Most athletic boxer ever

It could not have been a "real contest". It was probably just a show, like Muhammad Ali losing to someone. I find this very hard to believe! No way.

I agree with you great post.

 

How about Mr Terry Norris? His speed, power, movement and combonations were insane.

 

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned FLoyd Mayweather Jr. I think he is one of the most gifted athletes ever, especially in the stamina department.

 

If championship caliber boxers throughout history were to compete in a decathlon or pentathlon type event, Jim Jeffries might well come out on top.

Ali was a great boxer, but he was no kind of all-around athlete.

Ken Norton and Earnie Shavers were very good athletes in school, and to the best of my recollection, Norton acquitted himself very well in the Superstars competition. (I think Floyd Patterson may have also performed respectably in a retired athletes segment, but I could be mistaken about that. It wouldn't be too surprising if he did do well though, as Floyd was about the size of an Olympic class decathlete.

While I'd have to think about it a good deal more, those are the names that occur to me immediately.

 

You should be. I was a sprinter in High School. Even though I would've gotton killed by 800 m runners, people who didn't run track would have had a hard time beating me. Even as a sprinter, we did plenty of drills that built up our endurance. Boxers have plenty of endurance but have no need for the type of speed needed in track , even an 800 m race.

 

Terry was also a terrific baseball player and I remember reading he could bench 300lbs.

Regarding the Ali Superstar comp, it was in the mid-70's and is mentioned in the Hauser book. You can respond that a 30-something Ali was over the hill, but I'm a nobody and can still get near 11 seconds in 100 meters pushing 40 years old. If Ali were the great all-encompassing athlete as suggested, he should have beaten 12 seconds for 100 yards.

I also remember reading some very funny anecdotes given by Holyfield regarding Tyson's utter lack of ability on the basketball court. Evander does seem like a special athlete. I would not be suprised to learn he was excelled at other sports.

 

Depends on how big the boxer is, and what kind of road regimen he is doing. A world class 100 meter man can invariably run 400 meters in 46-47 seconds if not faster. If he dogs an 800, he should still be well under 2 mintues, which is a difficult feat for more traditional stick and ball athletes and maybe a little less so for a boxer who runs 5 or 6 miles a day.

While we're at it, I seem to remember Crisanto Espana (who beat Taylor for a welter title) was a near world class marathoner.

 

John Conteh. in a superstars competition in 1974 he proved he was the greatest at least that one time

http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Dugout/8973/

as i read more i found out holyfield didnt do very good in his which was 1984