Who Did the Most with the Least??

Which fighters accomplished the most with the least? It's easy to latch onto the fighters who often make boxing look easy and handle most of their opposition with ease. But who are your favorites who are not the fastest, most skilled or hardest punching who were able to achieve success at the highest levels and defeat and/or hold their own against "more talented" opposition?

 

Barkley

Fullmer

Marciano

 

Nice topic.

Frank Bruno comes to mind. He became the WBC Heavyweight champion only having POWER and size. He had no speed, weak chin, no stamina, no ring smarts, no real boxing talent.

 

My own personal favorite is probably Vito Antuofermo. In nearly every fight I've seen of his. he was at a skill disadvantage, was cut-prone, and didn't have the power to bail himself out of a fight he was losing, but he was a top contender and eventually a World Champion and was able to hang with the best in the world at his weight...including 15 tough rounds with Marvin Hagler.

 

Bruno's chin wasn't bad

 

Not until you hit it.

 

roy jones

 

And he was Black.:doh: Wouldn't have even gotten a title shot today. Much less 4.

:tease:

I'd like to say Marciano...but there were others who had less........like Vito Antuofermo...the guy didn't even have two properly formed feet, one of them was a club foot. He cut under insult, slow ass.....club foot bastid.:doh:

 

:: ... but damn, was it his chin, or more so his stamina? I always thought the latter contributed to it more than his merely not being able to take a shot

 

beat me to it....you left out his club foot.

Fuck it....having two good feet isn't enuff sometimes. This guy couldn't walk, much less dance.

 

Any time Manny Steward mentions weight training it goes something like this


"Weights.....Bruno.....Stamina".

 

agREED on Bruno's stamina being his Achilles Heel rather than his chin. And he wasn't all that unskilled...but when he ran out of gas he was like the Robot from Lost in Space when someone removed his power pack.::

 

Arturo Gatti.

 

John Ruiz.

 

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

Shit, didn't notice where it said "favorite". ::

Ruiz qualifies as "did the most with the least", but he's certainly not my favorite.

 

I still think Ruiz's most impressive feat was being the only "Heavyweight Champion" to lose his "title" TWICE to former Middleweight champs. That is a feat that may never been replicated.

 

Lamotta and Graciano

 

Carlos Baldomir

 

Michael Watson.

He was nothing special i terms of speed, chin, stamina, power...but he managed to be the first to beat Nigel benn and TWICE almost defeated a prime Eubank.

 

Good one i guess but I think Baldomir was a guy who made more of his fortunate timing than anything else.

 

The 2nd Time DOESN'T Count:nono: ...


REED:tease:

 

Rocky Marciano - no description needed the guy had a 69 inch reach ::

George Foreman - IMO he was never really all that skilled but managed to stake his claim to greatness.

Aturo Gatti - The guy is a school yard boxer yet he managed to become a millionare and a house hold name.

John Ruiz - as much as I don't like him , with grappling skills he hung on to the title for awhile.

 

LaMotta can't count because he had real legit skills ....

 

How Bout Dwight Braxton/Muhammad Qawi???...

An Incredibly SHORT,SQUATTY,SLOW (of Foot & Hand)Fighter who Won Titles @ Lightheavy AND Crusier...

Braxton WASN'T a Powderpuff Puncher,but he Rarely if Ever Stopped Guys w/Single Shots...& if U Kept him on the OUTSIDE,Braxton was COMPLETELY INeffective...The Blueprint for Beating him was EASY,yet Not Many Guys could Get it Done During Braxton's PRIME...

His ASSETS were Strength,Determination & a Reliable Chin...Come to Think of it,Braxton Actually Turned his LACK of Height N 2 an Asset,Cause he was 1 of the More DIFFICULT "Pressure Fighters" to Nail CLEANLY...

There was ALOT of Guys who had Considerably MORE Talent than Braxton/Muhammad Qawi,yet Accomplished ALOT less...



REED

 

Matthew Saad Muhammad - Very raw guy coming up with zero defense. I guess you could call him the Gatti of his era. Most dangerous when he was hurt he got by mainly on heart, guts and a bit of power.

 

Gatti had some decent skills. His boxing ability during "rebirth" under McGirt was still less so than it was when he did box in his younger days, such as the Patterson fights. Gatti had reasonably good handspeed and legs and athleticism. He did more than he was supposed to because of his longevity (he should have been a shot fighter long before he became one), but he probably could've done a little better when he was having those life-and-death wars in the late 90s if he had trained harder and not been partying so much.

He was more of a boxer-puncher in his younger days from what I hear.

 

I love watching Qawi fights.

The thing about "talent" is that sometimes it's hard to really define. For instance, is it meant by athleticism or physical gifts? Although Qawi lacked in those areas, I would say he had a special talent for picking up the sport and the tools of the trade well. He lacked some of the physical talent, but had a talent for just simply fighting and improving quickly.

 

Saad Muhammad learned quickly by being put in tough early in his career.

Like Gatti, he never met a punch he didn't like to get hit by. Unfortunately it took a toll and he was a shot fighter at a fairly young age.

 

the blade.