Quote Originally Posted by BoxingGorilla
A natural athlete is someone with suburb reflexes, excellent balance and the perfect blend of slow and fast twitch muscle fibers.

They have an uncanny mastery of body movement.

That's my opinion.
Yeah, and those gifts usually apply to wide range of sports and physical activities. Pure athletic ability often does not translate into performance for a number of reasons - intelligence, work ethic, and mental approach to the game or sport.

Example...If pure athletic skill always translated into performance, Billy Beane would be the starting centerfielder for the Oakland A's instead of the General Manager. Players on his team marvel even at his age, he is better pure athlete than most of his player, but he guy was never more than a crappy 4th outfielder. Why, admitted by him, it was all in his head. His minor league teammate, Len Dyksra, had half the natural talent and made a great career...he had better mental makeup for the game.

I think JT has better physical gifts than most boxers. Imagine JT verse a prime SMW James Toney in a series of overall athletic ability...something like the NFL scouting combine or a decathalon. Speed, quickness, strenght, stamina all measured. Who do you think wins? I would bet my car and my dog Taylor. But if the two met, prime for prime, in a boxing ring, I'd bet my car, dog, and everything else I own on Toney. Toney is still a gifted athlete, but he applies those gifts perfectly to his craft. Jermain Taylor does not.

And if Taylor was up against Roy Jones in the same tests, he would get smoked in and out of the ring.