Top 10 best athletes in boxing ever

[Taeth]

Hopkins would be in the top 10 for me. Not so sure about Foreman in the top 10.

Hopkins? He isn't exceptionally fast or strong.

[Kel]

How can Foreman not be up there, era for era and p4p he may be the strongest guy to ever box... he wasn't taught how even box properly growing up and he still won the gold medal and accomplished all that he did... how many guys could have done that with his training? Also for you guys who are talking about Tyson's speed and power you should watch prime Roy... he hit hard, and he was faster than anyone p4p I have ever seen.

another guy is Anthony Mundine for athlete, Ezzard Charles, Billy Conn...etc.,etc.
The thing Ali didn't have even close as good p4p with Robinson or RJJ was power.

Tyson threw much faster combos than RJJ

[CutMeMick]

How can Foreman not be up there, era for era and p4p he may be the strongest guy to ever box... he wasn't taught how even box properly growing up and he still won the gold medal and accomplished all that he did... how many guys could have done that with his training?

I just don't see Foreman in that light.
I mean if you showed me this Prime Foreman and told me this guy can play basketball, tennis and volleyball. I wouldn't belive you IMO he had bulky muscles and he just doesn't come to my mind as someone who's in the top 10 of athletes in boxing history. To me Foreman was not fast on his feet and you can't tell me had had hand speed.

On the other hand you show me someone like RJJ, PBF, SRR, SRL, Ali, Meldrick and I'd belive you that they could all play those sports.

Also for you guys who are talking about Tyson's speed and power you should watch prime Roy... he hit hard, and he was faster than anyone p4p I have ever seen.

I'm 50/50 here I give Tyson the power but RJJ had the speed.

[CutMeMick]

And to be honest here Meldrick Taylor is IMO the fastest hands ever to lace up a pair of gloves.
Faster then RJJ, faster then Tyson.

[clean]

i agree with bomber and kel.......tyson 200 LBS at age 12.....he was a beast. i never met a 12 year old that could kick my a**.

but thats what tyson did...beat the S*** out of grown men.

200 pounds at 12 ?? that can't be true. Considering when he was in his prime at 21 he was 215-220.

I thought he was 200lbs at 15. Might be wrong

Yes i heard that too mate but there is no way he was 200 pounds at 12. Unless he was severely overweight which i don't believe he ever was.

In 'Mike Tyson: The Untold Story', a documentary about Mike done about 10 or so years ago, Teddy Atlas does in fact confirm that at 12 years old Tyson was 190 lbs. He said at the time they had nobody near that weight so another one of the trainers named Bobby would have to box Tyson. He also mentioned Tyson was very strong which I think is an indicator that he was not overweight, that and also looking at pictures of him as a kid.

[Taeth]

How can Foreman not be up there, era for era and p4p he may be the strongest guy to ever box... he wasn't taught how even box properly growing up and he still won the gold medal and accomplished all that he did... how many guys could have done that with his training?

I just don't see Foreman in that light.
I mean if you showed me this Prime Foreman and told me this guy can play basketball, tennis and volleyball. I wouldn't belive you IMO he had bulky muscles and he just doesn't come to my mind as someone who's in the top 10 of athletes in boxing history. To me Foreman was not fast on his feet and you can't tell me had had hand speed.

On the other hand you show me someone like RJJ, PBF, SRR, SRL, Ali, Meldrick and I'd belive you that they could all play those sports.

Also for you guys who are talking about Tyson's speed and power you should watch prime Roy... he hit hard, and he was faster than anyone p4p I have ever seen.

I'm 50/50 here I give Tyson the power but RJJ had the speed.

YOu ask me who plays football, rugby or anything else and I say that besides Tyson Foreman does all the big sports better than any of those guys... He was your conventional speed boxer, but he was a great athlete with his power, same with Joe Louis.

[Taeth]

And to be honest here Meldrick Taylor is IMO the fastest hands ever to lace up a pair of gloves.
Faster then RJJ, faster then Tyson.

Not p4p he didn't, he was way lighter than them, and watch LEonard in the Olympics or his earlier fights and he throws faster combinations. Regardless, Taylor didn't have a terribly fast jab or pot shot type punches that Ali, Leonard, Roy all had.

