotten fade to put it lightly. That is where Etienne and Clay-Bey would come in.

                Clifford Etienne would learn how to box in prison, where he was sent to serve a 40-year sentence for armed robbery.  While in prison, he would win the boxing championship in there and keep an undefeated record.  Paroled after serving 10 years, he would turn pro in 1998 and would jump out to an 18-0 record.  The most notable of the wins was over then undefeated Lamon Brewster in a barnburner of a fight, which saw him beat the future WBO Heavyweight Champion by a comfortable unanimous decision.  Lawrence Clay Bey is a name I knew for a while as he was from my home state of Connecticut.  He was a big amateur star here.  He made it on to the 1996 US Olympic boxing team and was its captain.  Unfortunately, he did not medal.  He would eventually lose a controversial decision to Wladimir Klitschko.  Following the Olympics, he decided to turn pro at a relatively late age of 32 in 1997 to see how far he would go.  He would go 12-0 shedding another 30 lbs along the way.  The stage was set for the 2 undefeated heavyweight prospects.

                I know most people only know Etienne for his fight with Tyson which admittedly he didn’t look like anything special.  But this fight showed you why HBO had their eye on him back then.  Etienne’s buzzsaw style of fighting was something to see when he got going.  In this fight, it took only a minute in the first round for him let off a vicious assault to Clay Bey.  In the second round it looked Etienne was going to have an early night as he trapped Clay Bey in the ropes and let off like a dozen body shots mixed with uppercuts that were breaking through his guard.    The ref, Jay Nady, I was surprised to see that he didn’t step in to stop the fight.  With about 12 secs left in that round, Clay-Bey exploded and rocked Etienne to his core that left him dazed and bleeding from the nose at the bell.  Clay-Bey going into round 3 tried to employ a “Rope a Dope” strategy, where he would go to the ropes and let Etienne just wail on him and then try to steal the round by letting off combinations.  When the fight was taken to the center of the ring, it was “Rock’em Sock’em Robots” where Clay-Bey got the best of it.  So why Clay-Bey kept taking it to the ropes is beyond me.  He did however make an adjustment seen in the 7th and 8th rounds.  Clay-Bey would go to the ropes and then as Etienne would come in, he met him with right cross counters.  Etienne was badly stunned by these shots.  It was a miracle he did not go down.  Clay-Bey continued habit on laying on the ropes was a tactical mistake.  Etienne got his second wind and his legs back.  In round 9, he was getting the best of Clay-Bey now in the middle of the ring and started beating the crap of out of him.  Step around and hitting Clay-Bey with left hooks.  It was beautiful stuff to watch.  Clay-Bey looked tired at this point and seemingly had enough.  In the 10th and final round, both men went all out.  Unbelievable ebb and flow.   First it was Clay-Bey who came out swinging and landing right hands.  Then Etienne managed to get him into the ropes and proceeded to land hooks and uppercuts flush.  Some of those punches Clay-Bey took flush on the chin with his hands down.  It was an extremely brutal stuff to watch.  In the waning moments of the fight, Clay Bey again managed to rock and badly hurt Etienne with a left hook.  Etienne managed to weather the storm to the bell.  What a fight this was!!!Clifford Etienne would win by unanimous decision with scores of 98-92, 99-91, 97-93.  The scores don’t accurately tell the story of the fight in which the action and punishment dealt out was two way.  Unfortunately, neither fighter would go on to higher heights from this. 

Lawrence Clay-Bey even after losing his zero earned a lot of kudos for his performance.  For a man who had many issues plaguing him from the beginning of his career, it provided a brief window into his true potential.  However old habits crept back up.  He started coming into the ring out of shape again on top of advancing age, he would lose to the likes of Elieser Castillo (by KO) and the late Sinan Samil Sam (by decision).  He would retire in 2005 after a draw with Derek Bryant.  In his retirement from boxing, he has been working as a corrections officer.  For all intents and purposes, he has seemingly adjusted well to life after boxing.  The same thing cannot be said for Clifford Etienne.  It was a slow decline for the “Black Rhino”.  After that fight, he got a very lucrative contract from Showtime.  The bad was he would lose his zero to Fres Oquendo who knocked him down 7 times.  Etienne would have some fights to rebuild his stature.  His fight with Francois Botha yielded a draw which saw him go down twice in a wild affair.  This would lead to his most well-known fight, a fight against “Iron” Mike Tyson.  A fight that lasted only 49 seconds where a short right hand ended his night.  From there his career would go into a tailspin downward losing his final 2 fights to Calvin Brock and Nikolay Valuev.  Shortly after that fight, he would be sent back to prison on carjacking, kidnapping and attempted murder charges.  A very unfortunate fate for someone who originally found redemption through boxing.   However, nothing can take away from Clifford Etienne and Lawrence Clay-Bey’s wonderful fight.  Full recommendation to watch.

Written by Patscorpio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hazk-CDu7Rg