Fighters you thought didn't have too much gifts yet you still love and watch them. I have a good list. Greg Haugen (good fundamentals,swarming and counterpunching) Buddy McGirt (had some talent in that left hand but not much more other than skills) Winky Wright (good jab and guard) Bernard Hopkins (good fundamentals and ring generalship) Tony Pellone (few footages but very tough and can spoil) Alberto Davila (good fundamentals and exciting to watch) Daniel Zaragoza (tough,endless stamina) Alberto Jimenez (can bang with anyone, underrated switch hitter) Myung Woo Yuh (great infighter,would make a great fight with Carbajal) Carmen Basilio (rugged,great infighter that was very brave and tough,banging with bigger guys) Bobo Olson (great infighter, inspiration for Basilio) This could go much further but that's all,might add Eddie Perkins when I'm done watching him,what about y'all? Edit:I'll add in Chucho Castillo and Jimmy Carter.
Least talented boxers are mythical fighters in an untrained person's eye lol,I can feel that. I wish I was granted the skills of Chucho and the left hook of McGirt.
Javier Castillejo and Glen Johnson. They didn't have a great talent but they were two real warriors always with a suitcase in hand and both have the world title (Castillejo in two weight divisions).
Alfred Ankamah Mario Iribarren Alberto Jimenez Joseph Kiwanuka Tokunbo Olajide Eric Griffin Sergey Kobozev Sergey Artemiev Kid Akeem Anifowoshe Carlos "Bolillo" Gonzalez Julian Letterlough Alfred Kotey Rafael Del Valle Silence Mabuza And another
Going out on a limb, I'd say Basilio may have gone the farthest of any fighter w/ the least amount of pure athletic talent.
Are we talking about not having athleticism ? Talent is not only that, it´s like the NBA discussions around certain european players... I am fairly athletic but no matter how much I train I won´t be as great as Luka Doncic. Now, was James Toney talented ? In which way ? A guy like Toney had instinctive fighting skills.. he probably was wired to have quick thinking in improv... because that´s the thing with Boxing, it is all improv in the spur of the moment ! We can´t really know if Greg Haugen was not talented in that way...
Myung Woo Yuh struck me as a better Troy Dorsey but he like Dorsey was not a good infighter he’s a guy who fought there a lot but not someone to replicate… just my 0.2$
Peter McNeeley, fighting Tyson was all balls and his record is actually decent, of course Tyson was miles above the rest of his resume, it's like you knew Tyson was going to destroy him but couldn't help but root for him