Name a fighter who achieved greatness PURELY ON "technical" SKILL ...

Walcott had very good power (Rocky called him the hardest puncher he ever fought), and moving like that takes a bit of something that can't be taught.

Fury as well, to be that size and be able to move, smaller guys are so lumbering they can barely box.

 

Even beyond chin, great toughness, including mental toughness. A big reason he beat Kovalev, and also a big reason I like him.

 

It can be both. There are random people who have innate attributes. Great chins, power, speed,reflexes. They tend to dominate street fights without having ever trained. Of course if they were trained they'd be even more dangerous. There is a skill to it but it's the difference between a hard puncher and a KO artist. Between finding out how good your chin is and knowing how good your chin is.

 

First name to spring to mind, though the question had to be asked could any ordinary mortal learn to fight like Locche? His reflexes and spatial awareness must have been insane.

 

Daniel Zaragoza.

 

Larry Holmes. He didn't have super quickness, average foot speed, didn't have a great chin( but he did have great recoupative powers). Not a devastating puncher, other than a great left jab(a dedicated training talent, was not born with it) the rest of his arsenal was average. Could fight a brisk 15rds. (That was also training dedication)

 

Holmes was the first name that occurred to me and I'd agree that he's a worthy candidate.

Good point too about his chin. One could argue it was carved from granite but, then again, is this based on his ability to get off the canvas, recover and win? If so, it could be aligned with sheer heart and determination.

On the other hand, it was the big punches he took from Shavers, in their first bout, with him staying on his feet, that removed the question mark over Holmes' heart so, it might be argued the other way.

In any event, Holmes demonstrated and achieved a lot with good fundamentals, discipline and, especially, that well-honed jab...

 

Lol @ holmes having an "average" chin. Do average fighters have 1 stoppage loss in over 60 fights? The guy fought cooney, mercer, shavers, smith, norton, and holyfield without getting koed.

His jab speed was definitely not average. Him and ali would have contests to see who could jab faster. It stopped grown 6 ft+ 210+ men dead in their tracs and deterred them from rushing in and could swell guys eyes within 3 rounds.

His uppercut was like getting hit by a bowling ball and he threw it like a guy about to get a strike.

Excellent stamina to go all 15.

This isnt to say holmes didnt have high technical skill, but lets not act like holmes had no good physical attributes and was the paulie malignaggi of the heavyweight division lol.

 

Winky Wright? I wouldn't say he had an outstanding attribute outside of his fundamentals

 

Pedroza.

 

His chin was excellent.

 

Guys who are technical can also punch. Benitez?

 

Well, he hit M.Frazier cleanly, and with UPPERCUTS but only put him down once,,,, and that was with the straight right hand. He also blasted K.Norton, Cooney , And Leon Spinks with the same Uppercuts they didn't go anywhere (and all the fighters I named ARE NOT known to have great chins, actually everyone one was below average) So if you consider his punching power with the uppercut like being hit with a "bowling ball". Ok, that's your opnion. But I consider his punching power as average at best, with every punch he used other than the left jab. I said he was better than average with stamina ( but that was hard work wasn't born with it) and his chin was above average, but he was dropped by R.Snipes, who wasn't a devastating puncher, so was his chin great OR did he have great recoupative power? Holmes was pretty much average with all boxing traits other than his left jab. That isn't a attack on his talent, but really a testament to how well he did on average physical ability.

 

KoKo Kovacs (am)

 

I repeat.

You cannot keep 210+ pound 6 ft+ plus heavyweights at bay with a jab with "average" power. Iron chinned guys like mercer and holyfield would have simply grit their teeth and forced their way inside if he was just an average hitter.

Holmes knocked down not 1, but 2 men with a jab. You cant do that with average power.

Nobody is "born" with the stamina to fight at an intense pace and go to war for 15 rounds. His stamina was WAY above average and the fact he worked hard to achieve that stamina is irrelevant. As a matter of fact, Holmes has admitted in interviews he would ignore his trainers and jog as little as 3-4 miles and avoid sparring unless he was close to a big fight.

I cant remember if it was the mike weaver fight, but holmes blasted him hella hard with a single uppercut make his chin point to the ceiling and dropping him. Thats some serious power. I dont remember holmes landing heavy uppercuts like that on norton, he had that crab defense and it would have been difficuly to do so in the first place.

And once again, cannot fight 75 professional bouts in the heavyweight division and only have 1 KO loss with an "average" chin. He was down once against shavers, once against renaldo. He was fat and past his prime coming off a layoff against a vicious prime undefeated mike tyson in his sole KO loss, and Mike had to drop him 3 times to finally get the KO. He survived wars with cooney, norton, weavers, smith, mercer, and holyfiekd. He fought shavers not once, but TWICE! That is NOT an average chin no matter how you look at it.