Top 10 HWs after talent/potential?

Some interesting calls there.

Peter Jackson might just have done well under your criteria.

 

Liston would crack my top 3 in this department.

 

As a package Liston didn't really have any weakneses either technicaly or in terms of ring generalship. The only thing you could bring up was that his hand speed was not among the best.

I also think that he had heart when he was hungry and the title was outside his grasp.

 

I wouldn't put Marciano in there in terms of talent his success was more down to other things like determination, will power and an insane training regimes. I think Patterson should make the list.

 

I get what you are saying, but when most people think of "talent" they think of physical talent. While in a way it's true that willpower and determination could be viewed as a "mental talent", I think there is something to be said for the fact that we as humans have the ability to make a choice for those kinds of things, and it's not necessarily something we have no control over.

 

Talent is something you are born with--you either have it or you don't. It is out of your control. That is pretty much the definition of talent.

My point is I think it starts to get kind of tricky when you start calling things like determination and willpower a "mental talent". I think people can have personal ups and downs, and it isn't always a reflection of mental instability or something out of their control.

I'll use myself as an example. I won't go into details, but long story short, I had a lengthy down period of my life. And then, literally, one morning I woke up, decided I was sick of it, and made some serious changes. I improved my life in many ways--I started to work much harder, maximized my talents, and I have never looked back. I am now known as a person with steadfast willpower amongst my friends and family. And I attribute it to personal decisions I made. Is this capability a "talent" I was born with? Perhaps it can be debated.....but I do know that my life wasn't always like this until I made the cognizant decision to change myself.

 

I never mention it, but I've always thought Riddick Bowe could have been a tremendous fighter - with the right attitude. As it turns out, he was very good anyway, but falls into the 15-20 category, or even lower. I can imagine Bowe, at his best, beating Tyson and Lewis. At the same time.

 

Marciano had more than mental power.

He had a iron chin, and punching power, plus a under rated defense.

And powerful legs.

 

Bowe and Foreman? Possibilities to consider.