What makes a "great" fighter?

[Earl-Hickey]

Guys like Andre Ward etc

What is it that separates them from the rest?

Is it just genetics, are they "born with it"?

Is it the training they get?

Dedication?

What is it?

[AM Boxing5]

To me what makes a great fighter is a guy who takes on all comers & fights 2-3 times a year. Is active .


One who takes risks with his career

[Weebler I]

I think consistent training from a very young age makes a big difference, chances are you're going to be good at something if you've done it your whole life.

You can't train some of the intangibles however such as heart, discipline and punch resistance.

So imo, it's a combination of long-term training and a certain level of natural ability.

[Bretty Poy32]

born with it and dedication......

[TGD]

Intelligence and dedication to the sport.

[billeau2]

The greatest thing about a human being is that we cannot answer a question like this the same way we can answer a question like, "what makes a great Gorilla?" A great gorilla is the strongest meanest smartest animal....Period there is no room for a gorilla that may be smarter but is not strong, because that gorilla won't be breeding, etc etc etc.

With human beings we have variety....what is the best diet? well Eskimos eat nothing but putrid whale blubber and can live to a 100 while other people eat vegetables like seaweed and can live to be 100....my point being that such is the way of fighters.

Fighters like Chavez senior, rumered to have an extra thick skull and Jones, who athletically could do things reflexively that most people cannot even conceive of were great....But then we get guys like marciano and Floyd....neither guy me thinks was so incredible athletically...but both guys have (had) capabilities based on training. Marciano was relentless and Floyd is technically perfect, with punches that are straight as an arrow and technique that never makes a mistake.

Then we get guys like Gatti who could entertain us and make the common man believe we could all climb in the ring with enough piss vinegar and bluster....

At the end of the day history makes the truly great fighters great imo. Exchange Karl Froch with Joe Calzighe and Froch (fighting the same comp) would have been called great while Ward would have Pwned Calzighe in a day as Hopkins did..... Take Ali In a weak division and we might never have seen what he was capable of, put a Klitschko in during Ali's time who knows what their legacy would be? would big George destroy them or vice versa?

Joe Louis was great because he was a slow methodical patient man who happened to be a murderous puncher but so was Maxie Bear! But one guy became a symbol of America during the war...the other practically a near do well who never lived up to his potential.....History is the final arbitrator indeed. We will always love the athletes though...the Jones, Ali, whitakers of the boxing world because we can look at their feats as singular and practically super human.

[puga]

talent then connections....it's easier for american fighters to make it big than eveyone else becuase all of the big promoters and boxing VIPS are in the US ....

you wont make it big , unless you make it in the states and american fighters have the luxury of having the the attention of the american audience .....foreign fighter have to go through hell to get it...

[Weebler I]

At the end of the day history makes the truly great fighters great imo. Exchange Karl Froch with Joe Calzighe and Froch (fighting the same comp) would have been called great while Ward would have Pwned Calzighe in a day as Hopkins did..... Take Ali In a weak division and we might never have seen what he was capable of, put a Klitschko in during Ali's time who knows what their legacy would be? would big George destroy them or vice versa?

See you were going great until this part.

We will always love the athletes though...

Which isn't true really, it's the warriors of the sport we're drawn to.