What MMA or kickboxing fighter could've possibly made it as a pro boxer?

[Endziel]

JDS, or Cro Cop perhaps? Cro Cop had solid counter-striking skills.

Edit: By "made it" I mean made it to top 15 or perhaps top 10 of their respective weight class.

 

[Blazeblack]

Cro Cop was relatively successful as an amateur boxer but frankly lacked the chin or defensive skills to box at an elite level.

 

[wilddeuces]

The Klitschkos...

 

[Omni1]

The Klitschkos...

I think he means could have. They were both extremely successful but I think he means those that did not try boxing.

 

[Omni1]

It remains to be seen how well Nickey Holtzken will do. He's off to a great start though.

 

[treelo]

I always thought LeBanner could, but no

 

[aries]

I always thought BJ Penn had pretty good boxing and because he earned a BJJ black belt in such a quick time I imagine he'd be pretty good at boxing if he was training in it full time like a professional.

 

[PHATV]

I think you look at athleticism, speed, timing, footwork, accuracy, etc.

If he had trained for it since his youth, I would say Anderson Silva could have been a legit pro boxer. Or soccer or basketball pro, for that matter. Not too many would have been successful pros that I've seen. Obviously, Noons had a bit of success, but not high-level.

 

[Yodsanan]

Petrosyan, if he had the drive would have gone far.

Would be fun to see someone like Kulabdam try his hands at boxing.

It remains to be seen how well Nickey Holtzken will do. He's off to a great start though.

he's pretty washed up at this point.

 

[Cross_Trainer]

What do you mean by "made it"?

Carved out a decent journeyman's career, or something more impressive?

For example, plenty of elite kickboxers would have been good enough to achieve decent pro careers within the top 100 or 200, which is an achievable bar to shoot for with elite strikers.

Or are you asking for Ring top 10 rankings, or even a championship? Like Skelton, Cobb, the Klitschkos, etc.?

 

[ArtemV]

JDS, lol. I remember the days when Rogan would put JDS on a pedestal and claim how JDS had 'world class' boxing with zero head-movement, footwork that would constantly back him against the cage and carrying his hands at the waist... he had a nice overhand right, that is it lol.

 

[PUO3]

Tyrone Spong.

 

[DeJulez]

JDS, lol. I remember the days when Rogan would put JDS on a pedestal and claim how JDS had 'world class' boxing with zero head-movement, footwork that would constantly back him against the cage and carrying his hands at the waist... he had a nice overhand right, that is it lol.

I wonder how many UFC fans ate that shit up.
That type of stuff leads to a type of thinking that makes people believe these guys are just a few sparring matches from competing with the elites in boxing

 

[tfcfights]

Tyrone spong

 

[Badr Hari]

What the fuck 'made it' means? Aren't Big Baby Miller and Dillian Whyte now close to a title shot? Isn't Povetkin fighting for the title next month? Didn't Vitaly Klitschko transform to a world beater as a boxer after he left kickboxing?

Both JDS and CroCop would have been great boxers if boxing was their only pursuit. Both were talented athletes and both had that warrior mentality. There are entire threads on mixed martial artists and kickboxers and thai fighters jumping to boxing so you can look up hundreds of fighters like the examples I listed above.

 

[Brock-B-level-Athlete]

JDS, lol. I remember the days when Rogan would put JDS on a pedestal and claim how JDS had 'world class' boxing with zero head-movement, footwork that would constantly back him against the cage and carrying his hands at the waist... he had a nice overhand right, that is it lol.

ngannou = best boxer/striker

good old days

 

[ArtemV]

ngannou = best boxer/striker

good old days

I wonder how many UFC fans ate that shit up.
That type of stuff leads to a type of thinking that makes people believe these guys are just a few sparring matches from competing with the elites in boxing

I wonder how many MMA fans think because Dillashaw didn't get beat up in the 2 minutes of sparring footage between him and Lomachenko, that Dillashaw would have a competitive match with Lomachenko in boxing

 

[Brock-B-level-Athlete]

I wonder how many MMA fans think because Dillashaw didn't get beat up in the 2 minutes of sparring footage between him and Lomachenko, that Dillashaw would have a competitive match with Lomachenko in boxing

I think there were a couple here who said that was competitve.

 

[Brock-B-level-Athlete]

 

[LEWIS540]

Any kickboxer who could have made it to would championship level in boxing, almost certainly would have.

For 95% of MMA ditto.