Cat-like fighters

A more modern example is Rigondeaux. He isn't well liked ( although, I enjoyed watching him fight), but definitely had cat like reflexes.

 

Surprised no one mentioned Chris Byrd yet. He had great reflexes and threw punches exactly like cat does - very quickly with a little power behind them

 

Gatto Toblerone.

 

Barney Ross said he was inspired by a cat from memory lol.

 

Vassily "The Tiger" Jirov probably had the most fitting feline nickname.

 

The Cat Oleksandr Usyk—pawing, clawing lead hand like a cat.

 

Ali

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_F4F_Wildcat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_F6F_Hellcat

And the first boxer that came to my mind was Jimmy Young.

 

Maybe the 70s LHW Jimmy " the Cat " Dupree .

 

Carl "The Cat" Thompson. Arguably the most exciting cruiserweight of all time. He was a ferocious feline when he got his claws into you. Ask David Haye or Chris Eubank:

This content is protected

 

Ali
Jones
Walcott
Young Dempsey

 

Interesting idea. Depends on the cat though.

My wife is a … feline enthusiast (nicer way to say cat lady I guess), so we have six of them.

Of our six, one is the standout for catlike, and probably the kind in mind for this thread. He’s just an average sized tabby, on the slimmer side, but his gracefulness and nonchalance in athletic feats is off the chart. He regularly does stuff the others can’t, and makes it look easy.

He can jump from the ground to the top of a 6ft tall dresser we have, and it looks like he isn’t even trying. He doesn’t squat down first or tense up. He’s standing there on the ground one moment, and the next is sailing through the air onto the dresser.

He can jump from a shelf next to the bed to the top shelf in a wardrobe we have, the shelf being maybe 4ft up and the top shelf being almost as the ceiling, and with the stuff on the top shelf he has a really narrow target to hit. He also does this with pure nonchalance.

Sparring with the other cats? He’s got judo moves. He will do this move where he springs into the air from behind the other cat toward it, landing in such a way on the other cat that his weight provides him with the leverage/force to do this roll/flip move that rolls the other cat under him and tosses the other cat. Seen him do it to a cat sized dog too.

I’ve also seen him do wall jumps. He’ll run at a corner, jump and land sideways with his legs on one wall, push off, twist in the air, land with his legs on the well cornering the original wall, the push off again to land on the ground. Even seen him do this into a his judo flip move on another cat.

The others have nothing of his ability or grace. He’s an ATG and they’re journeyman. They can’t jump like he can. When they go for a high jump, they have to measure and wind up. When they jump down from height, you can hear them land and they don’t have this way of absorbing the fall with movement like he does that lets him land silently. Night and day difference in athletic ability, balance, and control of his body.

ok, how’s this apply to boxers? Has to be someone with those kind of reflexes, total nonchalance, way of making impressive athletic feats look easy. Best I can come up with is RJJ in his prime. Or pre-exile Ali. Someone who looks so physically superior in their coordination, agility, balance, reflexes.

 

Corbett looked like a cat throwing up a hairball after Fitz hit him in the stomach.

 

Rodolfo "El Gato" Gonzalez

When asked why the cat, he stated, "Because they said I played with with my opponents before knocking them out."

 

My cat Canelo (he’s a big, feisty ginger) fights dirty. He sets traps … acts all sweet and nice and offers his belly for rubbing then clamps down with his claws and starts biting me. Or sneak-attacks me in my sleep. Most disturbingly, he purrs very loudly when he’s biting or clawing me because he enjoys it.

I had a female cat named Sweet Pea (RIP) who I called Petey (Pernell was known as Pete and fans were chanting ‘Sweet Pete’ at an amateur tournament and a sports writer thought they were chanting Sweet Pea, hence the nickname) who was a gentle soul, never a fighter, but you talk about an athlete. She could sit at the bottom of this super-large refrigerator we had (about as tall as a Coke machine) and look up and her tail would start twitching and she’d bound and land all the way on top of it and from there in one graceful motion do a short hop (without really stopping) to the top of the cabinets above that and then she’d curl up and watch us from there.