Most athletic boxer ever

I remember Norton competing in the Superstars competition. He was
not impressive and did not do well.

 

Nobody has mentioned Sugar Ray Robinson, but major league scouts
considered him the best shortstop prospect they had ever seen.
Baseball was still segregated, so Robinson became a boxer. If he
came along ten years later, Robinson probably would have been a
major league baseball player.

 

True, but if Jeffries can hang with Roeber, I'd give him a very good chance to beat Dinnie. Some of the old-time bareknucklers would probably be able to do so as well--they did have experience fighting wrestlers, and boxing skills that were well suited to keeping a wrestler on the outside. And the aforementioned Miller might as well, if he was allowed to punch rather than just wrestle.

If Dinnie brought his 16 lb. hammer into the fight, all bets would be off, though.

 

Thanks for that tidbit about SRR, OF. I never knew that and knew Ray pretty well.

 

Sullivan claimed a 10.5 second 100 yard dash (over grass, presumably) and was good enough to participate in professional baseball for a bit. He wasn't pretty bad as professional players go, mind you, but he was good enough to compete at the professional level.

Also competed under two very different sets of boxing rules, and managed to throw American wrestling champion William Muldoon in a wrestling/exhibition match. (He was subsequently thrown to the ground and knocked silly).

 

John Jackson was a top-notch sprinter and jumper, bareknuckle heavyweight champion, physique model (strange as it sounds, but then again, Arnold is also considered an athlete, so..), and extremely strong. He lifted over 1000 lbs. of solid iron from the ground, which was considered quite a feat in those days, and was known for being able to write his name on a wall with 70-90 lbs. of weights attached to his finger.

 

Has Anthony Mundine been mentioned yet?

Could've been a legend at 5/8 in Rugby League, a sport you'll know requires a lot of athletic attributes - Not a bad boxer either, with barely any serious background is ranked 3rd in the world at his respective weight-class, and getting better by the fight. More importantly perhaps, he looks very natural and fluid in the ring, and his reflexes are almost on par with Roy Jones Jnr's, which isn't something you can teach.

Genuine all-rounder.

Don't know if that'd qualify him as one of the "best-ever" athletes admittedly, but I think he warrants a mention as a very gifted athlete.

 

One of these guys:

Ken Norton
Tim Witherspoon
Greg Page
Pinklon Thomas
Michael Dokes.

 

One of these guys:

Ken Norton
Tim Witherspoon
Greg Page
Pinklon Thomas
Michael Dokes.

 

On a moderately related note, I remember reading an English track and field manual from the 1890's where the author tries to downplay Irish T&F accomplishments. It goes something like this:

"Sure, the Irish are better at long jumping, and high jumping, and hammer throwing, and weight throwing, and shot putting...but other than these few paltry events, English athletes are better".

Or his caber (swung in one hand like a club, naturally).

 

This would hardly be surprising, given the premium on hand-eye coordination that is used to identify elite athletic talent early. Beyond superb reflexes, sufficient size is required for competing in certain sports, and in boxing, the ability to take a punch also comes into play.

It wouldn't be in the least bit surprising to me that Robinson was also a fine baseball player, if indeed he was. In more recent decades, Boom-Boom Mancini was a fine high school running back, but he never developed the necessary size to compete beyond the secondary school level.

It also shouldn't be surprising that many boxers have also been fine musicians and dancers, with the premium placed on rhythym and timing in both disciplines.

Skipping rope and speed bag work are wonderful for improving reflex and reaction times, certainly qualities which could be readily applied towards other interests and challenges. Bo Diddly was a former boxer who parlayed the sense of rhythym he developed through his boxing background into groundbreaking music. Michael Flatley's best known for his background as an Irish Step Dancer, but his underpinnings as a Golden Gloves winning boxer is also widely known.

That championship athletes would have a passion for golf would hardly be surprising, as it allows for the continual exercise and monitoring of their hand-eye co-ordination as well.

 

There are few things more ridiculous than national chauvanism, especially in sport.

I've actually had the honour of handling the Dinnie stones. I managed to lock out with a deadlift on the lighter one (which is only a little more than 300 lbs) but the larger one has as of right now eluded me. I don't think I'll ever manage Dinnie's feats with them.

The only contest, indeed, that I could possibly compete with Donald Dinnie would be in elocution. Even then, he'd probably just lift everyone in the room with his well-executed hard constants.

 

Sorry it was 800 meters but still that is impressive. How are you so sure that this didn't happen anyway?

 

roy jones by a country mile he won using his athletic abilty most others use defence he was all reflexes and speed using only the athletic skills no other boxer used them like he did.

you could make an arguement that other boxers were more athletic but roy jones used them more in his style of boxing thatn any other