NBA Players that could be Heavy Weight Champ.

After a huge MVP year and showing vast improvement in his all around game; concluded by an uncany game 3 wining shot. The question was asked to me could Lebron James had been HW champion of the world? Some questions quickly came to mind. James would bring 5 attributes to the gym: coditioning, physical size, explosion, ablity to gain boxing IQ, athletic movement. Things that would have to be baptized by fire would be his chin of course. After some thought I answered "yes". Is there any of your picks that could beat my "Champion" in the NBA playoffs at the moment? Lets have a mythical match up. Use five attributes to prove why your NBA player wins.:dunno:

 

Nice choice by going with LBJ and you make good points of why he could be successful. However, my NBA players would beat him because I would use mimicry of already established styles coupled with the NBA player who I think could pull it off the best.

Shaq - I would teach him the jab and he’d win. He has the natural height and size to pull off the style we’d copy. By mimicking Wlad Klitchko’s style of using size and strength over skill my Shaq overpowers your LBJ for a UD.

Elton Brand – I would teach him how to hook off the clinch. He has the natural wingspan to successfully pull off the style we’d copy. By mimicking John Ruiz’ style my Elton Brand leg humps your LBJ to a SD.

 

If I were to answer the question seriously I'd say none.......unless there's an NBA player I'm not aware of with lots of Golden Glove experience.

It's a fools errand IMO to look at any athlete's body, physique, athleticism and hypothesize his ring skills. It's hard enough to gauge actual boxing prospects who haven't yet faced adversity or the proper challenge in the pro ranks...............let alone somebody who has never trained in that particular sport.

30G, not to be an ass-kisser, but I would hypothesize you would take any NBA/Boxer wannabe out in 2 rounds or less.

:fightme:

 

Kermit Washington would've have a PUNCHER's Chance Against Anybody, just Ask Rudy Tomjonovich...Allen Iverson vs. Nate Robinson would B a CLASSIC Little Man Brawl, ala Carbajal-Gonzalez I....



REED:hammert:

 

Noble's right, basketball players in general, suck at fighting. So unless this person had amateur experience and actually knew what he was doing, it'd be curtains.

Lets see Lebron get punched in the face or attacked by someone first. Sure he's got the athleticism and condition and spirit to fight, but skills pay the bills....and athletes of other professions typically dont have boxing skill.

 

Bron has the weirdest footwork ever. He runs like a penguin. That wouldn´t work in boxing. Varejao could be a good opponent for young prospects, that need to improve their KO-percentage.

 

I'm gonna go with crazy ass Ron Artest. That dude might be too stupid to feel pain. I'll Holla 5000

 

I'd guess any number of guys in the nba and nfl couldve been heavyweight champs if they had been training in boxing since the age of 8 or 10.

 

i really think a lot of the next great american heavyweights are playing linebacker or running back for the NFL right now. i think Al Wilson could have been a contenda. Ray Lewis? Brandon Jacobs? i think there are a lot of NFLers that had they been training as boxers would be pretty good right now

 

Roy Jones is PIDGEON Toe'd, Meaning his Feet Point INWARDS Toward Each Other...Nonetheless, he had EXCELLENT Footwork...Bron's Feet Point OUTWARD, but Other than the VISUAL Aspect of it, his Footwork is FINE...He's BALANCED & Generally Gets WHERE he Wants to on the Court BEFORE the Other Guy Does...



REED:hammert:

 

Very good choice Ron Artest came in under the radar! Queens born 6'7 265, and solid. He has a big chip on his shoulder and want back down. He has seen some action in the streets nyfor sure, but if we goto the tape; as a Pacer has KO'd a fan. Ron step to him with conventional stance dropped aguy with the long straight right! Good choice! Ron my be a lil too grimie for King James.

 

w/the NFL Being a More PHYSICAL Sport than the NBA, that Makes Sense...


