Who has/had the Complete Skill Set?

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  • The Old LefHook
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    #1

    Who has/had the Complete Skill Set?

    Very interesting. Of course that has to include the category of ring generalship, too.

    I believe I know the answer to the Has part of the question--I would say Mikey Garcia--but the Had part is a question of the all time greats.

    The skill set must include at least:

    1 Ring generalship
    2 Punching power
    3 All Aspects of Defense
    4 Discipline
    5 Consistency
    6 Durability and Stamina
    7 Footwork
    8 In-Fighting
    9 Adaptability
    10 Chin

    Who had the deepest Medicine Bag of boxing knowledge to resort to when the going got tough?

    Allow me, please, to list a few fighters I would consider contenders for this honorable distinction.

    Archie Moore
    Gene Tunney
    Ray Robinson

    We could list many more serious contenders, but I will not.

    Now if it were true that boxing technique has advanced beyond the old ways, as some argue, it would not do to have any old timer on the list. Count me among those, evidently, who believe that all this talk of the evolutionary advancement of boxing technique during--say--the last half century, is faddish thinking. Others would argue that it is the training techniques themselves which have out-advanced the old ways, and in areas like nutrition, etc. I won't touch that. This is just about technique and who had the widest and deepest skill set of all.

    Honestly, the single true advancement I can think of is Cus's peek-a-boo style. No doubt other boxers before that had employed similar techniques, but Cus formalized it into a system. To use a musical analogy, that would at least make Cus the equivalent of the first guy who formalized the study and technique of banjo rolls on a guitar, or the first guy to simulate pedal steel guitar sounds on the six string electric guitar. Cus seems to have made an actual advancement.

    I do not defy people to name another true advancement, but I believe they are extremely rare nowadays.

    Give it a try, lads. It is a hard question. For any of you to whom the answer comes immediately and automatically, you should meditate in that case on who you think had the second deepest medicine bag of all time, and report it.

    I believe the Gibbons brothers knew about all there is to know about boxing. Neither one of them had a punch, however, so apparently they had not perfected that part of their technical arsenal to the point where they employed it in battle.
  • The Old LefHook
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    #2
    Unfortunately--and I mean that--I am one to whom the answer comes immediately, for it is a question I have pondered for a long time as I watched thousands of boxers compete.

    It is partly a phenomenon of circumstance. The right place at the right time was Harlem in the 1940's for a kid wanting to box. In cities the knowledge of anything is always packed closer. You can exclude farm equipment. Where were the most and the most important boxing gyms packed in the 1940's? And where you find those gyms you also find the packed old timers carrying the flame of knowledge within themselves. They are old. They would like nothing more than to impart all they know to a young talent who can absorb it, and so that is what they did. It was the greatest satisfaction and a tremendous unburdening for them to watch young Ray Robinson perform and advance under their informal tutelage along with his formal program with Gainford.

    The talent only had to come along. The pool of knowledge was there waiting. That pool was lucky that such a natural talent became available to them. Young Robinson had not only his formal team, but this additional cadre of old time boxers and trainers all eager to dump their burden of knowledge on the sponge-like youngster. Old men with great knowledge in any particular area are driven to unload on someone who can take it. You have to believe me on this if you are not old. That is part of what made Robinson so great and why his medicine bag was so deep.

    I was instructed by myself to meditate on who had the second deepest medicine bag of all time, in case the answer to first place came easily to me. This, for me, is a formidable question which I will have to take some time with. I do not even have a good idea who is second.
    Last edited by The Old LefHook; 07-31-2017, 01:31 AM.

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    • Hawkins
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      #3
      I always considered Mike McCallum to be one of the most well rounded and complete fighters that I've had the privilege to see. Admittedly he didn't have world crushing punching power but he had more than enough to do the job.

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      • The Old LefHook
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        #4
        You don' have to possess world crunching power. Decent power is enough, if everything else is in place.

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        • Hawkins
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          #5
          I do believe The Body Snatcher checks every item on your list.

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          • BattlingNelson
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            #6
            Originally posted by Hawkins
            I do believe The Body Snatcher checks every item on your list.
            Agree. Also Ray Leonard. Michael Spinks might be there too.

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            • GhostofDempsey
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              #7
              To name a few...

              Benny Leonard
              Barney Ross
              Sandy Saddler
              Tony Canzoneri
              Ike Williams
              Bob Montgomery
              Robinson
              Gavilan
              Ezzard Charles
              Harold Johnson
              Archie Moore
              Luis Rodriguez
              Jose Napoles
              Carlos Ortiz
              Ray Leonard
              Roberto Duran
              Michael Spinks
              Oscar De La Hoya

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              • Hawkins
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                #8
                Ricardo Lopez is another guy I would put forth as being a complete fighter. He was unbelievable.

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                • NChristo
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                  #9
                  Jose Napoles and Eder Jofre are in the top echelon.

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                  • ShoulderRoll
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                    #10
                    You're going to hate this but Floyd ticks all those boxes too.

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