What is "skill" anyway?

[Hydro]

Examples of skills:

Slipping, parrying, or rolling with punches.

Putting your feet in the right position so you can attack or avoid the incoming leather.

Positioning your body and head on the inside where you can do more damage and your opponent cannot.

Throwing a good jab, throwing good combinations. Good combinations are not merely throwing a lot of quick shots, but creating and exploiting openings.

Some newbies think that you have to be fast or flashy or moving laterally to be skilled. That's nonsense. A guy like J.C. Chavez who spent a lot of time stalking and pressuring, knew how to cut off the ring. Cutting off the ring is a skill. So are rolling with shots, which he did well. He mixed combinations on the inside (or at range) from the body to the head with excellent effectiveness. That's great skill.

[sonofisis]

Of course skill does not equal speed, Zab Judah is actually faster(with his punches) than Floyd Mayweather, but Mayweather is the most skilled in the game due to his timing/precision, elusive defense, and ring generalship. Speed is but one asset that can be applied to overall skill that carries over in a performance.

[tyson]

Nothing is a skill before it's automated in your body.
You can be considered skillfull when you "master" something, like a jab.
Before you master it, you're just talented.

When you're skillfull, you can hold your own against most people, even without preparation.

[Addison]

A lot of times a fighter is lauded for having "skill," though it's not always clear this means anything at all. Another poster (Optimus Wolf) rightly pointed out in another thread that the word is often used on here as a substitute for speed and flash. In that case it's at the least a poor word choice, and more likely it also represents a terrible misunderstanding of some basic things about boxing. If, to use the example Wolf was discussing, Judah is more 'skilled' than Cotto, what could this possibly mean? Judah doesn't throw a better vareity of punches, doesn't throw them in a cleaner, more consistent fashion. Cotto beats him there. Judah doesn't set up his punches better, in fact as fast as his left is, he doesn't work it off his jab or right hook very well at all. What do people mean, then, if not simply he's FASTER?

For my part I think the word is at its best a vague abstraction that has little use in boxing discussions. At the very least you should specify what you mean by this (ways of setting punches up, timing them, throwing them at angles, defensive strategies [specific ones!]), which is rarely done.

NOTE: This thread is NOT about Cotto and Judah; that was just an example. If you disagree with what I said about the example please DO NOT make that the basis of your reply.

I hear skill used most often when we refer to fighters like Bernard Hopkins and Winky Wright.. Neither really qualify to me as guys who are just flashy and quick.

But I see what you mean about Cotto and Judah..

It's well thought out what you're saying.


The skill thing for me is applied capability.

I say Judah can get alot more done in alot less time than Cotto. And that isn't just in terms of speed or power - that is in terms of seeing openings and creating openings.

If Judah was a venemous snake and Cotto a stronger larger mammal - it would have been over the way so many predicted, and the way it actually started out.

But this is a sport and the fighters have pillows on..


The skills that Cotto have; seem effective at preventing talented fighters from using their special capabilities.

I mean.. You could basically blindfold Miguel Cotto and get the same result.

He looks like a blindfolded pecker by his posture and approach, basically..

I would say Cotto is very skilled at nullifying the advantages or skills of his opponent with his method of attack. That's his skill, but I'm pressed to think of very many skills he has of his own..

[Addison]

By definition or basic perception every answer in this thread is correct.

As far as I know skill is interpreted as the speed at which you can accomplish a task, and/or the quality of your work..

I know Boxing has it's own cult regarding stuff like this, but going outside the lines seems like the only intelligent thing to do.

Good stuff, Kayjay.