Do tall/athletic NBA players have the most potential in boxing?

[dibzvincent143]

Lebron would be too fast too ripped at 250lbs. He is obsessed with his craft in basketball, and if you magically transfer that dedication to boxing, hell i’m sure he’d be successful as well. 15 years and still trains night and day

Footwork and speed and coordination would be insane.
We have no way of knowing about his punching power and chin.

[Cutthroat]

True words being spoken right here!


People are obsessed with muscles and just treating people like pieces of meat...they just think because someone looks a certain way he will be good at this or that...

Its a disservice to sport. Its ignorant.

Hard work, discipline and talent make champions.

It's common sense that you need to have certain anthropometric measurements to participate in this or that sport (that is a given) but its hard work that pays dividends.

LeBron is a basketball player, what else is there to discuss.

LeBron is a great athlete, so are Olympic weightlifters and professional volleyball players. There are thousands of 6'6" 250lb men if all ethnicities around the planet...I guess they would all make great boxers?

It's not just muscles, it's overall athleticism, flexibility, reflexes, coordination, balance, etc. NFL/NBA players utilize a lot of footwork which is even more complex than boxing's.

We know power comes from your legs too, so if you're 6'6 250 and have a "40 inch vertical leap that means you're generating some SERIOUS power in your legs.


When guys are crossing over for example, it takes some serious body control while being coordinated enough to dribble a ball or stay with their man:



This for example is what it looks like when a guy is crossing over, you need to have strong ligaments, balance, tendons to pull off these types of moves if not you'll just tear some ****. Both these men are 6'6 HW sized fighters that move like much smaller men.

With that being said, you do need a background in boxing to compete at the top level, but if these guys were actually dedicated to the sport, they'd rule it.

[Tails]

Short answer no. Simply because there are other factors you have to consider. From an athletic standpoint yes they are obviously gifted in certain areas the same way other athletes are from other sports. That said people seem to forget that top level boxers are exceptional athletes in their own right especially when it comes to reflexes. Even boxers that we typically consider slow are considerably faster than the majority whenever it comes to slipping, moving, and throwing punches. Not to say that people from other sports can't pull of such reaction times but let's not lower the bar on what some of the pfp best are capable of instinctively.

Second I notice a lot of people use Deontay Wilder as example because he played basketball in high school before making the switch. What people seem to overlook is Wilder's mindset when it comes to fighting. Not calling him a bad guy but he does have a true killer instinct which is needed in boxing. A true dog mentality so to speak. That alone is what helps him out (of course his power being his primary gift), because if it wasn't for that he would've folded mentally plenty of times based on how many times he's been out boxed in the beginning portion of some of his fights. Even the people with the nice and charming personalities have that mindset underneath it all once they step in the ring because it's what is needed to excel.

So is it possible there could be some potential great boxers in the NBA, NFL or whatever. Yeah sure. But someone like that could come from anywhere.

[KillaCamNZ]

From a physical standpoint, sure. But (in a nutshell), the bigger the guy, the harder the fundamentals are to grasp.

To draw a bit of a parallel, tall pitchers in baseball are more likely to struggle with the mechanical side of their sport, simply because there's more mass and bigger levers to try and get consistent. Boxing isn't too different - the bigger the guy, the harder it is to make those attributes move in a fluid motion. Efficiency of movement is a big guys worst nightmare.

That's what makes guys like Tyson Fury an anomaly, because he's managed to combine size with exceptional movement.

Where as Wilder, 6"7 and the reach of a *****ing 8 footer, doesn't have those movements down pat, but can make up for that through using his levers to create exceptional power.

To transition from basketball into boxing, I think it would take at least a baseline level of technicality, and probably one other attribute to really stand out (power, chin, heart, motor).

[KillaMane26]

Yeah if they learned boxing at a reasonable age...But if they coming to the sport late.....Seth Mitchell all over again

[kafkod]

I'm sure most of them would collapse in a heap if they got touched on the chin by a HW boxer and the rest would be gassed after a couple of rounds.

[-Kev-]

It's obvious that at HW physique, size, height is very important. What advantages did Wlad have over the rest of HW when he was beating up on everyone with ease? Size, height, and was in better looking shape. And when did that conveniently stop? When HW's his size (and bigger, taller: Fury) and height came. Joshua and Fury. His advantages were no more.

Chances are, without Fury, Wilder, Joshua, then Wlad would've still been reigning champ at HW.

So yes, big, tall, athletic, in-shape athletes who take up boxing instead of any other sport, would do really well at HW.

[Phenom]

If LeBron had started boxing as a boy I'm sure he'd be an awesome heavyweight to watch, assuming he doesn't have a David Price chin.

If he picked it up now he'd obviously get his ass whooped even by guys like Joey Abell.

Lebron would get knocked the **** out by the 1st decent opponent he fights

Guy would had a short career

[Beercules]

Yeah if they learned boxing at a reasonable age...But if they coming to the sport late.....Seth Mitchell all over again

What the hell happened to Seth Mitchell?

[sentax]

It's not just muscles, it's overall athleticism, flexibility, reflexes, coordination, balance, etc. NFL/NBA players utilize a lot of footwork which is even more complex than boxing's.

We know power comes from your legs too, so if you're 6'6 250 and have a "40 inch vertical leap that means you're generating some SERIOUS power in your legs.


When guys are crossing over for example, it takes some serious body control while being coordinated enough to dribble a ball or stay with their man:



This for example is what it looks like when a guy is crossing over, you need to have strong ligaments, balance, tendons to pull off these types of moves if not you'll just tear some ****. Both these men are 6'6 HW sized fighters that move like much smaller men.

With that being said, you do need a background in boxing to compete at the top level, but if these guys were actually dedicated to the sport, they'd rule it.

LeBron definitely has some power legs




Not those sticks like Deontay.