It's more than just technical skills, as unorthodox fighters who weren't the most technical (RJJ, Ali) were great technicians. Would you describe it as a fighter who knows how to apply his skills and game plan very well? Someone who really knows what they are doing in there and does things in advance? Being great at exploiting any weaknesses or mistakes of the opponent?
I would never have classed Jones or Ali as technicians, personally. They were virtuosos, blessed with insane physical gifts and an innate sense of distance and timing. Technician to me is more a Mayweather, Hopkins, Lomachenko etc. Even though they may also be blessed with physical talent they have solid, textbook fundamentals.
Andre Ward Vasyl Lomachenko Floyd Mayweather All great technical boxers but nothing virtuoso or unorthodox or flashy about them.
When you look up technician in the dictionary you'll see a picture of Bernard Hopkins next to the definition.
The Answer is 2-Fold, in REED's Opinion... TECHNICAL/FUNDAMENTAL Skill is an Obvious Way of Gauging, but to REED, a "Technician" is a Also a Guy Who STUDIES his Opponent, the Guy Whose Thoughts You Can Almost "See" Unfolding, Literally... A THINKER More than a Pure REACTOR, if that Makes Sense... REED
Someone with an excellent grasp of the fundamentals of the game. Punching technique, accuracy, and a good strategy. They don't always have that one or two SPECIAL qualities that allow them to be a virtuoso type of fighter like an Ali if Jones, but pure skill level allows them to compete amongst the best. Hopkins is a prime example, but his athleticism is often overlooked. His reflexes were great, and movement was excellent, combined with all the old school skills he possessed. His athleticism helped him a lot against less athletic foes like Trinidad, Pavlik, Wright, and Tarver. Ward is a great example even though his style of fighting bores me.
Exactly why a massive % of winners in Mythical Matchups are the older fighters. 'Superior affleticism, innit?' gets you so far...but old, proven, tried and tested skills (which are almost non-existent in any other sport affected by equipment changes)....pay the bills.
Technician in my opinion is a guy that fights according to the textbook...a guy whose style of fighting can be taught as "best practice".
yeah, I was agreeing with you. Erratic claim that these guys are sometime classified as technicians is weird. I almost always hear that these guys made it big despite doing everything wrong technically
As REED Alluded to in his Post, there's MORE to Being a "Technician" than Mere MASTERY of Technique...Kelly Pavlik was TECHNICALLY Sound, but he Damn Sure Wasn't a "Technician"... There's a "Thinking Man's" Approach, an Almost CLINICAL Way of Disposing of Opponents, that Ali and RJ Clearly Possessed...Despite their Athletic Gifts, they Beat Guys w/their BRAIN Just as Readily as they Did w/Athleticism... REED Thinks This is What Erratic was Getting @ When he Included Ali and Roy In his Opening Post... REED
It's a fair point, and I wouldn't suggest for a moment that guys like Roy, Ali and Hamed were completely devoid of technical acumen, to get to the levels they did you would still have to have a decent knowledge of the fundamentals. They were still much more reliant on their physical and athletic abilities though. I think Xplosive recently posted a video where Andre Ward was talking about Roy Jones and how he was a massive fan of him and tried to emulate his style, but he quickly realised it wasn't working because plain and simply he wasn't Roy and only Roy could do those things, so he had to change it up. Interesting point about Pavlik was that straight after the Hopkins fight Bernard was telling Kelly's trainers that their boy was a good fighter but he makes fundamental errors such as standing too straight up and not bending his knees. I saw a recent video where Floyd reprimands a coach training a young fighter at his gym for having his guy standing too straight up when doing the pads. These guys just have the techniques locked down. I guess the whole thing really comes down to which fighters you would rather have train a rookie boxer, out of Roy and Hopkins you'd rather be trained by B-Hop, even though Roy was the better fighter.
