Agree or Disagree: Reem has below average boxing skills?!

[Mpower]

Beaten many times by guys with better hands... still beat Belfort twice and JDS.
What u guys say?

Agreed. He hits hard, kicks and knees well. His style and skillset worked much better in K-1 with the ability to protect your chin with big boxing gloves, stalk and throw single punches.

 

[Eater of Souls]

Not great in a traditional boxing sense, but still a very skilled striker with his hands. And very good for MMA, especially at HW where guys tend to be power punchers without a ton of emphasis on technique. But as @KONE said, quite brittle.

Not just his chin, but his striking defense. He still tries to cover like he is wearing something much larger than four ounce gloves.

 

[priderulez]

for mma standards it is pretty legit imo. histechnique that is. however he cant handle pressure and cannot take a shot for some time now

 

[Burning Hammer]

He's a good boxer, but it's not like boxing directly translates over to MMA. In modern boxing, Reem is pretty good. Watch him kickboxing, he utilizes the ring well and even uses surface area of gloves to parry and deflect. He's got good ring skills, but small gloves don't help as much covering and his parry doesn't work as well in MMA.

 

[*Z*]

If you consider JDS a decent boxer then Overeem is above average. He boxed JDS up.

 

[skullmaskkid]

he would get REKT in boxing by journeyman. He won k1 via his clinch work and strength

 

[hardcoreBE]

This would imply he ever had a chin.

Yeah well in the past he would try to turtle up, now he just goes out cold.

Big Reem fan over here though. I'm still a bit bummed he went for that choke against Stipe instead of just raining down punches, he would have been the champ. Now he'll never get the one title he hasn't won.

 

[Sgt Smith]

Not just his chin, but his striking defense. He still tries to cover like he is wearing something much larger than four ounce gloves.

Yeah, that high guard is not a good tactic in MMA. Sometimes it works, but it's pretty easy to get around up against the cage when the range is close.

 

[One MMA Fan]

For MMA standards he has way above average boxing skills.

Can even call it good boxing .. the lesser part that drags him down is the defense aspect.

Now his kick boxing skills are off the charts.

Also you need to understand the man also fights different because of the current chin status and he is fighting in HWs it's not like he can get away with it to many times.

I don't know how you can call him bellow average under any circumstance the man is smart, tricky, understands range, sets traps, times you, etc etc.. it's already advance shit.

 

[screaminleeman]

most mma fighters have below average boxing skills.

I was going to say something along the same lines. Even the highest level kickboxers have below level pure boxing skills in comparison to average professional boxers.

It is amazing that this is not understood.

 

[Aluminati]

If Chin is a boxing skill, he's an amateur.
His defense needs some work for sure.
He has power and good technique, but his bread and butter is his kickboxing and clinch work.

 

[Koro_11]

Beaten many times by guys with better hands... still beat Belfort twice and JDS.
What u guys say?

Relative to pro boxers yes, relative to mma no, and relative to Bisping, Alistair is sugar ray Leonard.

 

[Obsidian Fracture]

Reem is amazing offensively, but his skills seem to fly out the window when he gets hit too hard. A shame he didn't have that Fedor chin. He can also get tired since the Ubereem days came to an end.

The bigger gloves in K1 helped his defense massively.

 

[JKS]

Overeem has never had a boxing style, overall his boxing is not that good....he doesnt box. He's an excellent puncher though and has adapted this style well for mma. Big power, good accuracy and technique and distance management.

 

[leatherneck]

He's probably the best offensive powerhouse the UFC HW division has ever seen. Too bad his durability is among some of the worst

1. best "O" in HW UFC was Mark Kerr/W HEADBUTTS, AND ITS NOT CLOSE.

2. yes, his durability is his problem

 

[phd]

I think it's impossible to really know an MMA guy's "boxing skills" if you're only basing the opinion off of MMA fights. I suppose Reem is different because he was so successful in K1, but even there you've got a lot more variables than a boxing match.

All that said, I'd have to believe that The Reem's boxing is about as good as you're gonna see in the HW division. I'm of course basing this on the fact that boxing does not equal punching. Boxing is punching -and- not getting hit. Considering The Reem's chinny-ness and his level of success, I'd say the "not getting hit" part of the equation is a plus.

 

[Azderiel]

Beaten many times by guys with better hands... still beat Belfort twice and JDS.
What u guys say?

Compared to whom or what?

 

[CereserBr]

Compared to whom or what?

Compared to Colon?

 

[Supatune]

ask best boxer in the HW division JDS

 

[Frode Falch]

His hands where very sharp under golden glory.