Athletes v Boxers

[Master]

Joe Calzaghe is a boxer
Hopkins is a boxer
Floyd Mayweather is a boxer
Ali and Holmes are boxers
Rigo is a boxer
Dirrell is a boxer

Manny Pacquaiu is an athlete
Froch is an athlete
Frank Bruno is an athlete

That line can be pretty fine my friend. Its almost a which came first the chicken or the egg kind of question. I'd wager for example that Meldrick Taylor was a natural athlete and most likely a guy picked first in any kind of scrimmage growing up. Same with Jones. The kind of hand/eye coordination and reflexes that make you think they are sporting compound eyes. Calzaghe also and guys like Ali, Leonard, Whitaker,Locche,Pep, Burley, Floyd. Many fighters are both and some like Roy rely on those naturally athletic gifts more than their boxing skills. Roy barely showed a jab his entire career. I cant think of another fighter in history that could have even reached gate keeper status w/o a decent one let alone dominating the sport for a decade. He had one, that was clear in the Paz fight but he never needed it.

I think of guys like Froch and Hopkins the other way. They were not born with the same athletic gifts but worked hard at their craft and found a place in it through grit and good ole boxing fundamentals combined a Lamotta like mentality of trench warfare. I agree with @Beanflicker. It would be tough to separate the two in many cases and put one or the other on different sides of the room.

You are right as always I would put meldrick Taylor predominantly as a boxer.

What about Evander Holyfield?