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

[craigus1990]

OJ Simpson. He had that killer instinct.

[thesenuts]

Allen Iverson would have been great

[mudpunch]

We talkin about practice.

[Unknown Champ]

Bo jackson son!!!

[jvsnypes]

I think Ray Lewis could have been a long reigning heavyweight champion. I think Dwayne Wade at 6'5 and 224 would have made a great heavyweight as well.

[Carpe Diem]

Ben Wallace, Charles Oakley, Dennis Rodman, Patrick Willis, Nate Robinson, Ray Lewis.

[Carpe Diem]

Even fat ass Charles Barkley would have been a good boxer or MMA fighter.

[hhs661]

A boxing great?...

NFL: Ronnie Lott
NBA: A.I.

[New England]

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....

because you don't know what you're talking about. you want no talent fat guys over gifted athletes. it's not an opinion to call that silly.


you are discounting talent and taking tony thompson over great athletes because you think he has some intangible that does not exist. great athletes don't have intangibles that tony thompson does? how the hell does that even make sense?

tony thompson?
chris arreola?
how about they show up less than 30 lbs overweight? hell, arreola used to be 40-50 lbs overweight. oh, but they've got intangibles.

you can take the fat guys with zero drive, who didn't ahve the talent to play football or basketball. i will take the talented kids. the guys with speed, power, and fleetness are coming to my gym, and the sh#T athlets like arreola are going to yours. in 10 years my fighters will f#cking annihilate yours.



you'd really pick tony thompson over a great athlete (herschel walker, michael jordan, len bias, bo jackson?)



not every gifted athlete is a gifted fighter. you're a hell of a lot more likely to find a kid who is the goods among a group of gifted athletes than you are to find him among a group of tony thompsons. the NBA and NFL drag great athletes away from HW boxing. arguing against that is plain ignorance. you're a nice guy, and i like you, but you're so f#cking wrong to think that tony thompson is something special that you couldn't find in those leagues.

[sicko]

It is too many just to name ONE

It is so many Athletes Past and Present in America that dabbled in boxing while they was young but left it to persue other sports so nobody really knows.

I wonder how Ken Norton son would have been as a Boxer: