Smartest Fighters

By strategy, I kind of mean devising a game plan before stepping into the ring that is designed to foil whoever the opponent is. Leonard and Dundee put a lot of time in this aspect of the game and it bore them fruit! Mike Trainer really complemented the opportunist in Leonard as opposed to Dundee complementing the strategist in him.

Adaptability is the ability to change tactics or strategy given changing circumstances... like Hearns' outboxing Leonard.

 

Archie Moore is probably the smartest fighter of all time. The fact that he was able to win the light heavyweight championship in his late thirties and beat guys 10 years younger than him speaks for itself. He's probably the best at setting traps and countering to beat his opponent.

Ali deserves mentioning by way of his wins against Foreman and Joe Frazier in Manilla. Everyone knows that Foreman punched himself out and Ali himself was the only one in the corner who knew exactly what he was doing.

Manilla impressed me more, much for Ali's courage, but he fought a smart fight. My mindset says he knew that Frazier's vision was deteriorating in the fight, so I may be totally wrong in my interpretation by saying he gave away the late middle rounds in order to save some strength. This IMO is the very reason why he always tried to build a serious points lead, so he could finish strong. Ali tried this in the FOTC leaning against the ropes for extended periods hoping that Frazier's pace would slow and his vision would diminish quicker. It didn't go to plan in the first fight, but in Manilla, I think he knew that there was a chance that he could stop Frazier if he could endure the middle rounds, and come out really strong in the last rounds. It almost cost him the fight, because more than one person in Ali's corner said he almost quit after the 11th and he did in fact quit after the 14th. Eddie Futch called a halt before Padilla went to Ali's corner.

It's been disputed time and time again and most Ali fans will never admit that the "Greatest" quit on his stool in Manilla. Willie "the worm" Monroe was at ringside sitting behind Ali's corner and he heard "Cut these things off, I ain't going back out there, that man's crazy." Dr Ferdie Pacheco has also confirmed those exact same words knowing Ali wanted to quit after the 14th round, but Dundee wouldn't let him.

 

Meant to quote you on that one.

Ray may get the nod from me because of his dismantling of Duran and defeat of Hagler (although I will argue to the death that his tactics to gain advantages do NOT add to his glory, they do add to the level of his strategic mind) and particularly his defeat of Hearns I. That's 3 ATGs that he whipped primarily due to strategy.

Apologies.

I quoted you on Leonard's stratgey outwith the ring.

 

Moore was indeed one of the cleverest.

On this subject, i would like to tell of a moment in B-Hop's career that impressed me so much. As his bout with Calzage wore on, it was obvious that B-Hop wanted the pace of the bout to be slower than did Calz, due to Joe's style, and what Bernard's had become at this part of his career. Now re-wind to round 1, people have different opinions on the knockdown that occurred, but i really think that what occurred was this- Hopkins thought that he needed to slow the pace from the get go, and against a rapid somewhat swarming type fighter like Calzage, he thought he would have to make his opponent think twice before coming forward with combos that could smother him. So what better than to dump him on the seat of his pants with a classic counter right very early in the first round, as if to say 'see what's gunna happen if you take liberties with me, you're fighting an all-time great now sonn'! Now if this is the case, and like i say, i think so, this is one of the most fitting examples of the title of this thread for me.

Bernard then went on to clearly control the pace of most of the fight imo, and i actually judged the fight for Bernard by 1point, the KD being the difference, but that debate's for another day!

 

Thanks Chinx, i was so impressed with it personally, and thanks for acknowledging my opinion on what acutally went down in that fight.

Also, you managed to convert my whole post into one sentence!!!

 

Typical Chinxkid, modest to the core!!

 

ray leonard, mayweather jr, bhop, ali

 

For me, too.