REED:mj:

 

I would have to disagree: Jamel Mc Clain, Kendal Holt (NBA Seattle), and even myself. I started boxing at 23. Straight out pro NFL. Had 9 am fights and have been ranked top 10 in all bodies at a point. I beat up Lacy in my last fight and the whole time I thought this guy rep the USA in the Olympics?! Lebron is 6'8 260 easy! I think highly of myself but after about a year in the game with an A+ trainer. I may have some problems holding him off.opcorn:

 

Gill*

 

how many heavyweight champs could have made the NBA?

Hot shit...the answer appears to be zero. Maybe the two sports require different skillsets? Ain't that profound?

Oh yeah...Roy played minor league basketball. I guess I'm wrong.

 

:doh:

getting punched for chump change can never lure the elite athletes.

 

The Klitschko brothers could do what Dampier does.

 

NEITHER Klit is 7ft Tall...


REED:hammert:

 

Well Barea isn´t even 5´8 and he matched Dampier´s rebounding and blocking numbers in some play-off games. ::

 

being athletic doesn't = heavyweight champ and being tall doesn't = NBA.

chagaev probably couldn't make any D1 linebacker corps and yet he would go 150-0 against the 150 top linebackers in the NFL. The guys who can be the best in more than one sport are few and far between and this is magnified even further when one of the sports is boxing.

 

if you take the top 1000 athletes that compose nfl and nba or guys who couldn't quite make it to either league it is safe to assume that at least 1 out every 50 of these fellows has the toughness and durability to take punches and compete in boxing. to believe otherwise seems pretty naive to me.

if these 20 guys had trained in boxing since an early age we wouldn't even be talking about the heavyweight deadwood around today.

boxing gets the bottom of the barrell athletes and even an also ran like grant made it to a title shot.

 

Michael Grant took up boxing in 1992 after watching Bowe/Holyfield I. He was already into his 20s before lacing a glove and he had a good record, having beaten the likes of Izon, Savarese, and Golota. He wasn't ready for somebody like Lewis so soon and was scared out of his mind.
We can use Grant as a gauge for how an NBA player might do if they really dedicate themselves to the sport. Grant afterall was a multi-sport athlete but he wasn't a born and bred boxer like most guys who grew up into boxing. Who knows what somebody like LeBron James might've accomplished if he had been boxing since his youth.:dunno:

 

there have been thousands of guys floating around professional sports who are more fluid athletes than grant, and grant had marginal punch resistance at best.

 

There may be nfl or nba guys who could do well in boxing, but there is no reason to assume they are the best players in the nfl or nba. You don't need to be a top of the barrell athlete to be a good boxer; in fact, there is more evidence to the contrary.

 

There Is???...


REED:dunno:

 

I'm never implied the guys who excell at those sports would be top boxers. some could however, I'm sure. I contend that there are plenty of guys who couldn't even make it into those two leagues who if trained and dedicated in boxing from the outset instead of hoops or football would be able to smash these guys in the hw division now.

 

Larry Johnson in his youth was a Golden Gloves contender in Texas. Not sure if he was actually any good, but he did have some experience.

 

yeah, but if you have ability in both then you have a choice to make....and most guys are gonna pick the sport where you don't get hit in the face and generally get paid more.

Lebron might not be a potential heavyweight champion of the world.....but that is more likely the case than it is that Valuev is an MVP trapped in the wrong sport

 

Name one top notch boxer who made the big time in another sport. I know of none.

Name one who could have made the big time. I still don't know of any.

Have any pros even won a national am title in boxing? I know of none.

 

Here's what You Said...

You don't need to be a top of the barrell athlete to be a good boxer; in fact, there is more evidence to the contrary.

U DON'T Have to Make it to the "Big Time" in Another Sport to B Regarded as a Top Notch Athlete...Roy Jones Jr. was an EXCELLENT Athlete who just So Happened to Box Profficiently...Fighters like Sugar Ray Robinson, Ray Leonard, Ali, Sweet Pea, etc., OBVIOUSLY Had an Athletic BASE to their Styles...FLUIDITY, BALANCE, COORDINATION, SPEED, MOBILITY, etc...

These R Some of THE Greatest Prizefighters EVER....

REED:hammert: