Calling them Elite

There is a problem in sports that I'm going to address. I understand that each sport has betting, and has cash cows, along with marketing and politics, but there has to be a line of integrity there as well. Just this past weekend, the indominable Ronda Rousey, was not just defeated, but pounded out ridiculously by a seasoned former world champion in Holly Holm. Now of course, we brush this off as something that "happens," but the imbalance of the fight, and the surge of so-called elites is a problem that should not be ignored. If she performed well and lost, even by KO, it wouldn't be such an issue. The problem is that you create doubt in the entire fanbase, when you build a fighter up to that point, doing movies, commercials, having sponsorships, and being touted as a basic hall-of-famer, so fast, only to face a solid competitor, and be completely outclassed. Where is the high caliber that was once expected of champions. As much as I depise some things about Floyd Mayweather, I have to say he has the pedigree of a true elite champion, as does Pacquiao. They have what it takes to make even a losing effort worth the suspense. And that's because they were trained the right way, and cut their teeth along a hard fought path, gaining experience. Now, today, as Max Kellerman so aptly stated, people want to be great without having to do great things. And the media proports it. You have very good talents like Errol Spence, who could be great, but are in an era where they are catered to, and pushed to the top before blooming, only to be cut down due to weak roots. And much of this is to blame on Mayweather to a degree, as well as Vegas, Bob Arum- in the past as Mayweather's promoter, and many others. They are the ones that manufactured and fixed up Floyd's career, to market perfection. It was never a coveted thing until he came along. So now everyone wants to stay undefeated to be marketed as a cash cow, and if they lose, it's an even bigger challenge they face to build up the illusion, thanks to the shadow left by Mayweather.


  If you want to be elite, you have to have not only elite talent, but an elite mind, and team behind you. I worry about Canelo because of that, as he heads into a very motivated Cotto this weekend. In a fight like that, the trainer makes all of the difference. Cotto is going for the KO, even at his age, because he's gameplanning  with the greatest boxing stategist- Freddie Roach. You can't just hit the bag and come in big and hydrated for the fight. It's a high level championship match. With that in mind, it brings us back to Rousey. She was a decorated Judo champion who had the tools to dominate from the outset. Yet, she was facing fighters who were not cradled in combat sports from birth. Fighters like Correia and others, were soccer moms who went to the gym to lose weight after pregnancy, and then decided to try out MMA. Leila Ali dominated boxing, in part, because of the same reason. Holly Holm is like Ronda. She grew up with a long career of high level combat experience, and a legitimate world champion pedigree. Her skills are real, and if you doubt it, look at some of her fights, and her sparring with Jon Jones before this fight. That's how a champion should think and prepare. Mayweather covers all bases in his training. If he's derailed, it will look close no matter what, and competitive, because he's a legitimate champion. Rousey learned some striking, but as her mother stated, it is from an inept coaching staff, and it finally showed. Someone once said that anyone can look good while hitting the mitts. That is a very nice quote that has a lot of truth to it. The truth is that it means that even bad strikers can have a mitt holder build their confidence by letting them look flashy wailing on mitts. If you are a trained and seasoned artist like myself and others though, you can see when the mitt work is rudimentary, simplistic, and filled with holes. Ronda never learned how to box, or kickbox properly. She learned how to throw her strength into simple straights. No head movement, no angles, no defensive posture, no distance control, no setting up power shots off of a good jab, no leg kicks, no singles or doubles, no feints. And if you watch her training footage now, after the loss, it will pop out to you.

  Holm stepped to her right often in the fight, and as a southpaw, found an easy home for her straight left. Ronda doesn't keep her hands high at all, and eats shots. People fear Connor may have a problem with that as well, but you have to give Connor the credit that technique wise, his standup is legit.
There is still a problem with anyone who rests on the strength of their chin. It is a recipe for disaster. One point that analysts don't mention much is timing. Holm wasn't alway retreating or working an angle. In fact, for much of the fight, she was in front of Ronda with her weight on her back leg. She baited Ronda in, and would counter over the top, or up the middle over Ronda's slower punches and lazy guard. There was even one point where she came over the top with an elbow. She used a lot of pull counters, or step-back counters. And the thing that struck me the most was footage I watched last night of Holly Holm. If you look at her highlight reel, she does the same exact sequence of offensive techniques in all of her big wins. Even the spinning back kick to the abdomen. She works the jab, thows in the back kick, steps back to hook off of the counter, sidesteps to her left with a wide step, and winds up, a head kick. She does it almost the exact same way in every fight. And she did it the exact same way when she fought Rousey, leading to the same KO result. Think about that for a second.

  Ronda's been champion for a while, with challengers looking to dethrone her left and right. All the while she's faced media pressure for her to be challenged or beaten. She has a team behind her that she trusts, and she seems as if there is no concern  before fights. If your team's job is to do reconnaissance on your opponent's fight films, and they claim to do that, don't you think it's odd for you to be caught off guard with an exact replica of the footage. If you watch the footage of Holm and rewatch the Rousey v. Holm fight, the first thing you will say is that there is no way, they possibly studied Holm before the fight. Holm didn't even add a single wrinkle. She just did what she does, well. Ronda looked too unskilled, yes, but she also looked very unprepared. Even if she lacks the skillset to compete with Holm, she still should have been prepared to anticipate some of Holm's assaults. She missed everything, and looked out of shape, like she had no training camp at all. Maybe it's the movie deal and sponsorships, but she has to really reconsider her work ethic.


 I expected Stephen Curry to be similar, but he is taking a different approach. I still believe they were gift wrapped the championship last year against an ailing Cleveland Cavaliers team. However, Stephen is making a statement this year, because he knows that's what some people feel. And he also saw some of the holes in his game that they attacked with success, such as his conditioning and mental toughness. He shows that he wants to stay elite, and he knows that he has to work to do that. The results are a 12-0 start this season, with Steph scoring 40 here, and 50 there, instead of getting stunned by a league that's waiting on them. Mayweather sent a very nice statement out to Ronda, and the UFC, saying that she shouldn't be vilified by the organization, and that she's accomplished a lot in such a short time. He even offered to help her with her boxing. In all honesty, the statement was very good and sounded very genuine, and if you want outstanding results at the elite level of competition, you usually have to make radical moves. The worst thing Ronda can do is stay with her camp and training as is, assuming this was just a blunder loss. It was an eye-catching, eye-opening, and brutal beating. She has to make huge revamps or else retire. If I were her, I would take Mayweather seriously up on his offer. George St. Pierre was on the top for a long time. When he saw holes in his game, he didn't just train harder, he recruited Freddie Roach, and has trained with him ever since, adding a stiff jab, intelligent movement, and conditioning to his arsenal. It helped him in his later fights, and it's why we talk about him as a champion and the best, and not a star who go pounded on until they retired into a nursing home. You have to adapt. Bruce said it, "Be like water."