After
being knocked unconscious in his last fight, many in Manny Pacquiao's team and
family wanted him to retire. After some reflection and a clean bill
of health, Pacquiao decided to give
boxing another shot. Although inactive since December, he claimed that he
felt like a rejuvenated fighter. However, many questions surrounded his comeback:
Would he still have the chin to compete at the top level? Did he
still have the will to win a war? Were his outside distractions too much for
him to perform at his best?
Under
these circumstances, it would be natural to assume that Brandon Rios
(Pacquiao's comeback opponent), a tough pressure fighter, would want to jump on
Pacquiao immediately, testing his resolve from the outset of the fight.
This strategy wouldn't give Pacquiao time to build confidence and
establish a rhythm. However, Robert Garcia, the hot trainer du jour of American
boxing, had Rios come out at mid-range, providing Pacquiao with the ability to
set the tempo and fire his best punches. From my perspective, this was an epic
failure from Garcia.
Instead,
the trainer wanted Rios to establish the jab and work on his straight right
hand. But Rios was far too slow to accomplish these goals. And at no point in
the fight did Rios make a concerted effort to sell-out for an inside brawl.
When Rios did his best work, it was because Pacquiao stopped engaging
and allowed himself to get tied up. There, Rios did an excellent job of
hitting Pacquiao with his free hand in clinches, specifically with his straight
right hand and right hook to the body. If Pacquiao were less cooperative, then
Rios wouldn't have even had those good moments.
What
most irks me about Rios' performance is that he wasn't put in the best
position to win. I'm not saying that Rios had a good shot, but he had a shot,
and that was to make the fight as uncomfortable for Pacquiao as
possible. This meant battering Pacquiao on the inside and applying
lots of pressure.
It's
quite possible that Garcia applied some wrong lessons from Pacquiao's last
Marquez fight. Yes, Marquez ended things with one shot, but Marquez is and has
been one of the best counterpunchers of his generation, not to mention a
supremely intelligent fighter. Even with these skills, it took
Marquez four fights to put Pacquiao on the canvas. Maybe Garcia
thought that Pacquiao was damaged goods – that Rios’ best chance was to
wait for a Pacquiao mistake and get him with a clean shot. But I believe that
this was a miscalculation by Garcia, a mistake of KYP – know your
personnel. Rios certainly didn't possess the same one-punch power
that Marquez did. He also lacked the technical ability, accuracy and hand speed
of the Mexican master.
I'm
sure that Garcia saw some things to employ from Marquez's
knockout performance. Maybe if he had a welterweight version of
Nonito Donaire, who can counter with the best of them, then Garcia's plan
could have been put to action. But in the ring this weekend, Garcia had
Rios – a limited and crude slugger who is only at his best when coming
forward. In Rios' most memorable performances, he went after his prey like
a rabid dog. He walked through fire to land shots and kept coming. Against
Pacquiao, that dog remained on its leash.
Garcia's
strategy had additional blowback for Rios in that fighting Pacquiao at
mid-range zapped him of his confidence. Very quickly Rios realized
that he couldn't match Manny's speed or creativity in the
pocket. As the fight progressed, Rios never stopped trying to land, but he
didn't display that dogged pursuit of victory-at-all-costs that he did in
his best professional moments. Ultimately, this weekend's fight was where
Brandon Rios finally became acquainted with the concept of boxing mortality,
which took the form of a lightning-fast southpaw with power from the
Philippines.
Although
I had Pacquiao winning via shutout, I don't think that his
performance was perfect by any means. On the positive side of the ledger,
Pacquiao did an excellent job of using his entire arsenal. His right hook was
sharper than it had been in a long time. His right uppercut was also brought
out of mothballs and was very effective. These punches were key in forcing Rios
to concern himself much more with defense than applying pressure. Rios just
didn't know where the shots were coming from.
Pacquiao's
footwork was also very good. Often darting around Rios after a quick flurry,
Pacquiao proved to be very tough to time and counter. In addition, Pacquiao
made sure to get no closer than mid-range while the action was in the center of
the ring, which further minimized the countering opportunities for the
short-armed Rios. Pacquiao was still very offensive but he was also smart
(for the most part). If this lack of recklessness made him less scintillating
than he was during his prime, it still enables him to have a career at a high
level. Trainer Freddie Roach did a nice job of instilling in Pacquiao how
important the concept of range was for this fight.
