“It’s less about the physical training, in the end, than it is about the mental preparation: boxing is a chess game. You have to be skilled enough and have trained hard enough to know how many different ways you can counterattack in any situation, at any moment.” – Jimmy Smits
Throwing an eye over its more than impressive origins of boxing that are located somewhere in ancient Greece, during the famous Olympics or in arenas with the famous Roman gladiator, boxing has suffered from increasingly alterations over time, until it managed to reach the configuration which we all know today.
Art of hitting
Boxing or pugilism has long ceased to be a simple fight in which two opponents demonstrates each other’s strength and has morphed into an authentic art involving a physical condition to be envied, which automatically leads to a physical training, impressive speed in executing specific movements, but a lot of courage, determination and intelligence tactics.
Known as the art of hitting an opponent, without you having to get hit, you might start loving boxing, even if you do not plan on making a career out of it. In other words, it is possible to practice boxing and outside the ring without facing an opponent. Given its great physical benefits and is considered one of the most complete and complex sports, it’s no surprise that boxing is very loved and embraced by a large number of people.
The big names
On September 12 2015 Floyd Mayweather had his last professional fight against Andre Berto in which he came on top winning a majority decision and with this, achieving a perfect career with 0 draws 0 defeats and tying Rocky Marciano’s record of 49-0-0. Now that he is retired few are left to fill his shoes, few entertaining fighter remain active (Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto, Canelo Alvarez) and giving the fact that the sport of boxing suffers from a loss of fans, athletes and entertaining fights, some of us are wondering who will be the next Muhammad Ali, the next Sugar Ray Robinson.
We do not know what the future holds for us, until then let us remember some of the greatest athletes to put on the gloves that are retired (some more permanently). When i made this list i had to consider the number of fights in ratio with wins and losses, the era the fighter was active and how long ago he retired, because for example 10 to 20 years from now I would have probably put Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the top 2, but he just retired and sometimes time needs to go by for people to really appreciate things. Here is my top 10 retired boxers list.
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