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I think a great fighter is defined by six major skills only, the other come off of those:
Speed:
hand speed, foot speed, how quickly he can go into and out of range
Power:
no matter how good you are, you won't always fight a perfect fight so you will need power to impose yourself and to finish a fight, specially if you're not a star yet and aren't fighting in Germany
Timing:
although overlooked, timing is very crucial. you can finish a fight if you can deliver the right shot at the right time. perfect example is mayweather catching hatton coming forward with the famous "check hook"
Intelligence:
this normally comes with age but not always (and you can read this both ways, it's intended that way). this can be confused with timing but make no mistake, a fighter can be intelligent and not be able to use that effectively because of injury, age, health/preparation or other. perfect example is 43 year old hopkins not capitalizing on that first round knock down of calzaghe. most fighters in their 20 and even 30's would probably finish cal up, not in your 40's though, apparently... anyway this doesn't take away hopkins as one of the most intelligent fighters in the ring.
Defense:
crucial. look at young roy jones vs older roy jones. pretty much self explanatory if you seen the tarver fights. also mayweather relied allot on defense therefor his success imo.
Endurance:
how well can you take a punch, how long can your tank go? cotto is an awesome example of a fighter able to fight 10 good rounds and coming a little bit short, but hoya is an even better example. on the other hand margarito excels in both these things.
Anything else i forgot? btw these are natural skills, neither can really be trained so you can say they define a fighter... 2nd edit: maybe you can become more intelligent but it's very hard, think jermain taylor, a world champion with bad amateur habits.
Speed:
hand speed, foot speed, how quickly he can go into and out of range
Power:
no matter how good you are, you won't always fight a perfect fight so you will need power to impose yourself and to finish a fight, specially if you're not a star yet and aren't fighting in Germany
Timing:
although overlooked, timing is very crucial. you can finish a fight if you can deliver the right shot at the right time. perfect example is mayweather catching hatton coming forward with the famous "check hook"
Intelligence:
this normally comes with age but not always (and you can read this both ways, it's intended that way). this can be confused with timing but make no mistake, a fighter can be intelligent and not be able to use that effectively because of injury, age, health/preparation or other. perfect example is 43 year old hopkins not capitalizing on that first round knock down of calzaghe. most fighters in their 20 and even 30's would probably finish cal up, not in your 40's though, apparently... anyway this doesn't take away hopkins as one of the most intelligent fighters in the ring.
Defense:
crucial. look at young roy jones vs older roy jones. pretty much self explanatory if you seen the tarver fights. also mayweather relied allot on defense therefor his success imo.
Endurance:
how well can you take a punch, how long can your tank go? cotto is an awesome example of a fighter able to fight 10 good rounds and coming a little bit short, but hoya is an even better example. on the other hand margarito excels in both these things.
Anything else i forgot? btw these are natural skills, neither can really be trained so you can say they define a fighter... 2nd edit: maybe you can become more intelligent but it's very hard, think jermain taylor, a world champion with bad amateur habits.
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