Fighters who threw out all the tools to just leave the Hammer!!

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Some fighter are lucky enough to be born with a lot of physical/mental attributes to go far in this business but as fame/fortune kicks in it ends up reduced them to nothing more than glorified KO artists. Of course some of these fighters still achieved a hell of a lot in there career, but at the same time left us all wondering how much further they could of gone if they had the requried discipline and focus to keep at the top in this sport. (ala Calzaghe/Hopkins)

Obviously Tyson springs to mind for many going from a wrecking ball who has sound boxing fundamentals to becoming nothing more than a head hunter later in his career. Again, many also say Hamed when down the same path where fame and fortune kicked in he started getting lazy in training.

So if you had given the like of Tyson/Hamed the sort of dedication found in the likes of Hopkins, could they have gone any further in the sport??

Also, can you think of any other fighters who have gone down the same path?

Ok I was going to respond to that but we'd end up being extremely tedious with each other for half an hour so I can't be bothered!!! But fair enough.

Good article.

I would say Ricky Hatton progressively got worse, stopped bobbing and weaving, was less patient and content to put away the job. On balance, was a much better boxer than he will be remembered for. Classic case of playing to his media portrayal.

I think that's a good example Jammin, after the Tzsyu fight he only seemed to want to fight in that completely overwhelming style, perhaps was his downfall, but then again against the two he lost to, I can't see him ever beating them.

jammin wrote:Good article.

I would say Ricky Hatton progressively got worse, stopped bobbing and weaving, was less patient and content to put away the job. On balance, was a much better boxer than he will be remembered for. Classic case of playing to his media portrayal.

Yep totally agree Ricky went head hunting and leading with his face,one of Hatton's major assets was his body punching he totally started discarding it.

Gerard McClellan was a pretty good boxer behind a jab when he chose to do it. Went for the hammer most of the time. Had he boxed sensibly against Benn he would have won and been ok today.

Fighters who threw out all the tools to just leave the Hammer!!

James Butler?

Might sound silly but I think Audley Harrison fits the bill. Not convinced he was eer as talented as his gold suggested but early in his career he boxed a bit more. By the tail end though he seemed reliant on just landing a big punch and his workrate was basically non existant. Even in prizefighter all he did was look for KO shots and was getting outworked by guys like Coleman Barrett and Danny Hughes.