Not even Teddy Atlas Would counsel his fighters towards recklessness. And since you're smarter than Teddy, I'll take it that's tongue in cheek.:yep
I couldn't imagine. I was looking at your statement: and trying to determine what to make of it, when it occurred to me that you intended it to mean something other than what it actually says. Or am I missing your point here?
The cornerman's responsibility is: to win the fight to take care of his charge The fighter's responsibility is: to win the fight.
This is moving away in some new direction. We were all done at this point. In response to you came back with confirming that much of our difference stemmed from a difference in our understanding of the term HEART. But then you tossed out: which seems to open a new can of....something! Again, unless I'm missing some connection, I'd prefer to leave the distinction between the responsibilities of the fighter and his cornerman as the focus of some future excitiement on here. I believe that HEART and its intended meaning were at the crux of our exchange. And that crux has been resolved.
BTW, do you have an alltime top ten heavywt list ? Using a blend of H2H and achievement, I rank them 1. Ali 2. Louis 3. Lewis / Foreman 5. Marciano / Holmes 7. Liston 8. Tyson 9. Frazier 10. Patterson (Going back to the Joe Louis era only).
When you said, "I couldn't imagine" in response to my comment, "why would I care what a trainer would advise when trying to decipher a fighter's given atribute", I presumed that you were being sarcastic. This was because I assumed you were capable of imagining what reason would give me pause for thought in this regard. Now when I get caught explainin my reaction to another posters posts, I always take a pause - what? What is it that got so hard here? You - a - can't imagine why a trainer's input would be irrelevant when trying to decipher a fighter's given attribute b - were being sarcastic ? It is very simple: wrecklessness with ones own safety brings wins in boxing all the time. That, too, is concrete fact. See Hagler-Hearns for an example, where both men commited health in the ring. Yes; a fighter's ability to continue fighting in the face of great odds.
ME: 01 - Ali 02 - Louis 03 - Liston 04 - Lewis 05 - Frazier 06 - Johnson 07 - Holmes 08 - Tyson 09 - Marciano 10 - Wills
No sarcasm intended anywhere so far in this thread on my part. Not that I don't resort to it from time to time, but not today. Again, a communication problem. When you posted "Recklessness wins fights all the time" a statement that, if taken literally, is patently false, I was at a loss as to where you were going. From your example above and from re-reading the last piece of the thread, it is apparent that your use of "all the time" is intended to mean SOME of the time or OCCASSIONALLY, or something short of 'in every single instance.' But here again, while recklessness DOES undoubtedly win some fights, my guess is that, in general, it would cause a fighter to lose, more times than it would lat him win. (I would say the same thing about recklessness in any other endeavour as well. It wouldn't be my first avenue. Even though I've often behaved recklessly in many different ways.) And , IMO, Hagler would probably have prevailed over Tommy even if he'd NOT been reckless. It would just have taken him a bit longer. What I meant by resolving the crux was that we each realized that the other was using the term heart in a different sense.
Then you genuinely can't understand what a trainer's input might do with my perception of a fighter's attribute - basically, before and after a fight, modern trainers, especially, are paid to lie. They will mislead the public and press as to the given reason for a certain action if they feel it benifits their man. And, as far as it can ever go, quite right. No, it is entirely true. As an example, if Vitali Klitschko had finished his fight with Byrd he would have won. Undeniably.
Reasonable similarities. If we take out Wills and Johnson (my list only went back to the 30s) the remaining eight are on mine ? You don't have Foreman ? (Some do, some don't).
01 - Muhammad Ali 02 - Joe Louis 03 - Lennox Lewis 04 - Sonny Listn 05 - Joe Frazier 06 - Jack Johnson 07 - Mike Tyson 08 - Larry Holmes 09 - Rocky Marciano 10 - Harry Wills 11 - Jim Jeffries 12 - George Foreman 13 - Evander Holyfield 14 - Jack Dempsey 15 - Max Schmeling 16 - Joe Walcott 17 - Floyd Patterson 18 - Ezzard Charles 19 - Wlad Klistschko 20 - Peter Jackson 21 - Riddick Bowe 22 - Sam Langford 23 - Ken Norton 24 - Gene Tunney 25 - Max Baer 26 - Vitali Klitschko 27 - Bob Fitzsimmons 28 - James J Corbett 29 - Joe Jeannette 30 - Sam McVey
I understand the part about trainers and their economy with the truth. When I wrote :"I can't imagine" I meant that I didn't see where that line of questioning was going relative to our discussion. Again, what I'm saying is that when I first read your statement: "Recklessness wins fights all the time" I read it literally. If you meant (literally) that if one is reckless, they will win every fight, then I don't believe we have to go far to see the falsity of the statement. The example of vitali doesn't prove an ALL-THE-TIME PROPOSITION. All that's needed to disprove it is one counter-example. And you have provided it in Hearns Hagler. Hearns was reckless and he didn't win. The sense I believe you meant it was 'lots of times' or "it's not uncommon", rather than 'every single time.'
So Foreman is in there, just down a bit. I realize that there's a fair degree of arbitrariness and subjectivity in these kinds of compilations, but how do you draw comparisons between guys so far removed from each other in era as Sam Langford and Wlad ? I know that there are the records to be consulted, but I have difficulty going back past Louis largely because of the dearth of decent footage, the reliance on reporters of the day's accounts, the differences in the rules and the enforcement of the rules, etc. My own era of following the sport live began in the mid sixties, and I have a hard time getting a good sense of the relative merits of guys between Louis and Ali, as they were always part of history for me. But at least I could watch them on old tapes. I gave up trying to make judgments about the first three decades of the last century. Senya13 on the classic forum takes the whole subject very seriously. And I always marvel!