I constantly hear ravings about "X would've been a beast, just look at him.. he'd rip -insert renowned boxing champion- to shreds!" Now most of you old-timers on here, or even those of you whom are relatively new, but with knowledge of the sport knows the natural ability to just fight, trumps anything else when it comes to judging a fighter. You see guys in the gym that spend years and years trying to perfect the art of boxing, or any other fighting genre for that matter, and they will never perfect it due to lacking the natural ability that others are seemingly gifted with. So why do we have to hear the regurgitated excuse from American fight fans, "all our heavyweights are involved in football/basketball or mma"? Or how on earth do some come to the conclusion that some specific footballers/basketball players would've "easily" dominated the sport of boxing, had they spent their time on boxing, rather than the sport they have mastered?
Roy jones is an example to cite here. If your fast enough and powerful enough to dent the other guy and then get out of the way, thats all you need.
I would say the natural ability to fight is most important.How many pro fighters have looked the part and then come unstuck early in their career against a not so athletic looking fighter.
James Toney said once to to the effect of.... You can't make a Fighter a "Fighter" is born (Some **** like that)
Boxing isnt really dependant on natural athleticism. But it does give you a good vehicle to learn in. Obviously in saying that, you gotta be in some kind of shape to start training.
This isn't true. Sure athleticism is one factor of how good a fighter is, but there have been plenty of great fighters that weren't that great of athletes and beat guys who were much better athletes. Kelly Pavlik beating Jermain Taylor is a good example, an even better example would be Zab Judah losing to Carlos Baldomir. If athleticism trumped ring smarts than Zab Judah would be undefeated. The only guy he's fought that had anywhere close to the natural athletic ability he has is Mayweather. Yes athleticism is important and a certain degree of it is a necessity to be a great boxer but ring smarts are just as, if not more, important.
Boxing no longer has the support from the public municipalities that it had in the past, meaning the cities are no longer budgeting monies for boxing gyms and programs. Thats what supported boxing in America and its disappearing, because the cities are supporting team sports. This affects everything down the line, trainers, fighters, etc. Developing a great fighter starts at childhood in most cases. You can go to Puerto Rico and theres 15 boxing gyms on an island thats 35-100 miles wide and long, thats why such a small island is still pumping out great fighters, because the sport is heavily supported and funded by the cities.
boxing is a whole different animal you have to get involved in it at a very young age there is rarely a case where someon is successful at a late age i do believe knocout punchers are born you cant teach someone to hit hard
Zab Judah or jermain taylor are not really great athletes though. Both lack stamina which is very important. Zab judah can move out of the way of shots and counter when he has energy. As soon as that goes he gets tagged more. If the point of boxing is to hit without getting hit, the most athletic will be at the top. If the athletes are evenly match then usually skill will determine the outcome. But i do agree you do need to have great fighting ability as well. Also zab judah athleticism had him up on the ringside card going into the fourth with mayweather.
Athleticism is extremely important. See Floyd vs Gatti as a perfect example. Both guys are born fighters, but Floyd was a born athlete also. (So was Gatti, but not really). Anyone that says Gatti wasn't a born fighter needs their head removed from their twat, he just wasn't athletic and naturally gifted enough.
And yes, it is 100% true that the majority of the "athletes" in our country are striving to be in the NFL, NBA or MLB and it hurts boxing of course.
fighters need a stable mental state, aswel as having a decent to good athletic body. the thing is there are probably plenty of basketball players as fast as ali at thrwing punches and wit the size of the klits. i think it is just keeping the big guys dedicated as basketball is easier to get into, is a team sport that you can do with your rriends, and pays more. in boxing getting up in the morning to run, training two three hours a night and having a diet etc is what puts them all ff boxing seriously
Your athleticism is like your car.. if you have an amazing car you can do anything. But if your a **** driver who doesn't know how to use that car then you'll lose to somebody who may not be as athletically gifted. A classic example is Judah vs Cotto.. a guy with a clear athleticism advantage but neglected the jab and forgot the hard work in training.
