Maggie's Farm

--just a guess, but ok, rnd 13, Walcott ahead big on points and rounds, he's on his bicycle, alert to that big left hook RM knocks people out with. Rocky had already launched it just before, on the other side of the ring, and had to pull it when JW stepped out of the arc. JW is saving energy, he feels the ropes back there and is thinking he's gonna use them bounce out away from the big left hook, RM just needs to shift weight to right foot and shuffle the left foot forward, then JW is gonna come off the ropes to his left, away from the hook RM is gonna throw off his right foot.

A short-stature (low center of gravity) slugger moving forward can throw that quick right from off-footed or crossed position, and still recover from a miss without leaving too long a counterpunch opening --the power of the punch coming not from straight-right body mass/velocity, but from torque, spinning in from the blind side on a locked elbow, hand down (curled inward). JW sensing the danger is the bulldozer in front of him, then instantly the dozer is a crane swinging a wrecking ball from the side.


It looks like that's what he did --closer or slowed down look might even reveal a little left shoulder feint twitch as the first movement of the right cross. RM took a brutal beating in rnd 12 --he may've been sandbagging the right (one eye closed, often costs as fighter a lot of instinct muscle memory speed in one arm, it won';t throw on its own but has to be thought first), lulling JW way ahead of time, with 'the punch' in mind already.

RM's 49-0 record seems to've come from taking punches and sheer determination --it's hard to see but he had a big gift in midriff quickness and balance --the torque generator. And he fought like a mongoose, disconcerting the python's expectations.