Floyd Mayweather-genetic talent or outstanding work ethic?

Question

Is Floyd's undoubted success due to genetically inherited talent or his outstanding work ethic? We should also consider that his Father and uncle were both professional boxers themselves. I don't know a great deal about him but I hear that he does not drink alchohol and infact Ricky Hatton went out getting drunk after his loss while Floyd was back in the gym. Ive heard he never stops training.

Also think about someone like Mike Tyson-after his coach sadly passed away it seemed to coincide with his downturn first loss and eventual sad demise.

We can apply this to other areas of our own lives and also look at other areas such as musicians, artists and athletes.

Is Floyd the best because of how nature made him or is it because he works harder than anyone else? It seems to me that environment (how raised) and work ethic are more important.

This is a deep question so take some time to think before you answer. Also look at people you admire and areas you yourself have suceeded/failed.

Answer 1

mayweather takes the easy fights & avoids the tough opponents,the only time mayweather got in the ring with the top fighter in the division was against jose luis castillo & mayweather lost that fight but got a gift from the judges...after that mayweather would cherrypick his opponts & avoid the top fighters in the division...plain & simple he fights ppl he knows he could beat and avoids the prime fighters..mayweather is the biggest coward to ever ware boxing gloves & all the mayweather nutthuggers are just as fake as there hero..here is a video when mayweather got beat down compubox numbers dont lie...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2sZVx05B...

Answer 2

Boxing is in his famliy the guy has been raised on nothing but boxing. You can only inherit so much you have to work hard to become a world champion dosent matter who your father is look at Marvin Frazier his father is on of the greatest champions of all time and he never became much of anything. World Championship Talent isnt inherited you have to work plain and simple the guy works hard and thats how he is at the top of the hill.

Answer 3

He does 3 things that make him that great.

1. he fights in weight classes that are comfortable for him physically. Too many fighters try to move up or down and the weight change was difficult for the fighter. A fighter that has to starve himself to make weight probably should not fight in that weight.

2. Weakness not being seen. So many fighters never try to improve their weaknesses enough to make it a strength. Look at tyson he always had problems with taller boxers who could jab(lewis,douglas,rudduck,green) or that jermain taylor has a great jab but poor stamina so if you make him work early you can take later rounds. or even better gattis always dropping his hands low in middle rounds. Floyd tries to make sure that what ever he lacks you can't use against him in their fight. you have power and you are a knockout artist he'll make you box. you have fast hands and movement, he'll counter and avoid sitting still.

3. He has a great trainer. his uncle was a great fighter and knew what it took to beat a fighter. think about great coaches in other sports. they were not HOF players(phil jackson,jerry sloan,larry brown) but they understand the sport and their player/boxers. he trains mayweather to change his still to fit the opponeant.

Answer 4

Both.  He's gifted genetically, but he also works as hard as anyone else in the sport.  That combination is why he's so good.

Answer 5

In the case of Floyd I think it's a little of both.  There are pleny of people that couldn't do what he's done even if they worked harder than him.  Still, hard work trumps all.

The thing is, is the hard work something everyone can do?  Or is the ability to work hard something that's in our genes?  Let's face it, some people bust their butt every day.  Some people never do once.  I think we're born with it.

Answer 6

Mayweather has a mental game.When he's not boxing, the guy's weights only 150. Most guy's jump up to 160 to 170. He trains while other guy's are sleeping or having fun. Jordan worked on his shot. Guy's was trying to hurt him, when he came in for dunks. He worked hard on his shot, defence and offence. Jerry Rice said the training camp wasn't enough. He took it the extra mile. Some people don't believe in going the extra mile, just enough to get by. Patients is some were not use to. Its call putting the mental behind the physical.

Answer 7

Marciano, an Italian-American, was born and raised in Brockton, Massachusetts to Pierino and Pasqualina Marchegiano. Rocky had 3 sisters -- Alice, Concetta, and Elizabeth and 2 brothers - Louis and Peter. When he was about eighteen months old, he contracted pneumonia, from which he almost died. As a youth, he played baseball, worked out on homemade weightlifting equipment, and used a stuffed mail bag that hung from a tree in his back yard as a heavy bag. He attended Brockton High School, where he played on the American football and baseball teams. However, he was cut from the school baseball team because he had joined a church league, violating a school rule forbidding players from joining other teams. He later dropped out of school after finishing tenth grade. Marciano then worked as a chute man on delivery trucks for the Brockton Ice and Coal Company. He also worked as a ditch digger and as a shoemaker. Rocky was also a resident of Hanson, Massachusetts where the house he lived in still stands on Main St.

