Who is the smartest fighter to every box?

[PureBoxingCEO]

Bernard Hopkins is the smartest.

[Scott9945]

I wouldn't have said that 1987 Hagler was better than Leonard, even though his strategy wasn't smart. He looked old and slow to me.

The Hagler from two years previous almost certainly was better than the guy who turned up for the Leonard fight.......

I mostly agree with that. But even then Hagler should have been able to win convincingly at 160 lbs.

[TysonBomb]

Vitali (has a Ph.D IIRC), Wlad, Gene Tunney, Bonecrusher Smith (first heavy champ with a college degree) Oscar DLH, Willie Pep are the obvious ones

Lewis has to be pretty smart to still be as wealthy as he is but getting KTFO in your prime twice means you aren't that smart ... Muhammad Ali for his brilliance in the ring and his ability to communicate but the dude didn't care about school and was at the bottom of his class ... Foreman for being so successful outside the ring but then again he did get punked by Muhammad Ali which devastated him so much he wasn't the same fighter ... Iron Mike has an extensive vocabulary and encyclopedic knowledge of boxing but the stupidity he displayed over his career can't be overlooked ...

There are different types of intelligence and most who excel in certain areas are deficient in other areas ... I mean Mayweather is a genius in the ring but sounds like a ****** outside of it ...

[La_Vibora]

IMO the hands down smartest fighter of all time was Packey McFarland.

[Anthony342]

Rocky Marciano - for walking away from the fight game while he was still in possession of all his faculties. Could have hung around for at least one defeat, but made his mark on the sport and went out on the top of his game.

If quitting while ahead is not smart, I don't know what is...

Rocky may not be the only fighter to retire undefeated (with at least 40 fights), but he's arguably the first and/or best known. If there are any others of note out there, kudos to them too.

When I looked it up a couple of years ago, there have been apparently maybe 2 of note with at least 40 fights that retired unbeaten, Joe Calzaghe 46-0 and Mayweather, whatever his record will end up being, whenever he decides to retire. I've heard that's coming in a couple of years.