In watching Erickson Lubin and Chris Eubank Jr. get blown
out in consecutive weeks, I've confirmed a belief that I've held about boxing
for many years. With a hat tip to Bill Maher, it's time for a New Rule in
understanding boxing. The Rule is as follows:
Any fighter who voluntarily lingers on the ropes during
the early rounds of a fight has reduced his or her chances of
winning.
There are a couple of key points to parse here. Let's start with "voluntarily." What I am stating is when a fighter has his or her back to the ropes by choice, by design. It's not being forced to the ropes because of relentless pressure or recovering from punishment. It's a fighter deciding to dictate the terms of the fight by laying on the ropes early in a bout, when opponents are at their strongest.
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| Eubank with has back against the ropes Photo courtesy of Mark Robinson/Matchroom |
It's my belief that fewer than a handful of fighters at any given time in boxing can win fights with their back against the ropes even in the best of circumstances. It is one of the toughest skills in boxing to master in that a fighter's mobility is significantly limited. Among active fighters, Dereck Chisora is one who has displayed an ability to win fights from this position. But often, Chisora has done his best work with his back against the ropes later in fights, when opponents are diminished or have endured their own punishment (such as Carlos Takam or Joe Joyce).
So, in the best-case scenario, there may only be a couple of
fighters who can win fights with their back against the ropes, and that is
later in bouts after their opponents have endured several rounds of action.
Yet many fighters somehow think that they will be successful in a disadvantageous
position against a clear-minded foe.
I believe that there are two reasons a fighter goes to the ropes
early:
The first category is self-explanatory. Both Lubin and
Eubank had tough recent fights where they didn't look at their physical best.
Their behavior in going over to the ropes against Ortiz and Benn, respectively, confirms
that they didn't believe they had the physical capacity to go 12 hard rounds in
the middle of the ring. In short, they were telling on themselves. They needed
a crutch even before the going got tough.
The Mayweather example is instructive and one of the few
times that he got his strategy wrong in a fight. I'm sure that Team Mayweather
noticed things on tape regarding Maidana, how wide he could be with his shots,
how open he could be to counters. They probably thought that going to the ropes
would be a simple way to inflict damage because of Maidana's crude offensive
forays.
They were wrong.
Instead, Maidana went to town on Mayweather in the early rounds. Mayweather fell into the classic counterpuncher's
trap of trying to land perfect counters while the aggressor was banging away on
a stationary target with power shots and volume.
Eventually, Mayweather junked the strategy and wound up
winning the fight in the middle of the ring. But that fight is an essential
example in understanding boxing. With his back up against the ropes, the best
fighter of his generation couldn't beat a capable opponent in that position. If
it can't be done by Mayweather, maybe you shouldn't try it either.
Looming in the background to all of this is Muhammad Ali's
famous "rope-a-dope" strategy, where he was able to defeat the
heavily favored George Foreman by spending most of the fight punching off the
ropes. No doubt this is one of the cornerstone fights in the history of the
sport, and perhaps Ali is the only heavyweight who could willingly endure that
much punishment to win a battle of wills along the ropes against such a fierce
opponent.
But two things to consider about the Rumble in the Jungle:
Ali didn't start the fight on the ropes; he had a very good first round using
the entire ring. Also, Foreman's pressure was unrelenting. In the early stages
of the fight, it was Foreman who drove Ali to the ropes. By the end of the
second round, it seemed as if Ali had made the decision to hold his ground along
the ropes instead of burn off more energy using his legs.
The Ali-Foreman performance is essentially the exception
that proves the rule. Perhaps the greatest heavyweight of all time was able to
execute that strategy, but even then, he absorbed a ton of punishment. If the
decision was so fraught for one of the best to ever do it, perhaps a lesser
fighter shouldn't think about doing it early in a bout.
So, to sum up, if you see a boxer go to the ropes on his
own volition early in a fight, it's not a good sign. He or she either has made a
strategic/tactical mistake or physically the fighter isn't right. And sure, if
we watch boxing closely over the ensuing decades, we might find another
exception or two. But I've seen a ton of boxing over the years, and going
over to the ropes early isn't a winning strategy. You can call Ali the
Greatest, but call everyone else something different – someone who's about to
lose the round, or the fight.
Throughout Saturday's heavyweight
slugfest between Jospeh Parker and Fabio Wardley, I made mental notes on
Parker's impressive moments. There's a hook off a jab. Here's
five left hooks in a row. There's a right hand/left hook combination that
landed on the button. How about that jab! That counter right hand was terrific.
Parker did so many things wonderfully in the fight, yet in the 11th round, he
was the one trapped along the ropes, hurt, with the bout being waved off.
So, what happened?
To be fair to Wardley, he had some impressive sequences of his own early in the fight, especially in rounds two through four. But I believe that it was the 10th round that showcased his unique attributes in the heavyweight division. In the first half of the round, Parker had his most dominating sequences of the fight. He was cracking Wardley with counter right hands and left hooks. On multiple occasions, it looked like he stood Wardley up with power shots. There, Wardley looked momentarily dazed, staring blankly into the middle distance, his feet not positioned to throw.
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| Wardley (left) with Parker trapped along the ropes Photo courtesy of Leigh Dawney/Queensberry Promotions |
I'm sure most fighters would assume after administering that kind of beating, that they would be in the driver's seat, that the opponent was on his way to being stopped. But it quickly became apparent that Wardley was far different from a typical opponent.
Somehow after being battered
throughout the round, Wardley was able to shake it off and march forward. He
unleashed menacing power shots as if the previous punishment hadn't occurred. After a few short moments, now it was Parker hurt and diminished, stuck along the ropes. In one of the most thrilling rounds of the
year, Wardley showed that he possesses almost superhuman recuperative
powers.
The 11th round was a continuation
of the end of the 10th, with Wardley unloading on a trapped Parker. Eventually, referee Howard Foster stepped in to stop the fight (more on this later).
Fabio Wardley has a singular
story in boxing. A product of the white-collar boxing scene
in the U.K., Wardley had no real amateur background and came to the sport late.
During his development fights, he was a wild swinger who did all sorts of
technical things wrong in the ring. His defense could
be subpar. His footwork was ponderous. He would lean over his body while
throwing shots, but the results were almost always the same: Wardley by
knockout.
But Wardley has improved under trainer Ben Davison's tutelage. Although I didn't have him winning Saturday's fight after the tenth round, I certainly thought that he was competitive. And this was against Parker, one of the best technical fighters at heavyweight, and an opponent with a significant punch.
On Saturday, Wardley was able to land with snapping right hands. He connected with a
couple of cracking, short right uppercuts and he had periods where his jab
scored with regularity. He wasn't a gimmick fighter; he was performing like the solid heavyweight that he has become, with multiple knockout weapons and
an irrepressible will.
Wardley's last two fights have ended in second-half stoppages. He was down on the cards in both fights, but he was undeterred. And just as importantly, he has the conditioning to undertake physically grueling fights and still wind up on top.
Perhaps this might not be the greatest recipe for a long career, but so what? Wardley wasn't expected to progress to this point. This is what he has to work with. And there's no blueprint of what a top heavyweight must look like or do in the ring, except win.
Who knows how long this ride will continue? He's won fights when well behind; he's prevailed as an underdog; and he's beaten fighters with far more pedigree. He continues to get stoppages even as he moves up the heavyweight ladder. He possesses a rare ability to carry late power. And this isn't like he's trailing in cagey fights where not much has happened. No, he's taking beatings, but he refuses to yield. And he will keep throwing his thunder. It's thrilling to watch.
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| Wardley after the victory Photo courtesy of Leigh Dawney/Queensberry |
If I can level one criticism of Parker, it's that too often he gets into shootouts. Let's go back to the tenth. He had already dominated Wardley throughout the first half of the round. Once Parker got tagged with a big shot from Wardley, he could have immediately tied up. Even with that one shot, Parker would still be well ahead in the round.
