In two high profile title fights that took place this past September, one between Vitali Klitschko and Tomasz Adamek for the WBC heavyweight crown, and the other between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Victor Ortiz for the WBC welterweight title, each fight would require a specific game plan or effective strategy on the part of both Adamek and Ortiz to overcome distinct advantages held over them by each of their respective opponents.
In the case of Tomasz Adamek in opposing the much taller and lengthier Vitali Klistchko, it was obvious to most if not all observers that for Adamek to have any type of success, that he was going to have to utilize head movement, get by the prolific jab of Vitali Klitschko, and wreak havoc on the inside to have any semblance of a chance at victory. But when the opening bell rang, Adamek chose to stay on the outside, stick and move a bit, and try to counter from a distance, a strategy which would prove to be totally ineffective. By the same token, having the far less skilled Victor Ortiz face a defensive wizard and pot shot artist like Floyd Mayweather Jr. in their recent welterweight title clash, only to witness the bigger and perhaps stronger Ortiz stand on the outside while allowing his opponent to control the distance, as well as afford Floyd the time to plan each and every move moment by moment, rather than pressure Mayweather and pound him whenever and wherever he could, perhaps throwing off Floyd? rhithym and or timing, this would prove to be a recipe that left a bad taste in Ortiz? mouth.
In specific reference to the heavyweight contest, as a result of the Adamek camp strategy and its unfolding consequences, the game Polish warrior Tomasz Adamek would be punished over the course of a fight which would be mercifully stopped in round 10, not by his own corner, but by the referee, after Tomasz received a pummeling which became more severe as the bout progressed. I mention the referee stoppage because it is ironic that the same corner who provided an ineffective tactical approach in opposing Klitschko to begin with, also failed to bail their fighter out when he clearly had no chance of prevailing. He was for all intensive purposes in harms way. In what was a valiant effort exhibited on the part of Tomasz on the day in question, it would be to no avail. Why shouldn?t a fighter such as Tomasz Adamek, who was willing to put it all on the line, his reputation, his health, and perhaps his life, why shouldn?t he have been afforded an opportunity to fight a type of fight that not only would have given him the best chance to win, but perhaps would have saved him from the punishment meted out by his opponent? After all this is his livelihood and how he survives.
In looking at a video segment of Tomasz preparing for this particular bout under the tutelage of head trainer Roger Bloodworth, the pride of Poland fought exactly as he had trained, sticking and moving, and or countering from a distance with little to be seen in the way of infighting or stepping with his opponent to remain close once inside, where the much larger Klitschko would in all likelihood have had a difficult time unloading short punches. Did it not occur to Bloodworth that perhaps the reason both Klitschko brother?s possess tremendous jabs is that they don?t want their adversaries to get close to them? This video clip demonstrated that the Adamek camp was all but exclusively focused on Tomasz boxing from a distance, as on the punch pads, no efforts were made to close the distance, nor do any infighting. So I thought to myself, unless this presentation is a hoax to throw viewers off, and potentially the Klitschko camp itself, as to what team Adamek was really planning to do come fight night, perhaps get inside and body up on Vitali where Klitschko may have found things difficult and Tomasz may have experienced some success, then my conclusiuon was that Adamek was headed for certain slaughter. What made Roger Bloodworth think that his charge would be able to counter or stick and move on the much rangier Klitschko?
Often times if not entirely, a fighter?s success lies in the hands of his or her trainer and the course or strategy that particular handler has mapped out for his pupil. To quote an axiom, fights are won and lost in the gym. So that begs a question. Why put a game fighter like Tomasz Adamek, with a significant height and reach disadvantage, in with a giant like Vitali Klitschko and have him stand at the end of Vitali?s one two combination all night long? That not only makes no sense to me, but neither did this game plan resonate well with fight fans in general, or even the lay person with minimal boxing knowledge for that matter, as this futile effort would play itself out during the course of the bout from beginning to end. Unless the outsized Adamek was armed with a slingshot in this David vs. Goliath type battle, then I don?t understand one bit the logic or strategy exhibited during this recent heavyweight title fight, or for that matter the training afforded Adamek by his chief second Roger Bloodworth that led up to the fight, which for all intensive purposes are one in the same here. Not only an overall failure on the part of the entire camp to make the adjustments or give Adamek a chance to win in his chosen sport, but a sort of travesty and squandering of an opportunity that may never come his way again.
