Who has/had the Complete Skill Set?

[Elroy The Great]

You mean the guy who fought with his hands at his sides, rarely if ever went to the body, leaned back from punches, and dropped his hands too low when throwing an uppercut?

and still got the job done ? yes.

[TonyGe]

and still got the job done ? Yes.

+1...........

[Elroy The Great]

+1...........

even srr wasnt perfect.

[GhostofDempsey]

and still got the job done ? yes.

The thread asked who had the COMPLETE skill set. Yes? Ali did not have the complete skill set. Regardless of his success at HW. Technically, he did a lot of things wrong.

[Elroy The Great]

The thread asked who had the COMPLETE skill set. Yes? Ali did not have the complete skill set. Regardless of his success at HW. Technically, he did a lot of things wrong.

who did you pick ?

[The Old LefHook]

I agree with the curious fact, lads, that the greatest of the greats in boxing seldom have the entire book of boxing down to instinct. They seem to excel so mightily in a sample of chapters that they are unbeatable. An ex sawyer could count on his fingers the number of body shots Ali threw.

This thread has made me realize that almost every great boxer is a specialist of some sort, not an all around package balanced in every department. Complete packages are rare, as one expects, if one puts some thought into it. A complete package should usually go far, but they are rare everywhere, even among the elite.

Styles make fights is another way of saying that different specialties opposing each other is what keeps it interesting.

The all around fighter can do it all, obviously. Inside or outside, he is a specialist, adept anywhere on the canvas.

Robinson and Duran had it all. They sit at first table in the Hall of the Greats. Some others may have had games as complete, but I did not see them.

Every all time great shares only one thing with other ATG's--a great chin. They all have it. There are no exceptions.

[IronDanHamza]

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

No inside game.

[Dip_Slide]

Well I don't think he has been even close to KO'ing any top fighter in a very long time if you discard the suckerpunch on Ortiz.

He may be a tad above Malignaggi but I wouldn't say he'd threaten to brutalize anyone (except if he fought a debutant with no am or pro boxing experience whatsoever).

You don't stop undefeated fighters that've never been stopped before if you don't have any punching power, Floyd dropped and stopped Hatton by 1 punch and Hatton was a guy who was known for having a tremendous chin at the time. Same for Diego Corrales who's never been dropped before he fought Floyd.

You don't stop Gatti in 6 rounds if you can't punch, he's been known for being able to take big punches and coming back but agains Floyd there was no coming back because the power especially to the body kept him honest, same for Hernandez and the list goes on and on at the 140 lbs and below.

[Johnny Steele]

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.

Edwin Valero fits your criteria old man.


......that thing About Duran VS Leonard 2?

[Johnny Steele]

The thread asked who had the COMPLETE skill set. Yes? Ali did not have the complete skill set. Regardless of his success at HW. Technically, he did a lot of things wrong.

I was thinking the same thing about all these clowns glorifying Clay. Talk about propaganda. The guy made all kinds of mistakes.

Clay was a Willie Pastrano wannabe. Nothing more than a cheap
immitation.

Pastrano was much more skilled and talented than clay doe.