The argument that American Heavies are "in other sports"

The issue is that even if a kid/young man WAS to become interested in taking up boxing, his ability to find a gym AND get quality teaching/training/coaching is much more difficult than it was say 25-30 years ago.

Hell, Kronk Gym had to shut down.

 

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Yes, I think the best American heavies are in/were in other sports, but not these mega stars you hear about all the time.

MichiganWarrior posting vids of guys jumping doesn't mean ****, he's an idiot. The best athletes aren't the best fighters, actually, the best athletes usually have **** for chins.

Kobe has been training n boxing since high school, but every time he gets in a fight on the court, he gets worked. He would ****ing suck. He can jump through a gym.

There are plenty of guys in D. 1AA that would beat the **** out of D.1A football players, and players on mid-major basketball teams that would kick the **** out of the Blake Griffins of the major programs.

I went to school with these mother****ers. McDonald's All-Americans, Highly sought after WR's and LB's. 40 times, vertical jumps, etc. are for NOT an indicator of a future heavyweight champion. ****, look at the heavyweight factory. They take guys who had standout measurables in all those tests, to specifically turn them into the next HW champ. Some of them guys are getting KO'd by bumbs in the AM's. Bums who run 5.8 40's.

 

is it possible that american athletes are becoming soft and try to avoid boxing which is arguably the most brutal sport.

i mean, why risk life when you can just risk a few injuries in basketball?

 

What a bunch of idiots, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that boxing is no longer important in America, there was a time, when boxing and baseball were the ****. Now NFL, NBA, Tennis, Golf and sadly even MMA have become more popular than boxing.

 

Becareful what you say cuz it sounds like you're saying it doesn't take much athleticism to be a boxer. One might be apt to believe you but then it doesn't explain guys like Floyd, Pac, RJJ, Ali, etc. Those guys are the best of their eras because on one hand they had the boxing skills and on the other the pure athleticism. They were freaks that had both.

And on that line, there are lots of physical freaks running around catching footballs and taking jumpers that see bigger meal tickets in the NFL/NBA. That doesn't mean they could all be great boxers, but you never know since these guys don't get the luxury of being groomed for boxing like a PBF or one who was forced into it by survival like Pac.

Multi-sport athletes like Deon Sanders, and even Jordan to a degree show that if they have proper training they can do other sports. Bottom line for me is that these guys with awesome physical skills that could definitely translate into boxing. You can't deny that if someone who has high level reaction times, and superb fast twitch fibers doesn't have an advantage.

 

The fact that some idiot said Tyson would have destroyed as an NFL linebacker is all you need to know. 5'9 210 Mike Tyson against Brian Urlacher. LOL. Idiots know no bounds. Tyson couldn't even play D3 college ball.

 

Tyson is 5'11 and over 220 in his prime iirc. Btw, there's plenty of shorter MLBers in the league anyways.

 

atsch It doesn't take a high level of athleticism to play D. 1AA football or mid-major basketball? I went to prep school with 2 McDonald's All-American basketball players. One of them was actually an am. The whole team was all going D1 in basketball, but out of the four that boxed in the am's, the best one was a point guard who was not overly fast, high jumping, quick-twitched compared to the others.

****, there's very good athletes in D3 sports. Are you telling me because Floyd is a great boxer he could have played football at a D1 school? Roy and James Toney were also very good HS football players, but they didn't have major schools knocking on their doors. Because they were great boxers are you saying they'd be great football players? Probably wouldn't have even made it into the NFL. Probably not even close. Like I said, Kobe is an all-time great basketball player, all-time great athlete. He is much better than Chris Childs in both respects and has boxing experience and size that Childs didn't have. Childs made a clown of him.

Maybe the toughest kid I have ever seen was a the tailback on my prep school football team. He was NYC's all time leading rusher before he came to this school(all of us on football and basketball teams were pretty much there on scholarship). He was 5'8 and weighed like 165-170. He ran a 4.72 at our combine held at Holy Cross. His vertical wasn't much better. He got into a fight with a WR on the team who was 6'2 200, ran a legit 4.4 forty, and went to a major school. The runningback destroyed this kid. He went to a D2 school. I played for a year at a D1AA school but injuries forced me out. We had transfers from Miami, Rutgers, and Syracuse. None of them were the toughest kids on the team. Not even close.

So what if Deion and Jordan can "do" other sports? Are other sports fighting? Boxing is far different from those other sports. Corrie Sanders ran a 10.7 100 meter dash in HS at 6'4 215 pounds. Put in perspective Titans RB Chris Johnson ran a 10.6 at 170 pounds. Corrie Sanders sucked as a pro. Sucked.


Believe what you want, watch all the dunk and touchdown highlights you want, but I hate to tell you, they don't translate into the ring. I've seen a guy that was 6'10 pick dimes off a backboard. Went to school at Pitt, quick feet, great athlete. He also boxed in the am's out of Norwalk, CT. Oh, and he sucked.

 

atsch

Sorry, Tyson wasn't playing LB in the NFL, and if he was, he'd be a special teamer at best.

 

Tyson was nowhere near 5'11 despite his bogus height claim. Dude was 5'9 at best. No MLB's that size in the NFL.

 

London Fletcher, who is also one in millions that actually made it.

 

There's been a few guys at MLB who were pretty short. Off the top of my head, Sam Mills 5x Pro Bowler who was 5'9. Football ain't in my regular language these days so stats are foggy, but I recall more than a few. MLB isn't a tall position anyways, with the main requirement being a strong willingness to knock a ****er out.

And another. Again size don't really mean a whole lotta **** at MLB, you just gotta knock people out.

 

Manny Pac is an ATG. Since he is arguably as good or better between he and Floyd during this era, is he automatically going to be great at basketball, soccer, baseball, etc.? **** no, have you seen him try and play BBall?

**** outta here with this stupid argument.

Wait......Who would be a better football player, Jermaine Taylor or Kelly Pavlik? Is Sergio Martinez or BHop more explosive and quick twitch than Taylor? **** no.

 

atsch ****, I meant one out of millions who actually made it, my bad.

 

Ah, I'm not really making the argument that any boxers would've made great ballers but instead highlighting some of their athleticism. This athleticism could translate to other sports and vice versa if they'd been groomed for said sport.

Fighting is fighting, but you "can" be taught how to fight. You know like 4 thousand years ago when some Indians and Chinese got the grand ole idea to mimic monkeys and other animals when they came up with martial arts? ****ers weren't just born boxers, they are taught.

Having a particular athleticism can only help in that regard. I'm sure you'll disagree so we can toast to that I suppose.