Lionel Rose vs Fighting Harada

Lionel Rose is one of the greatest boxers to come out of  Australia. The first indigenous to win a world title when he became bantamweight champion in 1968 against the great Fighting Harada, the video below will demonstrate how Rose handled the style of Harada.

Harada was more of a swarmer, constantly coming up at you he was always applying the pressure. This style is one of the most difficult to come up against – in my opinion it is the hardest because constant pressure will tire you out both physically and mentally if you can’t do anything to keep the opponent off you.

The first thing Rose did was constantly moving with his jab. Rose was not being a stationary target against the pressure, he was moving in both directions, laterally, left and right not allowing Harada to really set his feet and throw those power shots. What this meant is that when Harada did try loading up with those hooks, he inevitably was caught first by the straight shots of Rose, who was beginning to pick Harada off with jabs on the way in.

From there, knowing Harada was marching forward and walking into jabs, Rose could start baiting Harada in and instead set him up for harder punches off the jab or the jab feint. Rose began to use the touch jab whilst stepping back or use the jab feint whilst stepping back and when Harada would take the bait, Rose would catch him with a short left hook off his touch jab or jab feint.

Off this Rose, with an impeccable sense of distance was using the step off to create space against the pressure of Harada and again make him pay with counter punches because Harada began to become frustrated by the constant movement and jabbing of Rose. When Harada began reaching for this power punches, Rose would simply step back and counter, mostly Rose was countering Harada’s reaching right hand with a left hook.