How do some fighters learn so quickly and become world class

When you look at Foreman and the amount of time between never boxing and gold medal and then gold medal to heavyweight championship, it's actually just bizarre. It helps that some of these guys have absolutely freakish, flukish traits. Foreman's overall physical strength is maybe more impressive than any HW champion's. Marciano's combination of strength and stamina was absurd. Conn's Irishness was one of the most Irish for his time, p4p. And Thomas? The guy was the GOAT singer of his time, and nobody even understood then how much the laryngealis temporomandibumandingolumas muscle played so much a role in fighting.

 

Good teachers

 

I'm gonna take a real wild stab in the dark and go with......not all people are created the same.

 

a 'Natural'

some people are just naturally gifted, be it strength, athletic finese, tough, durable, fit, quick learners, driven, committed to instuction and invested with a passion & love for their trade.

that is why the Bussiness of Sport is sometimes unforgivable,

I saw a few talented kids come & go, where finacially stable homes & family clout got 'lesser' talents 'in' and others not. Partisan, Nepotism, including Who you know, Investment, Nationalism, Chance - right place at the right time, luck and last of all is Skillfully making it.

it is not an equal opportune world, but back to the original question, a combination of the affore mentioned attributes, it's not a secret potion type thing.

Loads & loads of natural talent in this world.

 

Innate talent in most cases,plus the luck of having good people to bring you along.Serendipity also plays a part ie when do you get to fight these top heavies,ie are they prime or past their prime?
Boxing is predicated on the system that age gives way to youth,the King is dead long live the King,and nowhere is the adage," you can't beat Father Time ,"more ruthlessly demonstrated than between the ropes of a boxing ring.

 

Good luck and talent like most people said.

However,some weren't so lucky, Tapia had to be whipped everytime he loses,despite the fact that he's a natural.

 

For most people, the time-frame where they are really learning to fight is as children and especially during their mid-teens. A lot of neural pathways are being formed during our formative years and the sooner someone learns proper fighting technique, the better ingrained it is in them. As we get older, our brains lose a lot of neuroplasticity, which means that we struggle to pick up new talents and skills a lot more than we do as children. It's why it's much harder to learn a language at 70 than it is at 7, and it's similar for combat sports. If you start late you will have a very hard time picking up things as basic as even throwing a jab with proper technique and having that be something you can do instinctively. That's why it's very rare to see fighters who are naturally talented enough to the point where their inexperience and late start can be overcome and they reach championship level in spite of it. These types of fighters are very much outliers.

 

#1, Being Active and learning your craft, as Ray Arcel said to rest is to rust

 

This is called being a prodigy. This is typically associated with being younger when you absorb information faster but it makes sense a limited number of adults retain this. But in both instances this does not mean the prodigy is better than non prodigys though it means they get to the top level quicker. They are better at learning not at doing what they are doing.

An example of this that stands out is in chess. Joseph Blackburne is the only top chess player to ever pick up chess as an adult(though a young one) and become one of the best players in a few months. This is something thats otherwise been considered impossible. Despite ascending to the top quicker then anyone in history he was never the worlds best player peaking at 2nd. What set him apart? He wasn't the most talented chess player ever(except in the UK). But he learned the game easier then anyone.

 

Foreman was a heavyweight, Marciano was a heavyweright. In my opinion that was always the easiest division- if easiest is the correct word- to be successful in, as the skill level is markedly lower than in other divisions. And Marciano had Goldman.
Genaro Hernandez had 15 amateur fights but he had a trainer that was gifted in that area- his brother Rudy who has gone on to become one of the top trainers of his era. And he had access to lots of good sparring in LA.

 

If you are going to be a one trick pony it is best to be a full sized horse.

 

I'm positive a super athlete like Charlie Powel would lose to Jerry Quarry. Didn't Jake Paul beat a super athlete NBA guy? - boxing is a different sport, needs different gifts and all at the top are GIFTED make no mistake.... but what makes the best the best is an imagination and a great teacher when it comes to boxing, there are endless men of violence probably as capable as say Foreman but they didn't have Archie Moore or a "creative" side to them.