[Kel]

And to be honest here Meldrick Taylor is IMO the fastest hands ever to lace up a pair of gloves.
Faster then RJJ, faster then Tyson.

If you could show me a vid of him training I could make up my mind. All you have to do is look at the first minute of the Tyson vid and figure he was an amazing athlete. At that weight too...........its scary.

[CutMeMick]

And to be honest here Meldrick Taylor is IMO the fastest hands ever to lace up a pair of gloves.
Faster then RJJ, faster then Tyson.

Not p4p he didn't, he was way lighter than them, and watch LEonard in the Olympics or his earlier fights and he throws faster combinations. Regardless, Taylor didn't have a terribly fast jab or pot shot type punches that Ali, Leonard, Roy all had.

SRL, Ali and RJJ had great hand speed and considering Ali was a Heavyweight....
I would post a video of Meldrick but the only thing on YouTube is the JCC fight.

And to be honest here Meldrick Taylor is IMO the fastest hands ever to lace up a pair of gloves.
Faster then RJJ, faster then Tyson.

If you could show me a vid of him training I could make up my mind. All you have to do is look at the first minute of the Tyson vid and figure he was an amazing athlete. At that weight too...........its scary.

I don't have any video of him training but I did find video of his hand speed.
Watch closely at 1:03 see if you can actually see his hands.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXyFRcsG07U

[cockey cockney]

And to be honest here Meldrick Taylor is IMO the fastest hands ever to lace up a pair of gloves.
Faster then RJJ, faster then Tyson.

you know what id be inclined to agree.....Taylor, Tyson, Robinson, RJJ, Leonard all gotta be up there!

[CutMeMick]

And to be honest here Meldrick Taylor is IMO the fastest hands ever to lace up a pair of gloves.
Faster then RJJ, faster then Tyson.

you know what id be inclined to agree.....Taylor, Tyson, Robinson, RJJ, Leonard all gotta be up there!

I agree they are all up there..

[NUCLEAR BULL]

great topic and some great clips of lengendarey fighters doing there stuff

[BoomBoom]

Hopkins would be in the top 10 for me. Not so sure about Foreman in the top 10.

Hopkins? He isn't exceptionally fast or strong.

He had real fast hands in his prime. One of the fastest Middleweights of all time, maybe the fastest. Even in his 40s hes still a tremendous athlete and is always in top shape.

[Taeth]

And to be honest here Meldrick Taylor is IMO the fastest hands ever to lace up a pair of gloves.
Faster then RJJ, faster then Tyson.

Not p4p he didn't, he was way lighter than them, and watch LEonard in the Olympics or his earlier fights and he throws faster combinations. Regardless, Taylor didn't have a terribly fast jab or pot shot type punches that Ali, Leonard, Roy all had.

SRL, Ali and RJJ had great hand speed and considering Ali was a Heavyweight....
I would post a video of Meldrick but the only thing on YouTube is the JCC fight.

And to be honest here Meldrick Taylor is IMO the fastest hands ever to lace up a pair of gloves.
Faster then RJJ, faster then Tyson.

If you could show me a vid of him training I could make up my mind. All you have to do is look at the first minute of the Tyson vid and figure he was an amazing athlete. At that weight too...........its scary.

I don't have any video of him training but I did find video of his hand speed.
Watch closely at 1:03 see if you can actually see his hands.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXyFRcsG07U

I find it really easy to see his hands.

[Taeth]

Hopkins would be in the top 10 for me. Not so sure about Foreman in the top 10.

Hopkins? He isn't exceptionally fast or strong.

He had real fast hands in his prime. One of the fastest Middleweights of all time, maybe the fastest. Even in his 40s hes still a tremendous athlete and is always in top shape.

I don't mean disrespect, but Hopkins doesn't even have close to the fastest at middleweight all time... watch his fight with Roy and you will see that he is way slower than Roy, and Jones was holding back from throwing combinations in that fight. Don't get me wrong Hopkins had good speed but he fought a few guys who were clearly faster than him, the one thing nobody except Roy had better than him was timing... Hopkins had that 6th sense in there that negated the speed of almost everyone he faced.