Were southpaws. When was the last time where there was essentially an all southpaw card like that? All southpaw as in, all 3 marquee fighters were lefties. It's interesting too that Ortiz is apparently right handed.
Yeah, I thinking about this last week. I was a little surprised at Lennox Lewis saying it was the first time he'd heard of that (a right hander fighting as a southpaw).
It's More Common for Natural LEFTY's to Fight Orthodox (DeLa for Instance), but the Inverse of that was a Bit ODD to REED as Well... REED's Seen Plenty of Righty's SWITCH Back & Forth During a Fight, but REED Can't Recall Seeing a Righty Fight EXCLUSIVELY as a Lefty, as Ortiz did... REED:hammert:
yeah. i've read that a lot of lefties switch because it's viewed as a liability in the amateurs to be left-handed because it makes it difficult to get fights. but there's no doubt in the pro ranks that it's an advantage. i was disappointed with saturday's fights. i sat down looking forward to what i thought would be at least 2 hours of fighting and it was all over in a little more than hour. the guerrerro fight probably would've been boring anyways, but if only Arnaoutis had taken a knee I think he could've made a fight of it.
REED Didn't Know he was a Natural Righty...Puts a DIFFERENT Spin on him Being Regarded as the "1st Southpaw Heavyweight Champion"... REED:mj:
I don't know about Arnaoutis making a fight out of it. I hadn't seen him since the Holt fight, but I was not impressed with his effort on Saturday. I had him beating Urango and Torres, but they're still around and he seems to have fallen quite a bit since then. I don't think he's done much since those fights, and if he isn't going to bring more to the ring than what he did in his last two high profile fights (Holt, Ortiz) I don't think he's going to get (m)any more of them.
it's still amazing that he went the distance with Torres, Holt AND Urango, but was seemingly easily KO'd by Ortiz. I heard that some people thought he pulled out the fight against Torres. Who knows. He certainly doesn't have the swagger he once did.
That Arnoutis was picked for this fight says to me that someone out there knew he wasn't the same fighter he was a couple of years ago, when he got the shaft vs. Torres. Even still, I didn't expect the non-effort he gave on the weekend.
it did seem like an awful big step up given the Arnaoutis we all know. i'm not sure you can say he gave a non-effort. i think he just wasn't prepared well enough to face a fellow sout-paw. it's just as confounding for a lefty to face another lefty as it is for an orthodox fighter to face a lefty (although a fight between two lefties doesn't tend to be as messy and head-butt prone as one between a lefty and righty). still i just think Mike had never been countered over his jab like that. it would not have happened - could not have happened against the guys he usually fights - orthodox fighters. when a guy with a proven chin is suddenly hurt by one punch there's one of two things going on imo: 1. the fighter is shot 2. the fighter got hit with a punch he never expected, let alone saw coming my opinion is it was the latter. and the fact that it was his first time having been hurt as bad didn't help him either seeing as how he didn't take a knee. although it's possible he was just so out of it that it didn't even occur to him to take a knee even if under normal circumstances he would know to do so. it was definitely a legitimate stoppage though.
the weekend before, southpaw Olympians James De Gale, Frankie Gavin and Billy Joe Saunders all fought on the same bill. I am pretty sure that i read/heard a stat somewhere that 2/3rds of the boxers in the last Olympics were southpaws
that tells you it's a huge advantage because and that the trouble lefties have had in the past getting fights has faded. wouldn't you say? problem is, if everyone becomes south-paw, it no longer becomes an advantage. then it will be the orthodox fighters who frustrate and confound their opponents. ::
I re-watched Arnaoutis-Urango the other night, Arnoutis deserved the shout there too, at some point he seems to have lost the fire - maybe the Torres robbery? Either way, watching that fight, you wouldn't think it was Urango who would be the two time titlist several years later
I dunno. Urango is an honest, hard working fighter who isn't prone to "off-nights". Guys like Arnoutis only survive as long as their head is in the game, because they play a dangerous game and tend to lack the raw physical strength of guys like Urango. I've enjoyed watching Mike fight in the past, but he's been very tentative for a while now. Even still, he just got caught and creamed on the weekend. His own fault for starting to slow though.
All true, it only made me wonder whether he might have been one of those fighters who might have been improved or turned out "better" if he had managed to pick up a belt
You may very well be right, but Im not sure what may have changed. He fought Holt next after Torres anyway...and judging from how that one went, I dunno if a motivated "belt holding" Arnoutis beats that wanker at any time.
and didn't he draw with Arnaoutis? in any case, he doesn't have the hand-speed or timing to counter a jab.
Double L - inexperienced or not, Victor Ortiz is a much better fighter than Holt and Urango and Torres. Incidentally at first I thought the stoppage was early, but looking at the replay, Arnaoutis hands just DROPPED, and was therefore unable to defend himself. So by that rationale, I guess it was actually a perfect stoppage.