However,
there were two significant points of concern regarding Pacquiao's
performance: occasional defensive lapses and curious decision making.
Rios was still able to land some hard shots along the ropes and in
clinches. At times, Pacquiao forgot that Rios needed a stationary
target in order to score. I have no idea why Pacquiao gave Rios so many free
shots during clinches, many of them of the head-snapping variety.
This
is a major problem for Pacquiao as he heads towards the back part of his
career. He'll most likely never be the firebrand who could throw 90
punches a round for 36 minutes. As he ages, he will need moments off
during rounds, and he looked like a complete novice during the clinches against
Rios. This area will have to be tightened up. Pacquiao also seemed
completely disinclined to work in the trenches. If Rios had a free hand,
most likely Pacquiao had one as well, yet where was his inside game?
But
in the aggregate, Pacquiao put himself back on the big-time prizefighting map
with his performance. He'll have a number of options for a major
fight next year. However, let's not read too much into his victory.
Rios failed to implement the one strategy that could have won him the fight.
Absent that, he really didn't have much of a chance. Credit Top Rank for its
matchmaking but a defanged Brandon Rios is not a pure barometer of
assessing Pacquiao’s current skill level.
Overall, I
found the fight quite dull. After the first few rounds where Rios felt no
urgency to press the action, the bout devolved
into a ritual slaughter of an overmatched and underprepared
fighter. The second half of the contest had the inevitability of
an Alabama-Army college football game or a Brazil-Iceland soccer
match.
*******************************************************
Howard
Foster ruined a great fight. Let's not couch this in euphemisms or soft-pedal
it. He ruined it. George Groves, a sizable underdog, pasted Carl Froch around
the ring for many of the early portions of the fight, including dropping
him with a beautiful counter right hand in the first round. This was Groves'
moment of glory, his professional coming-out party. No longer was he an inexperienced
fighter; he was beating the best fighter in Britain in the center of the ring,
and at his own game.
Slowly,
Froch started to come back in the fight, doing good work to the body and
landing some quality counter left hooks in exchanges. In the ninth, he broke
through and hurt Groves with a right hand that pushed him back to the ropes. He
followed shortly after with another right hand and a left hook. Groves
tried to counter but got tagged by a couple more clean shots as he moved
towards the center of the ring.
At
this moment, Foster decided to stop the fight. Although hurt, Groves was still
throwing back. He was aware of his surroundings. And while his body language
was bad and his legs were wobbling, his condition was no different than
thousands of fighters who are routinely allowed to continue in a similar
state. It was an awful stoppage.
Foster
made losers out of everyone on Saturday. Groves saw his moment of glory go up
in smoke because of a scared ref who lacked that fortitude to let a fight
continue. Froch was deprived of a potentially epic comeback, one that
would be viewed as legitimate. And fight fans were prohibited from seeing a
definitive conclusion to some absolutely stirring action.
Quick
stoppages in Britain have become an almost laughable problem in the
jurisdiction. Whether it was this year's rematch between Kell Brook and Carson
Jones or the Dereck Chisora-Malik Scott phantom "10-count," bad
stoppages have plagued recent British boxing. Saturday's decision was the
culmination of a bad pattern of cutting action short, most often to help
the house fighter. And make no mistake; even though both Froch and Groves
are Matchroom fighters, Froch was the international meal ticket.
I
often appear on the Boxing Asylum podcast, where erudite
British boxing observers like Kurt Ward, Andy Paterson and Alex
Morris frequently bemoan the state of officiating in the U.K. And it's not
just one official. It's Foster or Ian John-Lewis or Phil Edwards or Terry
O'Connor. Quick British stoppages have continued to intensify over
the last few years and the (valid) concerns of the Boxing Asylum group is
that these decisions will stigmatize British boxing, resulting in
fewer international fights on home soil.
