There have been two defensive fighters in modern boxing who have stood above the rest: Pernell
Whitaker and Floyd Mayweather Jr. They had different styles. Whitaker was all
about pocket defense. Not an escape artist, instead, he
would use a variety of techniques to avoid getting hit while he stayed in range
to counter. He usually was in front of his opponent, but somehow exceedingly tough to hit cleanly.
Mayweather, with his Philly shell
defensive construct, took away the ability to land combinations. He was the
master of the counter and the spin out. There wouldn't be four and five punches
in a sequence against Mayweather because he wouldn't be in the pocket long
enough for such a firefight. One could land a single big shot on him, but that
was it. More often, he was the counter-and-move guy.
From this seat, Shakur Stevenson is
the best defensive fighter in boxing since Mayweather. That may sound like a hot take, but it's not; it's easy to see. He's a master on defense with a variety of ways to neutralize an opponent. He’s had fights where he's used his
legs to stay almost completely out of fighting range. Against Oscar Valdez, he was brilliant at taking away Valdez's primary knockout weapon, his left hook.
Against Teofimo Lopez on
Saturday, his defense was closer to Whitaker's. He stayed in front of Lopez, planted just beyond Teo's reach. He waited for Lopez to fire off a shot
and he would counter with something pinpoint in return.
It could be the counter jab, the straight left, an uppercut; it didn't matter.
Teo's patterns were so obvious to him, that Stevenson could score at will with whatever shot that he chose.
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Stevenson (left) dominated from range
Photo courtesy of Cris Esqueda/Matchroom |
Before and after the fight,
Stevenson remarked that he believed Lopez, who entered the fight as
the Ring Magazine champion at 140-lbs., would be an easy fight
for him, that he had been fighting styles like Lopez's since he'd been eight years old.
And for the most part, he made it look that easy in the ring; he won a
unanimous decision, 119-109 on all three scorecards.
Stevenson left no doubt about his
superiority in the fight. Not only did he have quicker hands, but he also had a
longer reach and more accuracy with his punches. Throughout the fight, Lopez
tried to come in as the aggressor, but he was easily thwarted by Stevenson's
mastery of range, timing and accuracy.
I was talking with a group of
people in the weeks leading up to the fight and all of
us picked Stevenson to win big. We started discussing the different game plans
that Stevenson could use throughout the fight.
But then I posed a tougher
assignment to the group: come up with a game plan where Teofimo could win. This
task was not accepted by most in the group; they couldn't see it. But I was fascinated
by this. How would one devise a strategy where Lopez, who had all sorts of
physical and technical disadvantages, as well as not having knockout power at 140,
could be victorious.
I came up with a potential
solution. Keep it really low volume. Walk around the ring. Don't ever lead.
Force Stevenson to be first. Make him reach or hesitate. In this low-volume fight with Stevenson uncomfortable as the initiator, Teo only needed to land a couple of
big shots a round, with the thought that Lopez's big shots might look better
than Stevenson's. I thought this strategy would be Lopez's best
play.
Yet when I saw Lopez rush at Stevenson with lead hooks round after round on Saturday, I knew that he was in trouble. He
couldn't win that fight.
By the seventh round, I noticed that Lopez was starting to look at the fight differently. Now he was circling. He was often by
the ropes. He wouldn't let his hands go. And then something strange happened;
Stevenson wouldn't let his hands go either. At the very least, Lopez started to
neutralize Stevenson's good work.
I thought that Lopez had a good
7th, a dominant 8th and was having an excellent ninth until he got cracked by a
straight left from Stevenson at the end of the round, which was one of his best
punches in the fight.
But after that period of relative
success, Lopez wouldn't commit to the less-is-more approach. He then went right after Stevenson as he had earlier in the fight and the same thing
occurred: complete domination from a master counterpuncher.
It was clear that Lopez and his
father/trainer saw themselves as dominant alpha figures. They didn't want to
use subterfuge or disengagement strategies to win (this is how Kelly beat Murtazaliev to win a title on Saturday). They were there for a scalp and they played right into Stevenson's hands.
It will take a special performance to beat Stevenson or maybe the right guy who could land a bomb from the outside. But at the very least, it's going to take a fighter and trainer who understand relative strengths and weaknesses at a very high level. I'm not sure that Teo would have beaten Stevenson even if he had put forth the perfect strategic fight, but there was a huge gulf between an optimal performance against Stevenson and what we saw on Saturday.
Stevenson has now won world titles at four weight classes
and finally has a victory over a big name in the sport. And even with his decisive win, there is still room for him to grow. He had a few rounds on Saturday where he barely let his hands go, where it looked like he was coasting. He needs to remember that activity can be a big factor for certain judges. Also, he still looks uncomfortable fighting as a lead, and this will be a critical area for him to work on. Everyone can see that Shakur is a master counterpuncher, but does he fight at the same elite level when he's the one who's forced to be first?
