If you want to rope a dope, eventually you must come off the ropes
This is what I learned watching the Jorge Arce/Julio Ler bout last night on Boxing After Dark. Early in the fight, it seemed that Ler's strategy was a classic rope-a-dope - he went to the ropes for long stretches and let the relentless Arce bomb away at his forearms and gloves. Every now and then he would counter, but that was rare. More often than not, he would take ten or twelve shots and then suddenly scoot off the ropes about ten paces away from Arce, adjust his trunks, and get a baffling look of macho accomplishment on his face that seemed to say, "you see, I did it again."
Of course, trying to pull a rope-a-dope on Arce is a dubious approach to begin with. Little Jorge is not exactly George Foreman - the idea that he would punch himself out by the 30th round, let alone the 12th, is possibly not the soundest notion.
But nevertheless, it's not the worst way to go about fighting him, particularly if you're as overmatched as Ler was - let the cowboy throw his bombs for a good half the fight while you preserve your strength and try to catch him late when he's a little more spent than you are.
It almost seemed to be working. By the middle rounds, Arce's work-rate had definitely dropped, as had the fervor of his blows, but it was hard to decide whether that was weariness or boredom with an opponent who was not fighting so much as, to quote Harold Lederman, "doing a good impersonation of a punching bag." As Max Kellerman pointed out, Ler was landing the cleaner shots in the middle rounds, but they were few and far between and, on a hard head like Jorge's, not making much of an impact.
By the tenth, it was clear that Ler (that's His Speedy Gonzalez-ness himself over there on the right) had no plan to come off the ropes, giving a whole new connotation to the rope-a-dope strategy. Even covering up for all he was worth, he nevertheless walked into one of Arce's hooks in the 11th and did the dance. In the 12th he threw maybe six punches. At that point, he was literally running from Arce in the ring, more so than I have perhaps ever seen in a professional fight.
I can only imagine what Mr. El Mas Macho thought of his opponent's mettle last night. Somehow, though, Arce still made it exciting, just for being so clearly annoyed with the situation and for going to such great lengths, using every style and manner of taunt he could summon, to draw Ler out to something that might approximate a boxing match. It didn't work, but the effort was more entertaining than you would have thought.
Of course, trying to pull a rope-a-dope on Arce is a dubious approach to begin with. Little Jorge is not exactly George Foreman - the idea that he would punch himself out by the 30th round, let alone the 12th, is possibly not the soundest notion.
But nevertheless, it's not the worst way to go about fighting him, particularly if you're as overmatched as Ler was - let the cowboy throw his bombs for a good half the fight while you preserve your strength and try to catch him late when he's a little more spent than you are.
It almost seemed to be working. By the middle rounds, Arce's work-rate had definitely dropped, as had the fervor of his blows, but it was hard to decide whether that was weariness or boredom with an opponent who was not fighting so much as, to quote Harold Lederman, "doing a good impersonation of a punching bag." As Max Kellerman pointed out, Ler was landing the cleaner shots in the middle rounds, but they were few and far between and, on a hard head like Jorge's, not making much of an impact.
By the tenth, it was clear that Ler (that's His Speedy Gonzalez-ness himself over there on the right) had no plan to come off the ropes, giving a whole new connotation to the rope-a-dope strategy. Even covering up for all he was worth, he nevertheless walked into one of Arce's hooks in the 11th and did the dance. In the 12th he threw maybe six punches. At that point, he was literally running from Arce in the ring, more so than I have perhaps ever seen in a professional fight.
I can only imagine what Mr. El Mas Macho thought of his opponent's mettle last night. Somehow, though, Arce still made it exciting, just for being so clearly annoyed with the situation and for going to such great lengths, using every style and manner of taunt he could summon, to draw Ler out to something that might approximate a boxing match. It didn't work, but the effort was more entertaining than you would have thought.
4 Comments:
"a baffling look of macho accomplishment" -- It WAS baffling. At times, it was not so much a fight as just a really fabulous paso doble.
But the important question is: what do we think about Arce's entrance?
I'm down with Arce across the board - the guy seems legit to me, a legitimate nutjob. I love the way he is in the ring - it seems like he lives to fuck motherfuckers up. So whatever dancing horses crap he wants to perpetrate on the walk, he's got license in my book. I mean, the dude is a singular phenomenon - a budding superstar at 115? It's crazy.
You didn't like the horse entrance? I thought that it was one of the best I've seen in a while. It just needed some hot babes with sombreros. They should reward half a point to the guy with the best entrance.
Jake, you have a point. I award you half a point for that point. The dancing horse thing was cool, a little long. But it was something.
Klitschko's entrance at the Wlad/Brock fight was ill.
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