BERT SUGAR'S PRE-FIGHT ANALYSIS
November 6, 2008 - by Bert Randolph Sugar with Steve Small
STRENGTHS OF BOTH FIGHTERS
JOE CALZAGHE - (45-0, 32 KO's)
- Calzaghe is boxing's version of "The Everready Bunny," always in motion, throwing punches in bunches and outworking his opponents.
- Possesses a good, long jab and throws it constantly, landing a high percentage of his shots.
- Calzaghe moves very well and is at his best when standing in front of his opponent, landing punches, then stepping away--alternately to his left or right, away from his opponent's power hand.
- Calzaghe likes to throw fast flurries of arm punches to his opponent's head making his opponent raise his hands, then digging hard shots to his opponent's body.
ROY JONES JR. - (52-4, 38 KO's)
- Jones's style is not a one-size-fits-all style but one that is almost ad lib, combining tremendous hand speed and devastating power--especially his quicksilver lead right thrown almost independent of conscious effort and delivered in a fasterthanyoucanreadthis fashion and capable of threading a needle's eye.
- Jones throws a bewildering array of punches--lead rights, body shots, fast flurries, and his best punch, the left hook--and counters extremely well.
- Called a "genius fighter" by longtime ring observer Budd Schulberg, Jones is a calculating fighter who can adapt his fight at any time to fit the situation and the opponent.
- Jones's primary asset is his supreme confidence in his abilities and a good challenge, like that of facing Calzaghe, always stimulates him, particularly in one of boxing's premier venues, Madison Square Garden.
WEAKNESSES OF BOTH FIGHTERS
CALZAGHE
- Because of his brittle hands most of Calzaghe's punches are what he calls "pit-a-pat" punches--slaps or arm punches.
- Like a juggler who rarely varies his routine, Calzaghe fights in one gear, going forward, and is predictable.
- Calzaghe tends to hold his hands low when he punches, leaving himself open to counters when he flurries--a Jones specialty.
JONES
- Jones has always had troubles with lefties-here, see his fights with Antonio Tarver, Reggie Johnson, Louie DeValle, and Eric Harding--often letting them dictate the action, sometimes even retreating to the ropes instead of pressuring them, which is the best way to fight a left-hander.
- Jones tends to go right-hand crazy against lefties, ignoring his best punch, his left hook.
- Tall fighters tend to frustrate Jones, causing him to throw wild, looping punches, sometimes from far away, leaving himself open to counters.
- In his prime--which is now so far behind him he can hardly find it in his rear-view mirror--Jones was the greatest fighter of his generation. However, the question is now whether this 39-year-old, despite his three comebacks wins--including one against a shot Felix Trinidad--can reinvent the Roy Jones wheel and make the soufflé rise once again against one of this generation's best, Calzaghe.
WHAT EACH MUST DO TO WIN
CALZAGHE
- Calzaghe must outwork Jones, forcing him to use his 39-year-old legs.
- When Jones goes to the ropes, as he invariably does, Calzaghe must take advantage of Jones' s "rope-a-dope" tactic, weighing in with hard punches, not his usual "pit-a-pat" punches.
- Instead of waiting to see what Jones does, Calzaghe must go after Jones--almost from the "git-go"--wearing down Jones.
JONES
- Jones must forget he's fighting a left-hander and fight his fight, not Calzaghe's.
- Jones must keep his lead foot, his left, outside of Calzaghe's lead foot, his right, enabling him to keep Calzaghe in front of him where he can hit Calzaghe with both hands.
- Jones must use his best weapon, his left hand, countering with fast left jabs and double and triple left hooks as he has in the past against such opponents as Clinton Woods and John Ruiz.
- Jones cannot allow himself to be backed into the ropes and let Calzaghe tee off on him, as he did in the early rounds against Trinidad and in his fight against Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson but must move constantly to keep Calzaghe off balance--and off his game.
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