Which is more difficult? Being an elite pro boxer or an elite NFL quarterback?

[Rusty Tromboni]

Elite professional boxer.

Being elite in any individual sports is more difficult in comparison to team sports.

The Quaterback is THE team numbnuts.

Ali never had to perform at the level of Brady or Manning. Hell, even Brees and Rodgers carried more pressure and abuse over more years.

[GhostofDempsey]

There are too many intangibles. To be a Tom Brady or Payton Manning, you also have to have a great supporting cast of players on your team. A solid offensive line, great receivers, a decent running back, etc. Today more than any other era, QBs are protected, unlike the previous eras of elite QBs like Marino, Montana, Elway, etc. I think it was a lot harder to be an elite level QB during a time when offensive lineman could body slam you on the turf or bring you down by your collar. Clip your knees out from under you and spear you with a helmet. It was also harder to be an elite level boxer when there were only 8 weight classes and 8 champions.

Taking that into consideration, which is harder to accomplish? Being a Tom Brady or Drew Brees today, or being a Pacquiao or Canelo today? I'd still have to side with elite level boxer. How many boxers are worth more than $100M? The level of conditioning and stamina required to remain at the top is much more demanding. A QB can call time-out, he can sit out a game or even a season and still get paid while maintaining his elite status. He has an entire team and coaching staff to help shoulder the blame if his team loses. No time-outs in boxing. Today's fighters also need to be able to market themselves without the help of an entire league or network behind them.

[BoomBapTrap]

On ESPN it has a list of most difficult sports, and boxing is numero uno.

[NORMNEALON]

It's important to differentiate between "being" and "becoming" when we talk about which is more difficult. If we are talking about which is tougher from day to day then I would assume that being an elite boxer is more difficult for many of the reasons you stated.

If we are talking about "becoming", then I have to say elite quarterback because so many more people want to play football than box. Beyond that I think it depends on the individual. For example, there are only 254 minimum-weight (105 lb) fighters rated in boxrec. That number jumps to 729 for flyweights, 1,512 for featherweights and 2,138 for welterweights. It falls to 1,102 for light heavyweights and jumps back up to 1,308 for heavyweights. There are more weight classes of course but I figured I would just cover a broad spectrum as far as size. If we take 1% of each of those numbers, you get an approximate total of 70. That's already more than double the number of starting quarterbacks in the NFL and I only used 1/3 of the weight classes. Lastly, I also used that example to show that you can be an elite boxer at any size while elite NFL quarterbacks are usually at least six feet tall and over 200 lbs.

This post is spot on , this is what I was getting at .

[PRINCEKOOL]

The Quaterback is THE team numbnuts.

Ali never had to perform at the level of Brady or Manning. Hell, even Brees and Rodgers carried more pressure and abuse over more years.

A Quarterback can be substituted, a team can lose a game in the NFL 'Which will then ALL be forgotten about by the time they win their next match' Boxers do not operate in this type of sugar-puff environment.

Elite individual athletes a are operating within a entirely different realm of reality, and dealing with different pressures that athletes from team sports do not have to encounter
.
Being a elite boxer is without a shadow of a doubt more difficult.

Note: It is clear that you nut yourself off to NFL players so, what you say on this thread is not objective. Andre Agassi has opened a school to help disadvantaged children, and in that school? He has banned team sports, basically because psychologically they are too intense. Team sports are safer and more inclusive for most people 'They are not as psychologically or emotionally extreme in comparison to individual sports.

[GGG Gloveking]

I'm going to say NFL QB. When I compare the two, I just see a much bigger pyramid to climb. There aren't as many boxing gyms as high schools around here. There's a whole lot more competition for QB.

It's like Claressa Shields. When she recently became the fastest person to win three divisions, one recurring argument I saw was "there aren't but 50 pro females, doe." It's basically the same scale here.

[tritium_arma]

Way more people try out for football so I would say QB. Also lots of bums in boxing.

[Vasyl’s dad]

The boxing pool comes from the entire world. The nfl pool is basically one country. Plus you factor in getting hit, without a helmet, boxing elite is much harder to achieve.

[MasterPlan]

I'm going to say NFL QB. When I compare the two, I just see a much bigger pyramid to climb. There aren't as many boxing gyms as high schools around here. There's a whole lot more competition for QB.

It's like Claressa Shields. When she recently became the fastest person to win three divisions, one recurring argument I saw was "there aren't but 50 pro females, doe." It's basically the same scale here.

If it's less of something wouldn't that make it harder to achieve elite levels of it?
We had 4 teams in High School. Varsity, JV and 2 Freshman Teams. There was no boxing at our school.
I didn't even play football but if I tried out Freshman year I would have at least made one of the Freshman teams.

[Vasyl’s dad]

The Quaterback is THE team numbnuts.

Ali never had to perform at the level of Brady or Manning. Hell, even Brees and Rodgers carried more pressure and abuse over more years.

Trent Dilfer won a sb. And he is not known for being the team. His defense is the force behind his ring.