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People call him gifted and they almost use it as a pejorative, this revisionist thought denies the subtlety of what he did between those ropes.
Example: His traps were straight up sublime. They were some of the most creative ever to be plied in the ring, they made smart men gun shy and rendered the dull unconscious.
Years ago did a run down on the Hopkins fight w a few guys on NOBS, dude made Bernard think so much he couldn’t act. Shoot, Mike McCallum, the cerebral fighter of cerebral fighters, called Roy the smartest man he ever fought, He said Roy was steps ahead of him though out their fight, ridiculously high praise. Fast alone doesn’t yield this.
Yes, he was physically gifted, one would have to be blind not see his hand and foot speed. But more importantly, one would also have to have a sophomoric understanding of the sport not see his equivalent gifts, his mind and the effort it required to sharpen the tools he used to remain undefeated for the 16years, the run from the 154lb weight class all the way up to heavyweight, were strongly in play. Physical attributes alone don’t produce those kind of results. He was soooo much more than an athletic freak. I can understand why he would be annoyed w the language.
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