In referring to the disaster which was the Mayweather vs. Ortiz welterweight title fight, whether you love Floyd Mayweather Jr. or not, his boxing skills are superior to that of ?Vicious? Victor, to the point where Ortiz had no business staying on the outside and allowing Mayweather, an accomplished pound for pound boxer, an opportunity to set his feet and figure what it was he needed to do. It was as if Ortiz was going to pick apart his adversary utilizing his own supposed superior skills, and or hope that the flawlessly conditioned Floyd was going to fade down the stretch somehow, so that Ortiz could turn up the heat later on and impose his will. These scenarios could not only be further from reality, but if anything the opposite was happening, as Mayweather began to pick apart Ortiz, to the extent that if the fight had went on past the four rounds that it did, I don?t see that Victor would have made it anywhere near the twelve round limit, much less retain his title.
In these two world title fights, the sequence of events that transpired and the tactical blunders exhibited on the part of both Adamek and Ortiz, would be the principal cause in each of their defeats. This is in spite of the fact of an early stoppage during the Ortiz/Mayweather debacle, and the chaos that ensued after Ortiz launched an intentional head butt towards Floyd in the fourth stanza out of total frustration. It was apparent that even though Victor still had some fight left in him at this point, it wasn?t going to be nearly enough, as Ortiz was for all intensive purposes headed towards certain defeat. The overall mind set and or strategy, or lack thereof, employed by both the Adamek and Ortiz camps during each of their encounters, resulted in Adamek being pounded into submission without the slightest of damage inflicted on Klitschko, while Ortiz wouldn?t land anything of note while beginning to succumb to the skill and accuracy of Floyd?s arsenal, to include repeated straight right hands and counter left hooks, which is exactly what led to Ortiz? frustration and subsequent outburst in the form of the previously mentioned head butt. A head butt, which by the way, was blatantly in and of itself a foul many times worse than what was perceived to be a cheap shot by Mayweather, as Floyd would whack the apologizing Ortiz with a left hook and a finishing right hand to send Victor down and out at 2:59 of round 4. However in fact a cheap shot by Floyd it was not. Rather, each blow was not only perfectly legal, but Ortiz was afforded the opportunity to defend himself as he could see one if not both of the remaining punches coming. Unsportsmanlike on the part of Floyd, perhaps. But illegal, not at all. This is despite the fact that referee Joe Cortez? attention seemed to be on other than the two fighters during the incursion of these blows.
So are Adamek and Ortiz to receive blame in each of their losing efforts? Unless they are their own trainers and had mapped out their own course to which they acted out accordingly in training camp or in the ring, then I think not. When you put into context that training camp is a team effort in regards to preparing for a particular fighter whom you are going to face, each adversary presumably a distinct individual and a separate entity from any other fighter encountered before, then it is just that, a team effort, with responsibility spread amongst numerous individuals as to any and all outcomes, but especially as regards the head trainer. And during the conspiring of the team to create a strategy or game plan, then the team must conjure up not only an initial tactical approach, but they must subsequently come up with a plan B, as well as perhaps a plan C, so that if an adversary whom one is facing adjusts to what your principal is doing, thereby perhaps rendering the original game plan ineffective, then one can and must, employ the latter strategies or tactics. This is not only commonplace, but should be fundamental, especially at the championship level, without which perhaps one is undeserving of a certain ranking or placement within the realm of boxing?s hierarchy. There is a saying in the fight game that goes, good fighters make adjustments round by round, great fighters adjust moment by moment.
As game as Ortiz and Adamek are, neither fighter made any type of adjustment that would have made them competitive, much less changed the course of the bout to come out a winner, irregardless of the way the fight ended for Ortiz, as in all likelihood as previously alluded to, he was on his way to certain defeat anyway, if not humiliation. In both of these cases I find fault with each of the trainers here, and could see the handwriting on the wall. Unless you are taught to be a well rounded fighter, well you can pretty much kiss goodbye the advent of making most types of adjustments that would serve you during the course of a bout, which to me is what being professional is all about, especially at the level on which all the aforementioned fighters reside, not to mention that world titles were on the line.
