Originally posted by Cuauht�moc1520
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It's important to understand the logic behind most of the actions a top level fighter performs. Floyd is a master of the science of boxing, a real student of the finer details which eludes most people and fans alike.
When you see Floyd being hit more regularly with sloppy jabs than normal, it's easy to think that "oh, he's slipping, that's not normal", naturally so.
But since boxing is a science, there might be more to a fight and its actions than meets the eye.
Let's take that jab-scenario and turn it upside-down for a bit;
We know that Cotto has a good peek-a-boo guard which makes him difficult to hit cleanly enough to stop him from coming at you. We know he keeps his chin tucked deep down in his chest, which makes his sweet-spot a difficult target indeed. We all know that a high-pressure fighter like Cotto is a gas-draining burden on your legs if left alone.
How do you solve the riddle of opening his guard up enough for you to land clean, effective punches that are strong enough to make him think about putting even more pressure on you?
One way is to invite punches from him so that you can counter. But seeing as he will score more effectively than you if he is allowed to punch at you with his right hand with his chin buried behind his shoulder, you have to force him to use his left hand.
Seeing as his left hook is his best punch, you probably would be wise not to invite that one home. And seeing as it's not really wise to invite uppercuts, your best bet will be to invite the weakest punch of them all; the jab.
What you want to do is to keep an open spot in your defense for the left jab only so you can fool it in. When it comes, you should be doing one of three things;
1. Pull your head to your right, on the outside of the jab, while pulling back a little with your back foot to create enough distance and then fire off a straight right over the top of the jab.
2. Counter directly with a jab to the rib-cage and then over the top with the right hand.
3. Or pulling your left shoulder towards your opponents' rib-cage and come up with a right uppercut from hidden waters. Especially effective against chin-to-chest type of fighters, like Cotto.
Now, I train my fighters with focus on details that most are ignoring/not noticing, and I tend to notice when details like that are being used by different fighters. And, to me, it was very clear that Floyd very often was inviting the jab in order to be more effective, at least in an effort vs pay-off kind of mindset. Normally he does it in the middle of the ring where he either pulls his head back/side just a little and then counters over the top, or pushes the jab down with his right hand before he shoots off a straight right from there in a smooth and fluid manner.
With Cotto he couldn't do that because Cotto does two things that prevents it; he keeps his chin way too deep and he moves forward as he punches. In turn that will make the counter difficult to connect with and very ineffective, it will make it a huge risk of clashing heads as both fighters would be leaning forward and at last, it would make Floyd open for a left hook to the body if Cotto were to counter the counter.
Which one should expect he would do, as a top level fighter.
For those reasons I sincerely believes Floyd found it most cost-effective to invite Cotto to the ropes where he could hit clean counters at will.
Sometimes there's more to things than what meets the eye.
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