But that's not what Parker did. Despite getting hit a lot at the end of the round, he still wanted to trade. He was trying to find that one big shot to hurt Wardley, to reverse the tide. He wound up giving back his edge in the round, and in the fight, even when he didn't have to. One could praise Parker for his self-belief, but maybe his performance illustrates his issues with over-confidence and not respecting his opponent enough. Parker had similar problems in his loss to Joe Joyce. He also could have boxed much more than he did in his grueling fights with Dereck Chisora.
Parker usually likes to stay
around the pocket, which he believes helps him because of his
advantages with accuracy and his large punch arsenal. But the problem with
fighters who linger a little too much is that they are hittable.
I'm not suggesting that Parker stink out fights to win, but he needs to understand fight dynamics better. For example, Usyk is a master of knowing when he has a round won. And he will pocket that 10-9, wait out the round, and go after his opponent when the next one starts. Parker doesn't have the same impulses. He will be looking throughout all three minutes of a round to connect, even when he is well ahead. It's certainly not the best fight management strategy.
***
After the fight I had this
vision of Howard Foster standing at attention in the ring, saluting the Union
Jack hanging from the rafters of the O2 Arena, a single tear sliding down
his cheek. Yet again, he had performed for his country. He had done his part
for The Crown.
As far as Howard Foster stoppages
go, Saturday's wasn't his worst (take a look at his performance in the Dubois-Lerena fight), but
it was still bad, and as too often the case, his decision making helped the
hometown English fighter at the expense of the foreign opponent.
Although Wardley was unloading in
the 11th round and Parker was hurt, there was no singular shot that
necessitated Foster to stop the fight. Parker still had his wits in the ring.
He was blocking or ducking a lot of the punches; he looked lucid. Foster's
stoppage made perfect sense if a referee was looking for an opportunity to end
the fight. But if an arbiter was more interested in seeing a fight play out to
its natural conclusion, then that moment was not the place for a referee to insert himself.
Of the referees who get high-profile assignments in the sport, Foster may be the worst homer. It's baffling as to why he is allowed to persist. Or maybe it's not.
And this isn't an exercise in second-guessing. As soon as I saw Foster announced prior to the start of the fight, I made a note how this could help Wardley. And again, this was before a punch was ever thrown.
I shouldn't have to know this about a referee. Officials like Foster hurt the legitimacy of the sport. Boxing deserves better. And
as great a fight as Saturday's was, it was perhaps 90% of what it could have
been. Howard Foster needed to end that fight when he did. He didn't have to.
But, I guess...duty called.
***
Let's not end this on a sour note. We all enjoyed a great fight on Saturday. Parker and Wardley continued the tremendous run of excitement in this heavyweight era. There's probably been over 20 heavyweight fights over the last decade that have been truly special affairs. Parker has already been in several, against Chisora, Whyte and Joyce. Wardley had that memorable first battle with Frazer Clarke.
It's been a terrific era for heavyweight boxing. We've seen the cream rise to the top (Usyk) against champs and tough challengers. We've marveled at the journeys of relatively unknowns or supposed lessers, like Kabayel and Wardley, who have become true threats to the throne. Along the way, we've seen memorable upsets, great individual runs, and so many thrilling nights in the ring. Yes, there will always be the scolds who will tell you how things were so much better during yesteryear, but missing out on today's heavyweight boxing has been their loss. This current era has delivered time after time. It's been wonderful.
Here's my 2025 ballot for the International Boxing Hall of Fame. I selected Gennadiy Golovkin, Santos Laciar, Gilberto Roman and Pongsaklek Wonjongkam.
I have a new "How to Watch Boxing" column in the November edition of Ring Magazine. The column is about how to take away the jab and features perspectives from trainers Robert Garcia and Stephen "Breadman" Edwards. The magazine is available on newsstands now.
