Generational talents.

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CastletonSnob

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What fighters, past or present, do you consider to be once in a generation level talents?

RJJ
SRL
SRR
Floyd
Pacquiao
Ali
Mike Tyson
Usyk
Inoue
 
For me it's somebody whos success isn't solely based on learnt skill. Thereby I'll go with rjj, srr, foreman, louis, moore.
 
what about pacquiao makes him a once in a generation fighter? i would think being the best fighter of your generation should be #1 on the list of criteria and he’s not that.

also lol @ usyk and inoue.
 
KAZSoliloquy said:
what about pacquiao makes him a once in a generation fighter? i would think being the best fighter of your generation should be #1 on the list of criteria and he’s not that.

also lol @ usyk and inoue.
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Usyk is absolutely a generational talent. Only a handful of fighters in boxing history have won a title at HW after winning a title in a lower weight class.
 
For me Mike Tyson has to be one on that list, despite a sense of wasted potential, a man of his size and shape moving like that and committed to that breakneck style, it was a force of nature for a minute, and he was unstoppable when he had his head screwed on and heart still in it.
 
KAZSoliloquy said:
what about pacquiao makes him a once in a generation fighter? i would think being the best fighter of your generation should be #1 on the list of criteria and he’s not that..
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huh? How can a top 15 fighter of all time not be a once a generation level fighter? You never cease to amaze me with your retarded takes. For starters you don't even know what generation level fighter is. I will help you out. It simply means a very rare level of ability that usually comes long once in a generation. That does not literally mean only 1 per generation is allowed as you seem to think. In some cases there can be a few per generation as with Floyd and Manny.

Usyk has not proved to be even close to that. Simply winning titles in a few divisions even for the first time is not enough. You need to demonstrate a special level of ability. If he beats Fury then we can start the conversation.
 
Roids said:
huh? How can a top 15 fighter of all time not be a once a generation level fighter? You never cease to amaze me with your retarded takes.
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if there’s a fighter more talented in the same generation, the first guy can’t be a once in a generation talent, by definition. leave it to roids, eh?
For starters you don't even know what generation level fighter is. I will help you out. It simply means a very rare level of ability that usually comes long once in a generation.
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yeah, by definition, that can’t be manny. whats the issue?
 
The issue is you are taking it far too literally and missing the point as usual of how the term is used. Under your logic the 2nd best fighter of all time is not a generational fighter if the best fighter of all time happened to be in the same generation, while the 50th best could be generational. See the stupidity of your logic?
 
KAZSoliloquy said:
if there’s a fighter more talented in the same generation, the first guy can’t be a once in a generation talent, by definition. leave it to roids, eh?yeah, by definition, that can’t be manny. whats the issue?
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Manny started his career at Light Flyweight, which is 6 weight classes below what Floyd started at, and went on to win titles in 8 different weight classes.
Yea hes a generational talent, even if he lost to Floyd.
 
A guy like Benitez was incredibly talented. He learned some of his craft fighting grown men in unsanctioned bouts as a kid but you've got to be insanely gifted to beat Cervantes over 15 rounds at 17.
 
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Hagler said:
A guy like Benitez was incredibly talented. He learned some of his craft fighting grown men in unsanctioned bouts as a kid but you've got to be insanely talented to beat Cervantes over 15 rounds at 17.
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A teen pro world champ is absolutely a god-like feat in boxing especially.
However it can be hard to compare with laws of future generations.
Wilfred had his pro debut at age 15.
Haney had to fly over to mexico to get a couple pro fights right at age 17, and in the us he was technically still an “amateur boxer”. You need a very good agent and team to get the right loop holes to pull that off today.
Manny had his pro debut at the end of age of 16 in Philippines iirc, there was no option to do it earlier either.
 
KAZSoliloquy said:
would you say michael moorer is a generational talent?
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This is a good point that illustrates the danger of evaluating a fighter's place in history in the middle of their career. At one point Moorer was 35-0 a former LHW champion who just wrested the HW title from Holyfield. I bet at the time he looked like a unbeatable phenom too before getting KO'ed by Foreman his very next match.
 
KillerIsBack V2 said:
A teen pro world champ is absolutely a god-like feat in boxing especially.
However it can be hard to compare with laws of future generations.
Wilfred had his pro debut at age 15.
Haney had to fly over to mexico to get a couple pro fights right at age 17, and in the us he was technically still an “amateur boxer”. You need a very good agent and team to get the right loop holes to pull that off today.
Manny had his pro debut at the end of age of 16 in Philippines iirc, there was no option to do it earlier either.
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I've always believed Benitez was the most gifted boxer of them all. Had his career been handled properly he would be mentioned with SRL and Henry Armstrong - and probably healthier today too.
 
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