Top five most physically gifted fighters

Does Old Foreman rate in your top 5?

 

You get better and better


Robinson
Leonard
Whitaker
Jones Jr
Tyson

I wont bother listing fighters I haven't seen, but there's no doubt there's a few that must have had some amazing physical gifts to achieve what they did.

 

I think the limited footage and most of the photos we have from the time show at least that they are quite athletically talented(like Johnson)

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Sam especially looks like Hercules, and with no steroids.

I might actually reconsider and switch Greb with Johnson or George Foreman. They had tremendous physical power.

 

Jeffries was in Corbett's camp for Fitzsimmons. Corbett prided himself on his conditioning and physical prowess. It infuriated him that Jeff could run faster and longer when they ran alongside the railroad tracks during train stops. He was able to outperform Corbett in every way, except when they sparred, and boxing skill itself came into the equation. If any pioneer was to be considered, Jeff ought to be among the top of the list.

 

Yeah Jeff was an awesome all round athelete and an awesome physical specimen but as far as natural ability boxing wise I think on the whole Corbett generally schooled Jeff and wasn't able to rely on natural size advantages or massive strength either, just natural ability - the other reason I was thinking about the pioneers of the game, the forerunners had no real existing yardstick but also nothing to watch and learn from - they had to do it from scratch - in a way they are the ones who developed the skills out of nothing - the ones who had to blaze the trail and set the standard for the next generation to learn from following on

 

In terms of them just being physically gifted on a different level, irrespective of technical issues i'd say Jones, Pacquiao, Ali, Robinson, Chang. Ali and Robinson are clearly dodgy picks, as Ali was a great pure boxer and Robinson was great technically in terms of combos etc, but some of their physical assets such as speed etc were so great that i mentioned them anyway. Chang was great at making space for shots in various fights but he was also a force of nature in his prime so he made my list. Jones and Pacquiao are both just bona fide picks imo, very very great fighters who i don't see as great technicians, therefore it was the physical attributes that did it for them, and the footage backs that up from where i'm watching.

 

In chronological order:

Sugar Ray Robinson
Muhammad Ali
Sugar Ray Leonard
Pernell Whitaker
Roy Jones junior
Floyd Mayweather.


I know that''s six, but I can't pick one to drop.

 

I don't particularly care for the little yellow ****. (No Racist !)

But he has an abundance of talent.

 

We're talking physical, not technical.

 

The dude stated: "Fighters who just had the most natural ability you've ever seen."

IMO, he fits the bill.

 

Well we need some solidification on what the thread is then. In terms of the thread title he doesn't fit at all for me, in terms of the quote you just made you could have him in but it's still a grey area and subjective the way i see it.

 

The dude stated: "Fighters who just had the most natural ability you've ever seen."

IMO, he fits the bill.



Now that's enough, see.

I DON'T want to be in a thread where I'm defending the little gobshyte !

 

Define "natural ability". I don't believe Zab was particularly talented outside of his speed. He gets way overblown when discussing fighters that didn't live up to their potential.