Quote Originally Posted by themacmagician View Post
Quote Originally Posted by zhubin View Post
This pic sums up why Ricky could never be a truly great fighter. Aside from his one dimensional fighting style...his ballooning up and down in weight in between fights, damaged him. It's one thing if this trend started to appear later in his career...but he seems like he was never one to take care of his body in between fights.
To be a truly great fighter you surely have to be a truly great athlete too. It'd be interesting to see how many fighters who are/were great that are/were an exception to the rule.....

I'd say Duran would have to be at the top of that list. Anyone think of any others?
You can compensate quite a bit for lack of "natural" athletic ability with great discipline, skill, smarts, and heart. I think people sometimes buy in to much into natural ability. Sure, it doesn't hurt...but so many great fighters have worked extremely hard to MAKE themselves into great athletes/fighters. And we have certainly seen examples of boxers with great physical ability but lack of discipline/heart who have wasted their talents.