I'm sorry but a guy who holds his hands low can't the most skilled. Ali was super quick, but I think his skills were actually not so good. He's still one of the greatest fighters ever though...
I remember seeing a picture of I think Sandy Saddler, who was a Featherweight, he looked like he weighed about 190!! An remember in the 40's, they weighed in like 5 hours before the fight, so they couldn't dehydrate as much.
I want to find that picture again, cause it seriously looked like Vitali Klitschko was in the ring with Mickey Ward.
Genetics plays a huge factor in everything. Take an average skinny guy with a good work ethic and great heart, train the hell out of him and toss him in the ring with Roberto Duran. Duran will kill him.
You need Natural Talent, Heart, Training. Neither is more important than the other. Like ispayder said, you need all three to even have a chance.
This is true in every arena of life. No one would say that Einstein just worked harder than other scientists, he was also born with a superior mind. To be a great boxer, you have to be born with a superior potential.
Well, whether you call it genetics, natural talent, athletically gifted or whatever, basically it boils down to the fact that some people are born with the potential to be great. That doesn't mean they start off great, but they have the potential to go way farther than the average guy.
the fact that you even asked if gatti was a coward suggest to me that you dont know alot about boxing.
I totally agree. Arturo Gatti is probably 10 times tougher and braver than anyone you've ever met in your life.
Let me put it this way...how many people have the balls to get up and survive R9 Gatti-Ward I?
A good man with a decrepit Lennox Lewis? Beating a completely out of shape Corrie Sanders who probably spent more time in Dunkin Donuts than in the gym? I agree he has to prove himself a little more.
Wlad on the other hand has huge doubts he needs to clear up. He better totally dominate the next 5 guys he fights if he wants to be accepted again.
I do think it's funny that the Klitschko's have so many nuthuggers who overlook every flaw they have, and at the same time shootdown other fighters for one lose or poor performance.
Also does anyone know if the full Jim Jeffries vs. Tom Sharkey 25 round fight is available anywhere? I've heard that it was the first entire fight to be recorded, and that it's one of the greatest fights ever.
That's kind of funny, because the version of Foreman-Frazier that I have has Don Dunphy announcing it, and he just says "Foreman is having a very good round...*Frazier goes down*...doh!!".
Anyway that's an amazing fight, Foreman must have been born with superhuman strength because to do that to one of the toughest men on the planet is almost beyond belief. I think it kind of shows you, no matter how good you are at something, there's probably someone else who is ten times better.
Pryor was a known drug addict too, right? That makes it even more suspicious. I remember he charged out for the 14th round like he was on PCP or something.
MYSTERY BOTTLE!!!
I remember the ending of that fight when my dad was watching it when I was like 5 years old. I remember my dad telling me how Arguello thought he was going to die at the end when he got stuck on the ropes and couldn't raise his hands.
I want to see that fight so bad...
I think sometimes people get hung up on the height-weight too much. Who cares if he's small, it never stopped him from winning, and he was still strong as a bull.
Also, I kind of think that anyone who couldn't KO Marciano in the first 4 rounds or so would lose to him, only a huge slugger would beat him. If it starts to go past 10, then assuming a 15 round fight, his stamina would become the insurmountable advantage that Rocky intended it to be.
The problem is that there's no way to beat a guy if he can hit extremely hard, take all your punches, and never gets tired or discouraged. Think of all the times you've seen a fighter get tired in a fight, then just imagine if his opponent launched a huge attack.
The more I think about this the more Rocky Marciano becomes my favorite fighter.
Round 4 of Foreman Lyle.
I just watched that about 3 minutes ago, that and R5 are some oft the greatest heavyweight rounds of all time. Forget Bowe-Holyfield R10, Foreman-Lyle was amazing.
Nice - I like that post good job! :D
Thanks, I'm trying to get 100 posts so I can download videos again, but I'm not going to do it just by flooding the board with crap.
Also, I agree Gatti-Ward R9 and Hagler-Hearns R1 are very similar, probably the most constant action I've seen in a fight, and a great ebb and flow. And I think those rounds have the highest amount of punches landed. GW R9 had like 110, HH-R1 had around 106. I think going through one round like that would make you sore for a week.
There have been tons of guys who could hit insanely hard.
I wonder how hard George Foreman would hit with those 2oz gloves they wore during the Corbett-Fitzimmons era.
It seems like Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, and Jack Dempsey caused the most damage with their punches though, could be the gloves. I don't know if Foreman ever gave someone serious injuries.
John L. Sullivan supposedly deformed peoples faces...but that's with skintight gloves, basically oven mitts.
I remember when an Olympic Table Tennis player was found to be on roids. A Table Tennis player, guys, PING PONG! Come on, if that guy was on, then everyone is on, LOL.
I wonder what the fuck is wrong with the guys that beat up women. Especially like Diego Corrales, who beat up his pregnant wife. What was he thinking?
I think George Foreman says that in the 70's he would beat men, women, and children. That's some scary shit. Imagine being a woman and getting wailed on by GEORGE FOREMAN!!! That would suck cause you'd know that even if you were a man, you'd still have no chance in hell of fighting back.
I think very few boxers are truly good people.
I agree with that comment, Ken Jennings. I think they found something they like doing, in boxing, and can get paid for it..
Yeah, that could definitely be true.
Also, it's funny how I've brought Ken Jennings to a boxing board.
I don't know, the last round of Rocky Balboa vs. Apollo Creed was pretty exciting, what with the double knockdown, I don't think anything could be more amazing than that kind of an end to a furious slugfest. If that happened in real life I'd have a stroke.
But I agree, R9 Gatti-Ward I was probably as good as any real boxing match could ever be, anymore and both guys would have been killed. And one thing that made it even better was the commentary. Manny Stewart just saying "Oh my god..." and that this was more than you could dream of. Then Jim Lampley says "Ward nods as if to say: come on! Come On! COME ON LET'S FIGHT!!", which is the greatest line from a commentator that I have ever heard. I don't think it could get better. (I hate it when the commentators don't even seem excited)
I'm very surprised at some of the fighters you guys say are overrated.
Rocky Marciano: Only fighter IN HISTORY to have a perfect record.
Roberto Duran: Champ from 135-160 right?
Unless you think these two guys were invincible, then it's hard to overrate them.
Lennox Lewis is in my opinion not overrated, simply because alot of people have serious doubts about him. I don't think of him as being all that great.
Ali in a way is overrated. He is one of the greatest Heavyweights ever, but the general public thinks he was God.
I have heard alot of people say they are very good.
I do think Vitali is a solid fighter, not great, but solid and he needs a couple fights against tough competition to prove it.
Wlad seems to have something wrong with him. I think he got knocked down in his last fight, that SHOULD NOT happen in a tune up fight. He's definitely got alot to prove...
What I hate about these superheavyweight type guys is that they're dead tired if they fight a tough round.
By the way, I think this is the site you're referring to.
http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Arena/1047//Rock.html
I've noticed it's easy to safe on paper, that one guys beats another. I've seen alot of these "comparing the champions" pages, where some fan of a certain fighter shows that there is no way anyone could have beaten him.
sorry, I meant "good match" with Lennox. And that reminds me, there are alot of Klit fans who basically count that as a win for Vitali, which is retarded. And that also reminds me of the Byrd fight. I can't believe a guy would give up a title and an undefeated record over anything other than a completely crippling injury.
LOL, it worked for Ali. I hate Ali, I have to admit it. And if I could change the outcome of any boxing match in history, it would be Ali-Foreman. I would have George hit him so hard that Ali's head spins all the way around. It would be remembered as the most horrifying knockout of all time.