Name fighters with great athletic abilities but poor fundamentals

He might not make the cut into the elite in the current talent pool but in his day the US population was only a third of what it is today and world population only a quarter of what it is today. Back in his day however Max Baer was a stud but lazy and undisciplined never worked at his craft to develop high skill.

 

Wilder

 

Roy Jones Jr

 

Ali

 

Ali and Jones who had tremendous natural talent were also trained very hard from a young age by good trainers. They were protégés who developed very high skill level. Both were the best fighters in the world when they went to the Olympics as teenagers. You couldn’t have picked 2 worse examples.

 

Definitely fighters like Jones and Ali who relied heavily on speed and reflexes but could not make the necessary adjustments as they aged.

Berto was a highly conditioned athlete but lacked defensive skills.

Mark Gastineau--great football player, not so great boxer.

 

Naseem Hamed
Deontay Wilder
Yuriorkis Gamboa
Kirkland Laing
Herol Graham
Ricardo Mayorga

 

Not sure I would say Ali and Jones had 'poor fundamentals.' Seems a bit lazy to me. They had unique skills which they honed and perfected. It's the reason they were so hard to beat in the first place. Yes those styles were built around speed and reflexes, which don't age as well as other styles. But every fighter is different and wouldn't boxing be more dull if they were all the same?

 

Dempsey, could look brilliant at times but often relied too much on his speed to get him out of trouble when he threw walloping punches.

 

Jack Sharkey also deserves a mention

 

Ali and Jones

 

I will have to disagree, Roy knew his fundamentals very well, he simply, as any elite pro can and decides to, bended them to his own will.