Me it was mostly Bazooka Gomez but depending on the other kid's style..there was one guy I boxed at the gym , against which I had to try to emulate Larry Holmes and his long arms because he had excellent crosses. You?
I started out trying to be Little Red Lopez because I was 9 and he was my idol. About the time I realized that it is more fun to watch somebody fight like Little Red than to try it yourself, I became aware of Alexis Arguello, and Carlos Palomino. I spent many hours on the heavy bag pretending to be one or the other. By that time I was 6'3" tall and weighed 125, 130 pounds so Arguello became the guy to watch.
I tried to emulate: The speed of Muhammad Ali The power of George Foreman The defense of Wilfred Benitez The infighting of Roberto Duran The flash of Ray Leonard The willpower and determination of Joe Frazier The savvy of Archie Moore (even though I had only read about him) The conditioning of Rocky Marciano I failed on all accounts, haha.
Something funny for you and the forum the first time I’d ever put on gloves as a young kid I emulated George Foreman from highlights and swung for the fences and shoved people, held and hit whatever I could do to win my backyard CTE special… I did okay
It did not work long, I sparred my parent's drug dealer and he rocked me to the boots lol that was the day I decided to learn how to move my head, I landed a few but I think that was as close to a concussion as I had ever had... it was not till some years later would I even enter a gym.
JCC Snr would be on my list, Toney, Ricardo Lopez, Billy Conn, Archie Moore and Charles… all the best fighters there have ever been are mostly built on bedrock fundamentals, RJJ’s despite his rep teetered off the edge but his foundation was good he wasn’t exactly Manuel Medina… Jose Napoles is basically the highest expression of that sort of boxing Joe Louis popularised. Personally as of today I picked up watching Orlando Canizales again (spelling?) my thanks to @greynotsoold for pointing him out to me. He’s like a fleet footed Joe Louis in there…
