Name 1 athlete from the NFL or NBA that you think could have been a boxing great

[Cutthroat]

All these big guys mentioned -- Shaq, Yao, Robinson, Wilt -- wouldn't necessarily do great as boxers. Ed "Too Tall" Jones didn't make it as a boxer, neither did Mark Gastineau. Granted, neither of these guys fought since they were kids, but they were big natural athletes whose attributes got them nowhere in the ring.

Gastineau only tried boxing after football, and NFL guys usually retire because their bodies are so broken down they can't take it anymore. Jones tried boxing late in his life as well but didn't do anything after going 6-0.

Boxing has never seen massive guys that can move like these athletes. When you watch big HW's like Vitali/Wlad/Lewis/Bowe/Valuev etc. you see slow moving, clumsy big guys.

However when you watch an NBA/NFL game you'll see guys much bigger than them moving around gracefully, stopping on a dime, reacting in a split second, exploding, etc. it's clear that these men are light years ahead of these boxers athletically.

Just look at a guy like Deontay Wilder, imagine if he'd been boxing since he was a child, that speed/power harnessed, he'd dominate guys. Watch that Harrison KO video where he starts swinging wildly and misses almost everything lol, ignore the misses and focus on the pure speed he's throwing those punches, he's fast as lightning, just started too late in boxing to put it all together. Guys like him are a dime a dozen at any college campus.

[CubanGuyNYC]

Jordan was an egotistical ******* who didn't accept failure. Bring him up fighting, and I think he's at least world class. We know he has the talent.

Talent for basketball, yes. Talent for boxing? We'll never know. I don't care how relentlessly competitive and athletic you are; if you're not born to be a great fighter, you're not going to be a great fighter. Lots of guys with similar qualities to Jordan's never made it anywhere near his level at basketball. Why should it be any different in boxing?

[CubanGuyNYC]

Gastineau only tried boxing after football, and NFL guys usually retire because their bodies are so broken down they can't take it anymore. Jones tried boxing late in his life as well but didn't do anything after going 6-0.

Boxing has never seen massive guys that can move like these athletes. When you watch big HW's like Vitali/Wlad/Lewis/Bowe/Valuev etc. you see slow moving, clumsy big guys.

However when you watch an NBA/NFL game you'll see guys much bigger than them moving around gracefully, stopping on a dime, reacting in a split second, exploding, etc. it's clear that these men are light years ahead of these boxers athletically.

Just look at a guy like Deontay Wilder, imagine if he'd been boxing since he was a child, that speed/power harnessed, he'd dominate guys. Watch that Harrison KO video where he starts swinging wildly and misses almost everything lol, ignore the misses and focus on the pure speed he's throwing those punches, he's fast as lightning, just started too late in boxing to put it all together. Guys like him are a dime a dozen at any college campus.

You make some good points, and Deontay may have done well as a boxer, but I'd just be repeating myself in response to your post. I'm sure there are quite a few big, athletic kids who tried their luck at boxing early, thinking their natural gifts would make them dominant. It didn't take them long to discover that maybe they'd be happier playing basketball or football.

[New England]

This thread is fun, but it's really pointless. Obviously a guy like Jordan was an amazing athletic specimen, but being a fighter requires specific qualities, just like being a basketball player requires specific qualities. Even the guys I chose, Bo Jackson and Herschel Walker, wouldn't necessarily do well as fighters.

Just because Jordan is head-and-shoulders over Thompson as an overall athlete doesn't mean he would have as much success as a fighter. Some people are just born for certain things. You wouldn't necessarily think Jordan could outrun Usain Bolt if Michael was brought up as a sprinter, would you? I'm not saying Tony is Bolt's equivalent as a boxer, but you get the point.

you're looking at boxing as some unique sport, at which only special men can excel. it is not that. you'd really rather take a 12 year old tony thompson than a 12 year old jordan?

you really think tony thompson has something michael jordan does not? intangibles? the guy is 30 lbs overweight, dude. intangibles my ass.

