How many boxers have wrestling experience? Since when wrestling became complimentary to boxing?

There's quite a few in recent times. Mike Alvarado and Kermin Cintron were high level college wrestlers. Golovkin and Lomachenko also wrestled when They were younger, Golovkin for many years.

Now, I would very much like to hear about the older times. I heard that at one time, it was basically customary to use wrestling as a part of boxing training - but it was just some comment I read on some boxing forum, so don't know how accurate it is.
Was it indeed the case? I'd appreciate it if someone could share some insight here.

 

I heard that Duràn learned to wrestle and fight in the streets.

 

Boxers of old were very often competent wrestlers. Jack Dempsey, Archie Moore, Roberto Duran.

If anything, it's an ancient school of thought resurfacing. Clinchwork is a huge part of the game.

 

Paul Berlanbach was a wrestler before he turned boxing pro and resumed wrestling after the boxing career. Also, Armando Muniz was a Collegiate wrestler at the same time he was boxing amateur.

 

James J Jeffries
John L Sullivan

 

Surprisingly Beterbiev hasn't been mentioned yet.
His wrestling background makes it you absolutely can't clinch the guy or pay the price for it.

 

Logan Paul

 

Wrestling and Boxing have complimented each other all the way back to James Figg and before!

 

Jack Dempsey was a black belt in Ju Jitsu.

I want to say Floyd but I don't remember the source...could be wrong.

 

I vaguely remember it being said that Bruno had trained with wrestlers in preparation for Tyson.

 

In the days of London Prizefight rules boxing had a certain grappling element, although there was no groundwork.

 

Crawford

This content is protected

 

It's not that surprising. Athletic people tend to play multiple sports before they find the one that suits them best or they one they love the most. There are some people who just focus on one sport their whole life, sure. But a lot of professional athletes in America played football, baseball, and basketball growing up before they had to make a choice.

As far as wrestling and traditional martial arts backgrounds go, I think this is especially true among Slavic boxers. A lot of these guys have a background in either kickboxing, wrestling, or judo before they dedicated themselves solely to boxing. In these cultures, there seems to be a heavy cultural emphasis on just learning how to fight in general whatever the art.

 

I think both Paul brothers wrestled.