Athletes v Boxers

[beenKOed]

Earnie Shavers was a football player with power and so was Ken Norton I believe. Both men were defeated by boxers, Larry Holmes, Muhammad Ali and slugger George Foreman got his two cents in with Norton.

I would classify Holmes and Ali as athletes first. Holmes wasn't the athlete Ali was but he was enough of an athlete to dominate the heavies.
I'm just giving you my opinion, I am not saying you are wrong.
Norton and Shavers were athletes in other sports but when the came to boxing they were mostly punchers: boxers.

[beenKOed]

To be a top boxer you need both good boxing skills and very good conditioning. However there are some top fighters who are more athletes than boxers such as (Sergio Martinez) and others that are more boxers than athletes (James Toney).

Name your favourites and where they have fought one another who normally wins?

A fun thread, you are starting to remind me of Gandhi, always looking at things sideways. I'm giving you an A+ for today.

[beenKOed]

How about Floyd, how would you classify him, boxer or athlete first or 50-50. Maybe not classifiable.
How about athlete first with a boxing IQ setting at 750.

How about Manny?

This is really fun but I have to do some watering plus the dogs love the water. It's hard to keep them out of the tree wells on hot days.

[bradlee180]

neither...lol

Zip it, marshmallow...

I think you should sport the following av till you harden the f*<k up and score that old fight impartially and post a rd-by-rd score, get some respect for yourself around here for $#!t's sake:

IMG_2129.5.jpg

[erics44]

frank Bruno


athlete, boxer, fighter, dancer, smoker, dude had it all

[beenKOed]

Hopkins, damn how would you classify this fighter?
Boxer first with a boxing IQ setting at 500. The thing is he has lasted so long, how can you say he isn't an outstanding athlete too?

Hopkins
50-50 athlete/boxer with boxing IQ of 500.

Compare him to Brandon Rios.
Boxer first with boxing IQ that flutters between 75 and 100.

I would rather watch Rios, Gatti, Alvarado, Manny, M Tyson, Lewis, Froch, Wald, T Crawford, just about anyone before Hopkins.
I'm not saying he isn't a phenom, but he leaves me cold.

[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

[Beanflicker]

There's no easy answer or blanket statement that can apply because athleticism is hard to quantify to any accurate degree when you're talking about boxing.

I think we've seen that you can only go so far with low levels of either one. Take a guy like Seth Mitchell, who is a fantastic athlete but not much of a boxer. Take Freddie Roach, who was a fantastic boxer but had no noticable athletic ability.

[Bill Paxtom]

Thad Spencer was an All-American High School Football Player. He tore up his knee, and went into Boxing.

Cassius Clay was nearly a World Class Badminton Player.

[beenKOed]

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

Soooooo...you want to punch it out today, eh? Lol

Seriously, every opinion is valid in this thread. How can anyone definitively say a fighter is more this or that?

[greynotsoold]

Julio Cesar Chavez just boxed. Sammy Fuentes was a tri-athelete.Chavez beat him up. In one of the only astute comments in a very long career, Larry Merchant pointed out that "They don't hit you in a triathalon."

[Spicoli]

Timbeeeerrr Maybe Tye would have had much more success sticking as a starter for SDSU B- ball

[beenKOed]

Timbeeeerrr Maybe Tye would have had much more success sticking as a starter for SDSU B- ball

Definitely not an athletic boxer! When they come late to boxing from another sport they are usually boxers.

What do you think of Wald? Compared to the the rest of the big guys he looks pretty athletic.

Wald, boxer first IMO.

[beenKOed]

Duran and Hearns, boxers first.

What about Sugar Ray Leonard?
Athlete first or 50-50 in my opinion.

[Master]

Duran and Hearns, boxers first.

What about Sugar Ray Leonard?
Athlete first or 50-50 in my opinion.

Agreed about Duran and Hearns being boxers.

Leonard was a boxer too.