the only issue is the chin. some guys just can't take a shot. you can't say that every nba player can take a shot. you can't say they all have glass jaws, either. other than that, talent is talent. get these guys int he gym when they're 12 year old. not grown men, but kids. they will be compeltely different men in 10 years when they're ready to turn pro.

the mentality will be completely different if these kids stay poor, wake up early in the morning and run four miles hard, train daily as fighters and take the lumps we all take learning how to box, and compete nationally or internationally as amateurs. that's what makes a fighter. it's not some fairy dust sprinkled on tony thompson at birth. it's his upbringing as a fighter.


and no, i don't think jordan could take bolt in a sprint. he'd do a hell of a lot better than tony thompson at sprinting or any other sport, though. i don't know why you think boxing is any different.


if you took the entire nfl and nba into a time machine, and brought them back to 12 years old, and trained them to box, they'd be leaps and bounds beyond the american HW scene today. no pixie dust involved. put them in a top gym for 10 years and see what they look like. they'll beat the f#ck out of the tony thompson's of the world.

[New England]

You make some good points, and Deontay may have done well as a boxer, but I'd just be repeating myself in response to your post. I'm sure there are quite a few big, athletic kids who tried their luck at boxing early, thinking their natural gifts would make them dominant. It didn't take them long to discover that maybe they'd be happier playing basketball or football.

completely untrue. there are no big, athletic dudes in boxing gyms any more. i can assure you it's not because they're getting their asses kicked by fat guys with "intangibles" and going home. football and basketball are far too alluring. that's where the talented american big men are. in the 90's an prior there were a bunch in boxing. they're gone now, and the division has moved to europe and gotten worse.


just listen to your posts, man. you're clearly wrong.

[Rip Chudd]

Seth Mitchell...

Hilarious!!!

[New England]

Hilarious!!!

mitchell has boxed for only seven years. that's not a long time for a guy who is around the top 10. most world class fighters have been boxing since they were kids, and have a deep amateur background. he's a good example of the point opposite of the one weebler likely holds. wilder is too.

they aren't great HW, wilder or mitchell, but they're doing quite well for themselves considering how little they know about boxing, and how much they rely on pure talent. talent gets you a lot further than being fat, slow, and out of shape.

[Rip Chudd]

Jamarcus Russell could fit in with the current heavyweights America has now, he should give boxing a try

[BuckToothed]

It's virtually impossible to infer who would be a good boxer from watching these guys play football or basketball. ****** thread.

The only thing that could give you the slightest clue is perhaps their coordination with their footwork. So in that case, I'm going with Deion Sanders. His dances say it all.

2:58 he does throw a pretty nice straight left.

He was one of the most amazing athletes of any sport of all time. He'd probably fight like Floyd. I bet his reflexes is crazy too.

Good call on Deion... but I imagined him being more like RJJ. too fast and too quick.

[CubanGuyNYC]

just listen to your posts, man. you're clearly wrong.

Why? Because I disagree with your main point? lol C'mon.

The fact is, boxing is a unique sport. Every sport is unique. You're trying to tell me that size, speed and athleticism translate equally across the sports spectrum. They don't. Certainly, they give an athlete a "leg up," but they don't guarantee success at the highest levels. An athlete that is great at their particular sport is aided by their athletic gifts, not made by them. What makes them truly great is their inborn ability for their particular vocation.

It's not "pixie dust," NE. It's a specific talent for a specific endeavor. I don't care how smart a person is, they wouldn't necessarily be able to beat Bobby Fischer or Gary Kasparov, no matter how much chess training they had from the time they were born. I don't care how great a natural athlete someone is, the chances they can be a better ballplayer than Babe Ruth (a relatively un-athletic guy) are almost nil. Why is it that boxers don't necessarily do well at MMA, or vice-versa?

Tony Thompson may not be the epitome of heavyweights, but he happens to have a specific gift, which only pales before men with a greater measure of that particular gift. Putting him down is putting down the entire sport. What are we watching a bunch of sub-par athletes for? The only reason they're doing well is because every decent athlete decided to take up basketball, baseball and football....