***
It was tough for me to get a great read on Keyshawn Davis during his developmental fights. It wasn't
just that he often fought in different styles, but sometimes he didn't look fluid
or focused for portions of his fights. He'd try being a patient counterpuncher
or then an upright boxer who led with his jab. There were fights where he took
several rounds to engage and others where he went right after his opponents. He's had several trainer switches throughout his career and admitted to multiple out-of-the ring issues.
With that said, he entered
Saturday's fight against Jamaine Ortiz as still unbeaten. He had been a titleholder
at lightweight but blew weight last year and lost his belt on the scales.
Moving up to 140 on Saturday against a credible opponent, a fighter who had won
several rounds against both Teofimo Lopez and Vasiliy Lomachenko, Davis had a
great opportunity to compare himself to a pair of top fighters from this
era.
And with no reservations or
caveats, Davis utterly dominated Ortiz. Davis fought with spite and
was clearly ready to take offensive risks. He wasn't trying to be perfect and
instead went after Ortiz with venom and relentlessness. He flashed hand speed,
accuracy, power, punch variety – the works.
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Davis raises his hands after a knockdown
Photo courtesy of Cris Esqueda/Matchroom |
Ortiz was so spooked by Davis' power that he barely committed to his punches all fight. He was throwing touch
shots, keeping everything short, worried about Davis' fast, powerful and
accurate counters. But Davis also wasn't sitting back; he was often fighting as
the lead.
By the end of the tenth round,
Ortiz's left eye was a mess, and I was surprised that the New York
commission, which has a reputation for being proactive in stopping fights, let the match continue. After dominating with head shots throughout the fight, Davis went to
the body in the last two rounds. He unfurled devastating left hooks downstairs,
leading to a knockdown in the 11th and another in the 12th. The fight was wisely called off at that
point.
I still have an unsettled feeling
in terms of how I view Davis. He has been far more aggressive in his recent
fights. And after showing decent but not exceptional power on his way up, he
has now scored three knockouts in a row. Terence Crawford followed a similar
trajectory, where over time he understood how to finish fighters better, even
as he moved up in weight. (It should be noted that Crawford's longtime lead
trainer, Brian McIntyre, was also Davis' recent trainer.)
I believe that real punchers have a certain confidence. They know that if they fight to their capabilities, they will get the knockout. Some have the confidence from Day 1 while some
develop it over time. Davis now fights as if he knows he can be devastating in
the ring. And as he has learned more in the sport, that knowledge has helped
him finish opponents, where in the past he had let wounded prey survive. He no
longer needs to wait to counter. He can lead with combinations or single power shots.
And he also understands that if one tool or approach isn't working, another one
definitely could (which was also a Crawford hallmark).
As beat up as Ortiz's face was
after 10 rounds, he never went down. But Davis changed tracks. He wanted the stoppage and saw the
body as the way to get there. That was an example of veteran savvy. Keyshawn made a
destructive statement on Saturday.
***
I didn't think that Bruce Carrington
was having a great performance against Carlos Castro through eight rounds.
Although he certainly had moments and rounds where he got the better of the
action, and was probably winning the fight, I was concerned by his inability to pick up Castro's right hand from
range. Castro landed that punch with an almost alarming frequency. In the
fourth, Carrington stumbled back to the ropes after eating another right hand.
And it should be noted that Castro wasn't a big puncher or particularly
fast-handed.
However, Carrington ended the
fight in the ninth round with a highlight reel five-punch combination that
started off with a counter. During the combination, he landed three
devastating straight right hands and a pulverizing, short left hook. And that was it for Castro.
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Carrington celebrates his victory
Photo courtesy of Cris Esqueda/Matchroom |
I recently interviewed trainer and former two-weight champ Buddy McGirt for
a Ring Magazine article. One of McGirt's biggest criticisms of fighters today is that so few throw punches in combinations. So many
fighters limit their output to one or two shots at a time.
Well, McGirt must have loved what
Carrington did in his finish on Saturday. Not only did he let five go, but he
also landed with different punches, from different angles and with different velocities. And to McGirt's point, it was the type of finish rarely seen in boxing today. Furthermore, the
whole sequence started with Carrington slipping a punch. There he showed a
brilliant transition from defense to offense, another skill that often seems
lost on many fighters today. It wasn't make him miss and make him pay. It was make
him miss and go for the jugular!
With the win, Carrington won his
first world title, and he finds himself in a very interesting featherweight division,
featuring a tall volume-puncher (Rafael Espinoza) a short volume-puncher (Nick
Ball) and a medium-sized volume-puncher (Angelo Leo). All of them can be
hittable, but they are high-energy fighters who bring pressure and a punch; they are serious opponents.
Carrington may have more ring craft than the rest of the group and he's certainly more fluid
than they are athletically. But his defense is still a concern.
If Carrington can clean
out this featherweight division, he will become an outright star and emerge as one of the top fighters in the sport. But all of these matchups
could be tricky. Carrington may have the edge in all of these hypothetical fights, but he will need to raise his game to survive this minefield. All four champs are dynamic offensive forces but with defensive holes. It's unclear at this point who will emerge, but Carrington is right where he wants to be: in the thick of it, slugging it out!
He's a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Panel, the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and the Boxing Writers Association of America.