The
British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) needs to realize that these types
of stoppages are
bad for business. And although developing British fighters are stuck with
these local officials, international fighters have no such compulsion to ply
their trade under the same conditions. As an example, why would a fighter like
Andre Ward want to square off in a rematch with Froch in England if he knows
that the fight will be stopped at the first sign of trouble? Meanwhile, a
quality American referee like Tony Weeks, Kenny Bayless or Steve Smoger would
be more inclined to let the fight last to its definitive conclusion. This is
an issue that needs to be addressed by the BBBofC, or the
jurisdiction does risk the loss of attractive and lucrative fights.
Hometown stoppages happen everywhere, but this problem is
pervasive in British boxing.
With
that said, a couple of more points about Froch-Groves:
I
didn't give Groves much of a chance to beat Froch. So let me start by giving
him major props for his effort. Groves' past trainer was Adam Booth, a talented
coach, but one who is impressed by his own cleverness and cunning. Booth
often opts for conservative and technical game plans. With only a short time to
work with a new trainer, I expected Groves to continue down the Booth
path. I thought that Groves would utilize his legs and boxing ability
to take advantage of his foot and hand speed advantages.
But
Groves' new trainer, Paddy Fitzpatrick, had a startling game
plan. He realized that Groves would have ample opportunity to land
his lead right hand over Froch's low left or counter with the right when
Froch shot lazy jabs. And he wanted Groves to capitalize on this advantage
from the outset, and in the center of the ring. He believed that Froch
would present his flaws early and Groves' speed advantage could quickly
establish the tone of the fight. Fitzgerald was 100% right.
What
was most surprising was not Groves' hand speed but his power. Froch, known for
having a granite chin, was rocked throughout much of the fight by Groves'
right. During the opening frames, Groves wasn't just quicker, but
stronger. The SKY TV commentators were wondering if Froch had gotten old
overnight, or if Groves was just successful in making Froch look old.
And
while some on social media were wondering why Groves continued to go for the
jugular as the fight progressed instead of boxing more conservatively, two of
the judges only had Groves up by one point in the ninth. Fitzpatrick knew that
Groves was the underdog and not the crowd favorite. He was instructing Groves
to stay on the gas because he knew that the judges could be inclined to favor
the champion in close rounds. (For the record, I had Groves up by three points
prior to the stoppage.)
Ultimately,
one knock on Groves was how he handled himself in the ninth round. By this
point of the fight, he couldn't tie up effectively when hurt (he was much
better at this earlier in the bout). In the final moments, Groves gave Foster
an excuse to stop the match. Instead of swinging back wildly, Groves should
have used his energy to tie up, or use the ring to evade more trouble. Yes, he showed
a fighter's heart and instinct by firing back, but his actions also helped lead
to his loss. With a more just ref, he would have been able to continue, but he
was in bad shape and didn't look like he was handling himself well in the ring.
Froch
has faced perhaps the most daunting slate of any professional boxer of this era
and has been in a lot of wars. At 36, it's tempting to say that he's on the
decline. But I'm not ready to subscribe to this viewpoint yet. Froch looked
just as bad in the first half of his title defense in 2009 against Jermain
Taylor as he did on Saturday. Froch just struggles with quicker
boxers. In the first part of the Taylor fight, Froch looked like he didn't
belong in the same ring as the American. But, as he did on
Saturday, he found a way back into the fight with body shots and hard
power punches.
Froch
was in bad shape early against Groves, but by the third round he was whipping
right hooks to the body. He may not have won many of the early rounds, but
he was investing to the body for later in the fight. In the final moments
before the stoppage, it was clear how hurt Groves was. His faculties were
lessened, his movements lacked fluidity and his resistance was
weakened. Carl Froch was the one who was responsible for that – after being knocked
down, after being battered relentlessly. His comeback demonstrated the
resolve of a true champion.
I
hope that the rematch happens. Both fighters will clearly learn from Saturday.
Perhaps Froch underestimated Groves' strength and he will have to use a
tighter jab and engage more purposefully. Maybe Groves will fight more in
stretches and not enter into a wall-to-wall slugfest. Froch has proven himself
in wars and perhaps Groves' path to ultimate glory will be more of
a technical variety. Let them settle it definitively in the ring. And give
Tony Weeks the referee assignment.
Contact Adam at saturdaynightboxing@hotmail.com
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Adam Abramowitz is the head writer and founder of saturdaynightboxing.com.
He is also a member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.Contact Adam at saturdaynightboxing@hotmail.com
@snboxing on twitter
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