The least skilled: Rocky Marciano, Gene Fullmer, Sandy Saddler or Steve Collins

It´s between Fullmer and Collins IMHO.

Saddler is the most skilled of the group IMO. I would say Fullmer was a better combination puncher than Collins and this give GF an advantage.....but it´s close between those two.

 

Fullmer was didn't have a jab! He threw an overhand left! An overhand left!

 

Rocky was clumsy but he did have some semblance of skill, or atleast cleverness in using his strengths. I believe his late start did contribute to him never really grasping the basics as well as a boxer should. He would make moves that he probably knew he shouldn't do, but it also made him a very unorthodox opponent to face as he would rush opponents and throw punches that they least expected. Whenever he talked about boxing, you'd think he had been a textbook technician himself, but watching his fights he was anything but.

Fullmer actually had skill, even if it was well hidden under his ugly mauling style that he used to bully weaker opponents than him. Whenever he faced a man of similar strength, he would get on his bike and run, displaying a decent if unorthodox jab and footwork similar to his brother Don Fullmer.

Saddler was skilled on the offense, less on the defense. He was ugly to watch and much of what made him great had little to do with boxing. I'd still say he was better at forcing his fight than a George Foreman was for example, to whom he attempted to pass on his "skillset". When he faced a man as strong as him on the inside in Charley Riley, unfazed by Saddler's usual rough-housing, he displayed decent skill in utilizing his greater height and reach to outpoint his opponent from a distance. However, according to himself, trying to box and pay attention to defense only ever resulted in him losing, so he was far from the most skilled boxer around his day.

 

Fullmer on his bike:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B58pVoK8bE[/ame]


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSQJmGxzEFs[/ame]

 

These fights still puzzle me every time. His left clubbing... thing is still there though.

And yeah, Sung-Kil Moon is definitely a contender. Sometimes I just don't know what he's trying to do. Or if he knows what he's trying to do.

 

The phrasing of this topic annoys me. As if any of these were unskilled tho they all won titles. And as if "style" points equal skill. It's a goddamn skill to knock someone out with one punch or combo. Same as trippling a hook and a whole lot more effective.

 

They are all skilled, unfair to make thread like this. Why not just say you disrespect old tie fighters, instead of being sneak about it?

 

Oh please... :gsg
We all know what lora means......yeah, obviously, compared with jorneymen, or with me or you all these guys were extremely skilled, yeah.......but in comparison with the types of Whitaker, Robinson, Duran, Jofre, etc, etc...guys like Collins seem bad in terms of pure skill....

 

Skill follows physical tools. Marciano was perfectly skilled for the tools he possessed. Unfortunately, too many people only see "skill" as a display of a certain few components of boxing whether they be effective or pertinent to the physical tools of the boxer exhibiting them.

 

No, you think you know what he means, or agree with him. It's like those threads people put up asking if Joe LOuis could beat some current cruiserweights, or idiots matching Hopkins with Marciano

 

Sung-Kil Moon has to take the cake. He has a good deal of speed to mask it but some of his punches are circus material.