Read an interesting piece about Muhammed Ali and Rocky Marciano. The writer noted that Ali defensive skills was more due to his physical skills and speed to escape as opposed to his technical skill. Rocky Marciano began his career as a strong fighter with a knockout punch and raw defensive skills. As he advanced, he learned the basics of defense and while he would never be considered a great defensive fighter, he developed enough skills to deflect punches while delivering knock out punches.
When Marciano retired, he left undefeated and with no apparent brain injuries that could be detected but an Ali got older, his speed left him and he became easier to hit. His third fight with Joe Frazier was a war that shorten both men career and in his fight with Earnie Shavers, he took some massive shots. The younger Ali would have avoided most of those punches, but the older Ali showed he could take a punch, but those punches took their tool. By the time he finished, it was becoming apparent that he suffered injuries and would end up with Parkinson disease.
Roy Jones had a similar career to Ali. Roy Jones had a super-fast hand, and his defensive skills had less to do with technical skills than his physical attributes. After defeating John Ruiz for the Ruiz’s version of the heavyweight crown, he was on the top of the boxing world but a close victory to Antonio Tarver in their first fight showed the first sign of decline and in his second fight with Tarver, he was knocked out in the second round and from that point, he no longer the Roy Jones of old.
He suffered a devastating knockout to Glen Johnson in his first fight after the Tarver loss and lost a unanimous decision to Tarver in their rubber match. When he was younger fighter, he easily beat Bernard Hopkins but later in his declining years, Hopkins easily beat Jones as Hopkins was a solid technician who was able to have a successful career long into his forties as he rarely took a beating during much of his career.
Hopkins learned the ABCs of defense and that allowed him to be one of the great Middleweights. While he never had the physical skills of Jones early in his career but learning the boxing basics allowed him to continue his career and defeat Roy Jones in their second fight
Throughout boxing like other sports, physical skills can take a player only so far at the elite level of professional sports for even the most skilled athletes are competing with other top athletes and learning the basic skills can add to an athlete career. Great boxers often depended not just basic physical skills but also learning the basics. Learning the basics will allow the boxer a longer and more successful career. Larry Holmes’ basic boxing skills allowed him to be competitive with younger fighters into his forties and even fought Holyfield for his title while losing a unanimous decision. (Interesting, George Foreman did win a title at 45 against Michael Moorer and in his reincarnation after a decade layoff, he added some additional defensive skills. Just like Marciano, Foreman was not a great defensive skill, but he picked up enough skills to compete with younger fighters.)
The Donelson Files 