All Talent, No Brains

I have nothing to contribute yet, but this is a fascinating thread idea Jorodz:thumbsup

 

Maybe an obvious place to start would be the case of Wilfred Benitez..he used his genius appropriately enough for the most part in the ring..but he squandered it somewhat by not being so dedicated in the training camp..he dissapated himself IMo.
The cases of Taylor and Judah stand out to me because both of them could have balanced out their physical gifts and intuition with a bit of textbook boxing basics..more attention to defense and a sense of when to lay back and use those "book learning" basics to deal with moments of adversity...better ring generalship maybe. Hector Camacho is another case in point..he let the head problems he developed after the Rosario fight inhibit his early career killer instinct and offensive bravado and just concentrated on how to stay safely out of danger..to a pathological extent.

 

I was never as enamored of Meldrick as others were. He never seemed to be a "total" or well balanced fighter. As an analogy, he's like a fast talker who dosrn't let anyone get a word in edgewise, but when he runs out of breath, he's done for.

 

Golota.

 

:thumbsup

 

Jermain Taylor is the guy I think of instantly. Extremely talented with blistering speed, exceptional physical strength, good balance but apalling ring IQ. The guy would literally sit with his back against the ropes, his hands around his chest and let guys like Ouma, Winky Wright, and Pavlik unload shots against his head. He would back straight up, drop his hands after punching, and commit every other mistake in the book.

Michael Dokes maybe.

Howard Davis

 

When you think about it Juan Laporte had some great physical gifts, i.e. great punching power, a cement chin, underrated hand and foot speed, but he would fritter away rounds by refusing to throw punches. Overall he didn't have very much ring intelligence.

 

Jermaine Taylor was borderline ******ed in the ring. I think his sheer stupidity confused Hopkins a bit though

 

Roy Jones Jr...

He should of been up there with Robinson, challenging the Sugarman for the title of Greatest fighter ever. But instead is merely a borderline Great, because not least he was not the smartest fella.

Did he really think he could not beat Michalczewski or Maske in Germany or Benn and Eubank in Britain?

 

You dont go to Germany and win on the cards