Fight Lover's Forum 1.28.10: Help Me Build the Perfect Fighter

Posted by A. Shakoor on 01.28.2010

This week, I'm revealing a secret. I'm creating the perfect fighter. I can pick the skills and qualities from fighters in their prime during the past 20 years. Take a look. I may need your help.

I have a secret. I've been trying to keep it to myself, but I'm going to reveal some details because I need some advice. You see, I'm using DNA and cloning technology to create the perfect fighter. All the scientific stuff required is above my pay grade, so I'm enlisting the help of my secret friend.



My friend is an alien from Neptune. His name is Eno. I can't reveal any information beyond that, because I don't want the CIA to take him away. He's allowing me to give one hint: He won 2 NBA championship rings in his human form as a combo guard off the bench. That's all I can tell you about Eno for now. He'll reveal his identity on the day after the last day-whatever that means.

Now, about my fighter. I decided to make him a middleweight. That storied division is experiencing a serious dearth of talent. We haven't had an impressive middleweight division since the Hopkins era almost ten years ago.



Of course my fighter will be greater than Hopkins. In fact, he'll be the greatest fighter of all-time. Eno is allowing me to use the best qualities of all the great fighters of the modern era, from their respective primes. HIS TECHNOLOGY ONLY PERMITS ME TO GO BACK IN TIME 20 YEARS- 1/28/1990 to take the best attributes from the good and great fighters, to create the ultimate specimen. I'm allowed to go up and down the weight scale to create my fighter, ROCKY ALI SHAKENSTEIN. What? The weights and power are calibrated somehow, to fit into the 160lb fighter at a capacity relative to the weight of the fighter I'm taking the genetic information from. Don't ask me how Eno does it, I'm just glad he can.

Lastly, my fighter is ambidextrous. He's able to fight effectively as a southpaw, or conventionally depending on the circumstances and opponent. Pretty awesome, huh? Let's get started.

Jab

From the conventional stance, I've decided to go with Ike Quartey's jab. Throughout the mid to late 1990's Ike Quartey had the best left jab in the sport. He had power and accuracy with the weapon known as a "Bazooka". The jab had long become a lost art during Quartey's prime, and that remains to be the case today. However, Quartey was able to prove himself to be one of best fighters in his weight class because of his awesome jab. He single handily whipped Oscar De La Hoya's ass with the jab, before getting stunned in the last round on his way to a controversial defeat.

My southpaw jab is going to have to come from Pernell "Sweet Pea" Whitaker. Whitaker is one of the all-time greats from 135-154. Despite his well known defensive mastery, Whitaker was an outstanding offensive fighter. Everything worked off of his right hand jab. It wasn't punishing, but it was accurate, and prolific enough to distract the opponent from the patented straight left right down the pipe.

Straight/Overhand Left

This was the easiest decision for my protégé. I want Manny Pacquiao's left hand. Before Freddie Roach refined his skills, Manny Pacquiao was already a dominant fighter, simply with the one-dimensional weapon of his devastating left hand. Now that he's a world class, well-rounded fighter, the left hand remains destructive.



Straight/Overhand Right

There are a lot of possibilities here, but I decided to go with the great Lennox Lewis. Lewis would throw either the straight, or overhand right hand with brutal results. He'd sometimes fight a tad too safely and relaxed, but once he decided to unleash his right hand, the man really knew how to close the show. If I was allowed to go back 30 years, my man Thomas Hearns would have taken this spot, but since my cutoff is January of 1990, Lennox Lewis gets the nod.

Left Hook

A lot of people may not like my choice here. I know this fighter is pretty one-dimensional, but David Tua has the left hook that I want. Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosley, and Roy Jones Jr., all had great left hooks, but David Tua's left hook could just annihilate people. I also appreciate the ability of this left hook to end a fight instantly and early. Tua was a bit of a one-trick pony, but Shakenstein won't be.

Right Hook

Ladies and Gentlemen, Felix "Tito" Trinidad. This man is the best finisher I've seen in my lifetime. Really, Trinidad had a great left hook, and straight right as well. But I really enjoyed the way Trinidad unleashed his tight, nasty, right hook, when he's throwing flurries to close the show. Tito also threw a nice hook to the body. I had to find a place for Trinidad somewhere in my fighter, and this is the best spot. I want that savage right hook tearing into the opponent.

Body Attack

Julio Cesar Chavez is the most dedicated and tenacious body puncher of the past 20 years. He'd simply break his man down, and take his will. There isn't anybody else in his league in this category.

Uppercut

Ricardo Lopez makes his second 411mania appearance in 2 weeks. The man threw devastating uppercuts with either hand, and with mean intentions. He beats out Riddick Bowe, and past his prime Mike Tyson for this slot.



Counterpunching

Okay, I was allowed one hybrid selection and I decided to use it here. I want Juan Manuel Marquez's vision and intelligence, with Evander Holyfield's tenacity, and prideful response punching. I can't do any better than that for my monster fighter.

