"I will get this belt back...for sure." Words uttered in his post fight interview with Joe Rogan after his loss to Junior Dos Santos a year ago.
Cain has trained, meditated & visualized his victory. The moment of truth is at hand.
Has Cain learned from the only loss in his mma career? We'll find out in less than a week's time.
Cain has to find a way to get in on Junior. Keeping his hands up is a start. Deflect all incoming blows like a Spartan phalanx or Gandalf, blocking the way of the Demon Beast, protecting & providing the Hobbits & Aragorn safe passage in The Fellowship of the Rings last scene.
Cain is a Demon Beast himself. He has to impose his Aztec will on the upstart Brazilian. Easier said than done ofcourse, but if anyone can beat Junior its definitely Cain.
If i was Cain's coach i would have called in the U.K's David Hayes, the Ukraine's Klitchko brothers, Mike Tyson & Lennox Lewis. Heck why not toss in Oscar Dela Hoya, Julio Cesar Chavez & Juan Manuel Marquez for good measure, training and advice on how to neutrilize Junior's boxing. Cain is Mexican afterall. Home to the best boxers on the planet not named Mayweather.
When Cain gets in on Junior it'll be his all american wrestling vs the Brazilians top level takedown defense.
It might take 4 or 5 attempts but if Cain's stays with it, he'll get Junior on the canvas,where he'll have the freedom to apply his talent.
Its scary to think how much better Cain's first ever loss has made him now.
A former training partner, the Brazilian/Japanese, Lyoto Machida, has the secret to how beat Junior. Junior's most dangerous weapons are his hands. Lyoto knows how to keep away from all his opponents by covering distance and space. Lyoto stays out of your reach no matter who you are and how long your reach is. He'll zoom in and out before you know what happened. If Cain can understand and adopt a similiar style plus use his hands and arms as shields to block and perry Junior's incoming blows just enough to get him within range to grab Junior. Well then, the entire complexity of the game changes.
Ofcourse the theory is a good one. Applying it while being under heavy bombardment from real time hard and fast shots from Junior is another story. To Cain's favour, he was injured in his last fight and we didnt get a chance to see the real Cain out there. Watching game tape of the Junior vs Mir fight, the fight after his championship win over Cain, we learned that you can come in on Junior. He'll hesitate throwing that overhand right if you dont flinch and more importantly are prepared to block & evade his punches. Mir was able to push Junior back for the entirety of the first round. Boxing, kicking and trying a few takedowns himself.
Very good Frank Mir. You showed some moxy. Before eventually succumbing to Juniors out of this world boxing and power of course. Dont sweat it, you have company in the infirmary unit.
Cain is still a better all around fighter than Junior. If Cain's harnessed his chi, trained with the best, took a nice vacay with the fam and friends, laughed at his own loss while salsa dancing on the beach with his wife under the popverbial latin moon. Rocking an anonymous donors gleaming fictional 24k cross might not be necessary.
Faith is internal and unseen, much like promises.
No comments:
Post a Comment