So his skillset is what disqualifies him from being a talented boxer with low IQ. If you ask me he’s the contrary as he made it this far with very little natural boxing skills and just having dynamite power.. The answer to this should be Amir Khan who was blessed with natural skills and speed.. His chin is lacking but he gets caught flush because he can’t control his speed and always get caught in the middle of punching..
Yeah, Khan really is the guy…. Athletic freak, incredible fundamentals… Just didnt have the discipline to fight responsibly, ring generalship, manage distance, effective clinching, etc… Although he shoved Lamont Peterson enough to get robbed. As much flak as he gets for his chin - I feel like with his other assets he should have been great despite the weak chin… He did go 12 with Maidana.
His poor ring IQ is why he came up short every time he fought someone who wasn't feather-fisted or past their best, with the exception of the Maidana fight. And he still sometimes failed to impress against feather-fisted/past their best opponents, like Julio Diaz or Chris Algieri.
Depends what you define ring IQ as, unable to adapt to other styles? only looking for KO's? always underestimating the man in front of you? A lot of people mention Eubank Jr as a prime example.
I think of ring IQ as the ability to adapt and make the adjustments needed to win when the first plan isn't working. Some fighters know loads about the sport, but in the heat of battle they don't read their opponent to make adjustments when what they are dong isn't working. Or they don't know how to take advantage of openings that are contrary to their plan. I wouldn't say any elite fighter has "no IQ" but some excellent fighters with lower IQ's than their accomplishment would let you believe: Mike Tyson Wlad Klitschko Shane Mosley Deyonte Wilder David Tua Amir Khan
Nobody has mentioned Deontay Wilder? Admittedly, it's hard to distinguish were Wilder's poor techinique ends and his lack of ring IQ begins - but he falls for the same basic crap over and over again.
+1 for Wilder. Don't really agree about Tyson or Tua. Tyson was an undersized swarmer with big power. Tua was an undersized puncher with huge power. They had certain physical limits imposed on them. I never got the feeling that either was stupid - just increasingly limited as the size of the division grew around them. Klitshcko was very much a "programmed" fighter. He was, in a sense, too well trained and a bit too cautions. No better example of that than his last fight when he refused to press the action to try to finish AJ after the latter gassed and he dropped him. Probably agree about Khan. He was not hard to catch with a big shot.
Tyson is one of those guys that knows his stuff, but when things got rough he never made the adjustments during the fight, he just sort of either Tysoned harder, or he gave up. You can say he was outsized, but James Toney was outsized too, and was often out of shape, and he was old... but James Toney has the super high ring IQ. Imagine Tyson with his power and hand speed adapting a bit more of a Toney like cutey style as a back up plan! When his stamina was getting drained from being too aggressive...He had the gifts to to adapt, but just didn't. You might be right about Tua. He didn't really have the attributes to impose anything other than pressure and power.
