As someone who trains fairly frequently I find it very useful to have boxers to watch and try to not only emulate what they do but understand why they execute specific sequences when they do. But as a fight fan I also like turning my brain off sometimes and just watch guys and gals with fun styles. for me boxers I like to study are more along the Out-Boxer or Boxer-Puncher archetypes A few off the top of my head are- Devin Haney Shakur Stevenson Loma Bam Rodriguez Sugar Ray Leonard Lennox Lewis Ricardo Lopez And Yuri Arbachakov. Guys a like to watch just for fun off the top of my head- Derrick Chisora Whyte GGG Wilder David Haye BJS. Btw just because I like turning my brain off for certain fighters in no way is a knock on their boxing ability for example GGG is a very underrated boxer in terms of skill he’s mostly talked about for his power but is a decorated amateur with skills. do you guys have any boxers you like to study or watch swang and bang?
I enjoy studying Jai Opetaia because of his chameleon nature. He never fights the same way twice and is as skilled as I've seen a big boxer. The last bout vs Glanton saw him abandon his fight plan for much of it and stand toe to toe inside with a noted inside fighter; and totally dominate at that. I enjoy watching Fury because he's a talented showman on top of his boxing skills. Also because I'm Aussie, any fighters from Oceania capture my attention.
The perfect both-worlds fighter for me is James Toney. I struggle a little bit because I enjoy watching fighters that are really study-able. Holyfield, Hearns and Mayweather, for instance. But Gatti is one of the most entertaining that nobody is going to want to ace that test as a student of boxing. There are some fighters who might get credited (not aimed at you) as more study-able scientific fighters who I think are actually just guys who seem good at defense because they completely shut their offense off and have no real class skill to study because the real skill is in the blend of offense and defense.
Anyone on the p4p list. We might argue over where they rank exactly, but all of them are exciting to watch and well worth studying. I really love the tense fights when two great fighters have to respect each other like bivol vs beterbiev or inoue vs nakatani. In fights like usyk vs joshua/fury there is a lot to learn, though much can only be applied if you're southpaw. I'm not training anymore, but in general it seems to me, that with technique you can get the most out of watching fighters that are using a style similar to your own. With tactics it's different and they are more widely applicable.
I know people are gonna attack me on this one, but John Ruiz, that style may be ugly, but it’s so effective and considering his shortcomings from a talent standpoint, he accomplished more than probably 99% of fighters ever accomplish in this sport. he executed that style so well, down to the point of lulling his opponents to sleep, and then dropping a right hand and hurting them. He successfully did that against Holyfield, Johnson, Rahman, Golata. casuals will just say held a lot, but nuanced people who’ve been watching boxing for a long time will tell you that he would disrupt your rhythm and frustrate you and wear you down and then when you least expected it, you would eat a stiff jab from him or a right hand you didn’t see.