Elusiveness

This is likely the most controversial selection. I considered Pernell Whitaker, who is arguably the most elusive fighter of all-time, but he doesn't get the spot. He took some hard shots, and we can hear the effects in his current speech. Floyd Mayweather Jr is a likely candidate, and though he's a masterful defender, he loses points for allowing Castillo and De La Hoya to score points on him while he laid on the ropes. He simply gave rounds away. I'm going with Bernard Hopkins. The man is a wizard. It's weird, because he's not very fast, but he has the ability to roll with punches, turn his opponent, and show deceptive, sneaky quickness. I've never seen him hurt. I've rarely seen hard, flush, shots land on him. His performances against Felix Trinidad, Antonio Tarver and Kelly Pavlik will be shown to Shakenstein dozens of times. When Hopkins loses, it's because the other fighter is more active and athletic with punch output. They never land solidly on B-Hop, let alone hurt him. He's a freak–still doing it in his 40's.

Chin

The answer here may surprise many, but I'm definitely going with Big George Foreman. The 1990's version of Foreman was big, fat and slow. His cross-armed defense wasn't very effective. Early in his comeback he took a flush shot from legendary hard-hitter, Gerry Cooney, and somehow stayed on his feet. Throughout the decade, Foreman was in a few wars, and faced big punchers like Holyfied, Stewart, Moorer, Morrison, and Briggs. The big guy blocked a few, and dodged even less, but he would just take a beating and plod along looking for the KO. The runner-ups in this category were Gerry Penalosa and Oliver McCall.

Stamina

This is a tough category, and there are dozens of candidates. I'm going with Manny Pacquiao The man is a human tornado. When he was weight drained between 122-130, Manny was still an all action fighter, bouncing around on his amazing legs and throwing punches in bunches. Since he left the 130 lb class, Manny has simply been a machine. He throws punches with bad intentions from the first round, and on into the later rounds. Yet, he still displays his newfound amazing defense, and bobs, weaves, and bounces in and out. The man has amazing endurance. For you Manny haters out there, I'm throwing out the 2 KO losses from when he was a weight drained teenager. We all know the real Manny Pacquiao, and he can go all night long. ...that's was she said



Ring Temperament

My fighter has been granted all of the gifts any pugilist can ask for. I just need him to know how to use them, when, and how to keep his cool when things get rough in there. I can' t have him being whiny and frustrated, and I can't have him freaking out and getting himself disqualified. I thought of the coolest cat I know in the ring-Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Floyd always keeps his poise in the ring, and maintains a sense of being in control. During the chaos of his fight with Zab Judah, after intentionally being hit below the belt, he was the only person involved that kept a level head. He was actually a calming peace maker. He took control after the "in-ring brawl break", and dominated Judah down the stretch.

Going into his fight with Ricky Hatton, it was believed that the smaller, thuggish, Hatton would rough Floyd up with his apish tactics and occasional fouls; ultimately taking Floyd out of his game. Instead, Mayweather refused to be bullied, and actually displayed some roughhouse moves of his own as he began to potshot his way to victory.

Mayweather, for all of his immaturity out of the ring, is the master of focus and self control in the ring. He never gets rattled or sloppy. I want Rocky Ali Shakenstein to have Money Mayweather's temperament. This only relates to when things go bad or stressful. Shakenstein will be more aggressive than Floyd offensively. With all of his weapons, can you blame him?

Athleticism

My fighter is going to need a lot of athletic ability to effectively use all of his gifts. This will require a combination of speed, reflexes, endurance, strength, and basically everything you'd want in a supreme athlete. I simply can't do any better than a prime Roy Jones Jr. He was arguably the best natural athlete to ever step in the ring during his prime. I need to tap into that freak-like quality.

Swagger

Lastly, I want my fighter to have a certain level of attitude. Of course I have nothing against the humble, all-business, good-sport type of fighters. But I want my guy to have a cocky attitude. I find this quality to be a major draw for fans and networks. Most importantly the quality/behavior can demoralize an opponent, or make him do something stupid. It's great entertainment and great psychology. Remember "No Mas-gate"? I instantly thought of one of my all-time favorite lines ever, "You got any exCUses tonight Roy???":
Damn I love that. Can't find the clip anymore though, damn. But Tarver didn't box with the same sense of arrogance and swagger as he verbalized.

I want a mix of Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Prince Naseem Hamed and Roy Jones Jr, but with more movie badguy smugness and arrogance. This goes to the one and only Joe Calzaghe. Calzaghe would beat your ass and mock you while doing it. It's demoralizing. "Classless", so what? Shakenstein isn't trying to be Joe Louis. He's going to devastate you with his skill and punk you out while doing it. Love it, hate it, or love to hate it; as long as you pay to watch. Calzaghe ended his career in typical fashion by embarrassing and humiliating the ultimate clown/bully himself, Roy Jones Jr. Joe had the strut, a jazzy rhythm, and he personified swagger. Shakenstein will be the clown, the bully, the devastating specimen that will dominate the sport as long as he wants to. Yes, Shakenstein will be a villain.

Heart

Arturo Gatti




Okay, I think I'm done creating my fighter for Eno to put together. Feel free to offer your input, and tell me if I've left any categories out, or if any of my fighter models need to be replaced with others. Most importantly, lets keep this between us. By 2011, we'll unleash the greatest middleweight of all-time.