bill1234 said:
Call me crazy, but Sugar Ray Robinson was overrated. He did have some speed, agility, and power, but he didn't have anything that majorly up showed Ray Leonard or Sandyy Saddler. Leonard had better speed and agility, Saddler had a lot more power.
First off, I don't think your crazy!
Secondly, all those guys you mentioned Sandy Saddler and Sugar Ray Leonard were both really great fighters and there can be no question about that at all. But so was Sugar Ray Leonard too.
Now I just want to say this ... often when guys take up boxing when they are young, even very age ... it was when I did and to box amateur ... tend to be focused as if it's all about power and speed ... and this kind of thing, just as I had once been too.
I remember one day in the gym ... back a lot of years ago ... and after I had some fights .. and was winning and had started thinking ... I was really a tough guy.
Well, one day, my trainer ... put some old guy in the ring with me to spar with ... he was some old guy .. who wasn't boxing any more. But for whatever reason ... my trainer chose for him to be my sparring that day.
I think the guy must have been just an old friend of his who use to box with him many years ago .. and maybe he just came to visit my trainer his friend at the gym that day.
Well, the guy didn't look to me like much, or that he could probably do much ... and he was an old guy, you know. And he didn't really look to me like he was in all that good a shape either. But in the ring, sparring in the gym that night ... he really gave me a hard time .. I mean a REALLY hard time.
And that's when my real learning begun ... as a fighter.
Boxing isn't so much about power and speed ... though those things are all good. And youth is a tool. And that's good.
But it's strategy! It knowledge! It's focus! Its more about skill ... not brute strength and speed.
For example, any fool can throw a punch!
But it takes skill to make a guy miss punches, and it's a mind game ... and you first have to out think him.
If your strong, make him think your weak.
If you weak, make him think your strong.
Make him miss enough punches and pretty soon he starts losing confidence ... and may start thinking he can't beat you. He may start to get scared ... and hold back.
And if he can't take a punch, or even if he can take a punch ... you hit him hard enough, and it may make a coward out of him. He may start thinking that he can't beat you.
And learned moves in the ring, about how to knock his timing, and things like that. And sometimes got to give him something to aim at to set him up, and he throws the punch you were wanting him too .. then you bang him! That's so much to learn.
It's a mind game, and it's more about skill not power and speed. But those things are good too.
For example, Mike Tyson ... I began once to notice about him that whenever he did get hit with a punch that did hurt him, he had a tendency, to stop throwing combitnations punches after that ... and had a tendency to start holding back ... and start throwing only one punch at a time.
Tyson had heart alright, but did he have as much as he pretended to have? .. or had been hyped to have had?
This is not intended to knock Tyson ... he was a real tough fighter and world champion, but only to make a point is all.
Nor, is this intended to be a criticism either.
JCC