What if Michael Phelps had been a boxer?

[hectari]

micheal phelps isnt a good athlete? erm what?

I think he means athletic like an all around athlete like a Bo Jackson type who can play different sports.

Phelps probably cant dribble a basketball, he is a sport specific athlete.

[hectari]

This is Michael Phelps Boxing from 2012 to give you a sample if you think he would be good as a boxer

[Tony Trick-Pony]

He would do great I'm sure. Too much athletic ability to be anything but great. However, boxing is a much different sport than any he's excelled at. I would love to see him try, though. With his dedication and unreal natural gifts, it would really be something to see him.

[BoxingFan85]

I swam in high school & played water polo. But I also boxed I was like Nate Diaz, but less skilled and a lot bigger. Swimming is a great sport. I just wish I would have been better at it.

Swimming helps to build stamina & a lot of boxers have opted to swimming as opposed to taking long runs.. It also strengthens your calf & back muscles(you need a strong back when a boxer puts his weight on you)..

[Joe Beamish]

What successful boxers resemble Phelps physically?

Anyway, to be a great boxer you have to have....boxing skills. Tremendous reflexes. And the desire to fight.

[Zaroku]

Swimming helps to build stamina & a lot of boxers have opted to swimming as opposed to taking long runs.. It also strengthens your calf & back muscles(you need a strong back when a boxer puts his weight on you)..

I was a member of west coast aquatics, but was never in the league of Pablo Morales.

Swimming is a great sport. Water polo too, egg beatering for hours in practice.

[The Gambler1981]

Interesting mental exercise.


He could probably be pretty good if he can deal with the physical punishment. Dude is very athletic, tall and lean which is what someone wants with a boxer. Also dude was insanely dedicated to his craft even with amazing success for a swimmer dude is still pushing himself further. Swimming is a sport that requires total body coordination and using every muscle to move through that water especially talking multiple styles like Phelps has done, throwing a punch is the same way to really throw good punches or stick and move requires that ability to make every muscle move in unison which is not something everyone just has.

It is tough to say but throw him in a boxing gym instead of a pool at an early age I think he stands a decent shot of being pretty good.

Oh and lol comparing swimming to running, run a mile and swim 400 yards. If you aren't use to running it will be difficult but doable, if you don't swim you are likely to drown before getting that far.

[madsweeney]

Once again, I didn't say one sport is more skilled than the other. But better athletes do compete in sprinting that they do in swimming.

There are no black guys in swimming. Seriously, I couldn't spot a single black guy. So how do you know they're really going up against the best athletes?

Black people don't go into swimming for two main reasons. This is from an American/Canadian perspective. One is they prefer other skilled sports like Basketball, Football, Baseball, boxing, soccer etc. Those sports are a lot more engaging than going into a pool all day and swimming in a straight line.

The other reason is that swimming is expensive. It's expensive to pay for the coaching. A lot of black athletes aren't fortunate enough to come from families that can afford the type of coaching required.

It's also part of the reason you don't see many black people in Hockey and Tennis either. It's not that they can't physically compete in those sports. It's that the sports cater to middle class white families. There's nothing wrong with that except you're left wondering are these really the best athletes?

Sprinting is different because the reason white people aren't represented as well in sprinting is because they're not physically capable of competing with the black athletes. It's not because of financial reasons or anything like that it's that they can't physically match up with the black athletes. They certainly try, but they get weeded out.

Well that's it right there for you isn't it, classic racism.

[KingHippo]

What kind of muscle composition does he have? Wouldn't be surprised if slow twitch muscle fiber was better for swimming.

Assuming he'd be fighting at cruiserweight, I say he'd get broken in half.

[madsweeney]

What kind of muscle composition does he have? Wouldn't be surprised if slow twitch muscle fiber was better for swimming.

Assuming he'd be fighting at cruiserweight, I say he'd get broken in half.

Swimming is a bit on anomaly in that it requires both. Predominance of a particular muscle fiber does not equate success like other sports (like sprinting/long distance running). I would imagine that top level sprinters are primarily type I and IIa.

But lets be real, these questions are pretty dumb, especially when you take two sports that are such an extreme from each other.