206 said that the long layoff would affect Shane and he probably was right.
could be. Bernard Hopkins always said that once you get old you have to stay active because it takes longer to "get your engine running smoothly" then in your youth.
now he's probably right. He fought twice last year and looked great against Pascal. He didn't fight for a year between winky and calzaghe and looked bad against calzaghe. He fought pavlik immediately after and looked great. so there is a bit of a pattern there with grandpa hopkins.
Nazim also echoed this and said because of the fact Shane just fought sergio, he started training camp in great shape, whereas against floyd he was really rusty and it took time to get timing down, etc.
so there is probably some truth there, but of course everyone is different.