All shortcomings aside, it is apparent that Adamek and Ortiz were the victims of poor strategy and or inept preparation on the part of each of their training camps and those running it. What these two fighters needed was to not only have the proper technical advice at hand, but they also needed to be in the type of condition that would have allowed them over the course of twelve rounds to relentlessly hammer away at any target possible, with an eye towards pounding the arms, body, sides, anything really, especially in the case of Ortiz, in order to apply sufficient pressure in an effort to break down their opponents, so that perhaps by the latter rounds they would be in a position to either outpoint their adversary, or open them up for more traditional type targets such as the chin, nose, temple, solar plexus etc. In a nutshell, they should have each slugged it out with their respective boxer counterparts.
That was an overall strategy employed some years ago by a fighter named Rocco Marchegiano, or Rocky Marciano to most. During his tenure, what the undefeated world heavyweight champion Marciano was able to accomplish during the 1940?s and 50?s, he accomplished with what he had, power, a granite chin, and the will to win. Marciano was quite limited in many ways, with the shortest reach of any heavyweight champion at 67 inches. He was literally laughed at by many in the fight game as he came up, and scorned by others, being described as crude at best, with not much promise as far as ascending the pugilistic ladder of success, much less reaching the first rung. He was clumsy, possessed terrible footwork, and was neither very skilled in the way he put his punches together. But through a tremendous conditioning regimen, some infusion of basic fundamentals imparted by trainer Charley Goldman, along with devastating right hand and the sheer will to win, he in ascending to, or in defense of his title, was able to regularly come up with victories against fighters much more formidable, much more skilled, and much more talented than himself.
For instance, ?The Rock? would defeat not once but twice, one of the most underrated fighters of all time, master boxer Ezzard Charles, outlasting Charles in a bloody battle to narrowly hang on to his title the first go round with a fifteen round unanimous decision, to then knock out Charles in the eighth round of their rematch, all the while fighting in a way that gave him an opportunity to win. Rocky would then go on to defeat the aging but highly skilled all time knockout leader and ring marvel, Archie ?The Old Mongoose? Moore, pounding Moore?s arms and breaking blood vessels which would cause Archie?s defense to all but disappear in the latter rounds, whereby Rocky was able to open up Moore and score a ninth round knockout to retain his heavyweight title.
Marciano?s trainers, in particular Charlie Goldman, were realists, and they made no pretense as to what Rocky needed to do in the ring to be successful. They knew he had to outlast, out punish, and out will just about each and every opponent he faced, and do it up close because of his ever present reach disadvantage. With Marciano? complicity, his handlers arranged training camps accordingly and saw to it that ?The Rock? did what he needed to do along these lines in order to win. So what I am saying here by drawing this comparison is, what were trainers Roger Bloodworth and Danny Garcia thinking in preparing their two charges in facing their specific opponents? Up against much more talent, speed, and defensive skills on the part of Mayweather, and facing the much larger and lengthier fighter in the case of Klistschko, winning tactics on the part of Ortiz and Adamek were nowhere to be found.
Perhaps this is an example of why the sport is in the state it is now to a certain extent, especially in the heavyweight division, as all I hear on a regular basis is how there are no heavyweight prospects from the U.S. who can match up against the Klitschko?s. In the same vein, I also here that Floyd is one of the best at his weight level and his only challenge will come from Manny Pacquiao. I don?t believe this to be the case unless you subscribe these fixed positions. But the irony here is not only that many of today?s supposed top fighters are not complete and lack sufficient skills, especially when compared to fighters in past decades, but perhaps that the trainers in not being able to properly teach how to approach or combat different styles, apparently do not have the ability to provide the correct game plan to assist their fighters and give them the best chance at winning. This makes a huge difference.
In referring back to what were considered some the last great fighters and great fights to regularly take place, with names such as Thomas Hearns, Marvin Hagler, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Roberto Duran, to mention only a few, their trainers were older men who either learned their trade from participating during the Golden Age of Boxing, or they were under the tutelage of their predecessors. Many times pugilists in that era didn?t receive title shots until much later in their careers, when they had finally become well rounded fighters with significant experience. Somewhere along the line the art of boxing has taken a dive. Where once a fighter would have to earn a title shot, a title which seemingly held more significance, nowadays championship belts are regularly being stripped and handed out like cheap articles. Remember that this is not only a team sport to a large extent, but this is a livelihood for many a fighter, to include Ortiz and Adamek. So give them a chance by being a student of the game as a coach. It?s not rocket science, it the sweet science. So if casual observers and lay people can easily ascertain the shortcomings or disadvantages in facing certain opposition, then why can?t the trainers? Lastly, and if nothing else, let it be known that as a trainer myself.
