NFL Players boxing

As a fan of both sports i was interested in the comments of the article in the link below.Obviously NFL stars are top athletes, but the comment that if Demarcus Ware had trained from juniors then the Klitchko brothers would not be HW champs had me feeling that it surely must have been tongue in cheek as its an extremely bold statement.Had thre been an athetic looking US heavyweight champion ruling at the time, then im not so sure these comments would have been made.Im interested to know other people's feelings on the matter, and how good this Zbikowski guy could actually be. Also which guys from other sports do you think would have made good boxers?

http://blogs.nfl.com/2011/03/15/zbikowski-ocho-headlines-ultimate-nfl-boxing-card/

What interested me is that he weighed in under 200lbs, have had people say you can't do that for a Heavyweight fight.

You can weigh what you like for a HW fight...RJJ barely scraped the CW limit when he fought Riuz!

accoridng to teddy atlas on fight night, basket ball is a good breeding ground for boxers. Wlad was a semi pro i think

Cruiserweight limit was 190 pounds when Jones fought Ruiz though, Jones was above that. I'd heard different from a few people but nothing solid to back it up either way.

accoridng to teddy atlas on fight night, basket ball is a good breeding ground for boxers.
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Also seems to be a breeding ground for sex pests...I'm looking at YOU Kobe Bryant! Hey, maybe Kobe could follow in Tyson's footsteps...no, not THOSE footsteps, the other ones!


Cruiserweight limit was 190 pounds when Jones fought Ruiz though, Jones was above that. I'd heard different from a few people but nothing solid to back it up either way.
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Still don't think Jones weighed over 15 stone though which, as you will probably agree is pretty damn small for a HW

I understand where you are coming from with basketball players physique-wise, with their long arms and general athleticism, but would they have that in-built toughness that you would get from playing American Football? I fancy some of the rugby league guys over here to possibly have the right build and mindset for it(Willie Mason obviously has adecent dig!), as well as the odd Rugby Union player as an exception. Can't see mnay footballers making it with all the play-acting and general lack of testicular fortitude. Unless of coursed they developed Andre Dirrell's style of fighting and i think i could see plenty of similar charcteristics

Pekchenko wrote:I understand where you are coming from with basketball players physique-wise, with their long arms and general athleticism, but would they have that in-built toughness that you would get from playing American Football? I fancy some of the rugby league guys over here to possibly have the right build and mindset for it(Willie Mason obviously has adecent dig!), as well as the odd Rugby Union player as an exception. Can't see mnay footballers making it with all the play-acting and general lack of testicular fortitude. Unless of coursed they developed Andre Dirrell's style of fighting and i think i could see plenty of similar charcteristics

Martinez played football so guess then disproves your theory about footballer not being good boxers.



It take a lot more than physical size and strength to become a good boxer.

You can weigh whatever you want for a Heavyweight fight, there is no limit at all

It take a lot more than physical size and strength to become a good boxer.
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Definitely, just check out Bob 'the Beast' Sapp in pride & K1, big & strong but devoid of talent. Has been referred to as Bob the punchbag! Get a little bored hearing how such & such a sports star or strongman would do in Boxing or MMA, bottom line is they haven't trained in either, or at least not at a pro level. Takes more than a good physique & being athletic to being a world boxing champ.

Definitely, just check out Bob 'the Beast' Sapp in pride & K1, big & strong but devoid of talent. Has been referred to as Bob the punchbag! Get a little bored hearing how such & such a sports star or strongman would do in Boxing or MMA, bottom line is they haven't trained in either, or at least not at a pro level. Takes more than a good physique & being athletic to being a world boxing champ.

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Mariusz Pudzianowski is an example of a strongman who attempted to make the transition to MMA. Despite his immense strength and physique, he ended up tapping out to a washed-up Tim Sylvia in only his 3rd pro fight.

His following fight was against Butterbean, which kind of shows you the level he's at.

Height, reach and athleticism beats size, strength and toughness.

See Manute Bol vs. William Perry!

Talking of NFL players switching over to boxing there's the tale of NFL player Jim Brown putting to Bob Arum in the 1960's that he wanted to challenge Ali.

Ali was in London at the time as was Jim Brown who was filming "The Dirty Dozen" and he let it be known to Bob Arum who he knew, that he wanted to challenge Ali.

Ali heard about this and got Brown to come down to Hyde Park where he was training. He then asked Brown to take as many swings at him as he wanted.

The story goes after a couple of minutes of Brown swinging and missing, with the odd playful slap landing from Ali.

Brown wisely gave up his idea of fighting Ali.

Mariusz Pudzianowski is an example of a strongman who attempted to make the transition to MMA. Despite his immense strength and physique, he ended up tapping out to a washed-up Tim Sylvia in only his 3rd pro fight.

His following fight was against Butterbean, which kind of shows you the level he's at.
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LRR used to wax idiotic about him. I watch the Sylvia fight and it was a race to see whether or not Big Tim would beat him first or if Mariusz would burst a blood vessel. He literally went purple after about three minutes as the blood rushed to his upper body because he gassed so badly. Have to say, it was embarrassing to watch!