In March of 1943, Marciano was drafted into the army for a term of two years. Stationed in Wales, he helped ferry supplies across the English Channel to Normandy. After the war ended he completed his service in March 1946 at Fort Lewis, Washington.[1]

[edit] Amateur circuit

While awaiting discharge, Marciano, representing the army, won the 1946 amateur armed forces boxing tournament. His amateur career was interrupted on March 17, 1947, when Marciano stepped into the ring as a professional competitor. That night he beat Lee Epperson by a knockout in three rounds. In an unusual move, however, Marciano returned to the amateur ranks and fought in the Golden Gloves All-East Championship Tournament in March 1948. However, he was beaten by Coley Wallace during the tournament. He continued to fight as an amateur throughout that spring and competed in the AAU Olympic tryouts in the Boston Garden. There he knocked out George McGinnis, but hurt his hands during the bout and was forced to withdraw from the tournament. The McGinnis fight was his last amateur bout.[2] His amateur years, with an 8-4 record, would be the last time Marciano experienced a loss.[3]

In late March, 1947, Marciano and a few of his friends traveled to Fayetteville, North Carolina, to try out for the Fayetteville Cubs, a farm team for the Chicago Cubs baseball team.[4] Marciano lasted three weeks before being cut from the team. After failing to find a spot on another team, he returned to Brockton and began boxing training with longtime friend, Allie Colombo. Al Weill served as his manager and Charley Goldman as his trainer and teacher.

[edit] Professional career

Although he had one professional fight (against Lee Epperson) on his record, the night of July 12, 1948, marked the time when Marciano began fighting permanently as a professional boxer. That night he notched a win over Harry Bilizarian. He won all his first sixteen bouts by knockout, all before the fifth round, and nine before the first round was over. Don Mogard became the first boxer to last the distance with "The Rock," but Marciano won by decision.

Early in his career, he changed the spelling of his last name. The ring announcer in Providence, Rhode Island could not pronounce Marchegiano, so Marciano's handler, Al Weill, suggested they create a pseudonym. The first suggestion was Rocky Mack, which Marciano rejected. He decided to go with the more Italian-sounding "Marciano."[1]

Marciano won three more fights by knockout, and then he met Ted Lowry, who, according to many scribes and witnesses, probably managed to win three or four of the ten rounds from Marciano. Nevertheless, Marciano kept his winning streak alive by beating Lowry by decision. Marciano fought Lowry again in November 1950 and it too went the scheduled ten round distance. Four more knockout wins followed his first fight with Lowry, including a five rounder on December 19, 1949 with Phil Muscato, an experienced heavyweight from Buffalo, NY, and the first "name fighter" Marciano would oppose. Three weeks after that fight Rocky beat Carmine Vingo in a fifth round knockout in New York that almost killed Vingo. When Rocky next fought in late March 1950, he gained a hard-fought ten-round decision victory over the fighter who would become his 1953 world title challenger Roland La Starza. The victory over La Starza was extremely close. Marciano won 6-4 on all scorecards.

Marciano won three more knockouts in a row before a rematch with Lowry. Marciano again won, by unanimous decision. After that, he won four more by knockout, and, after a decision win over Red Applegate late April 1951, he was showcased on national TV for the first time, when he knocked out Rex Layne in six rounds on July 12, 1951. One more win, and he was again on national TV, this time against Joe Louis. Marciano defeated Louis in what would be the latter's last career bout, a result that left him with mixed emotions as Louis had been the idol of his childhood.

[edit] Championship

After four more wins, including victories over Lee Savold and Harry Matthews, Marciano faced world heavyweight champion, 38-year-old Jersey Joe Walcott in Philadelphia on September 23, 1952. Walcott dropped Marciano in the first round and steadily built a points lead, but in the thirteenth Marciano's "Suzie Q" right cross put Walcott down. Walcott could not beat the count and Marciano was the new world heavyweight champion. His first defense came a year later against Walcott, who this time was knocked out in the first round. Next, it was Roland La Starza's turn to challenge Marciano. After building a small lead on the judges' scorecards all the way to the middle rounds, Marciano won by a technical knockout in the eleventh round.

Then came two consecutive bouts against former world heavyweight champion and light-heavyweight legend Ezzard Charles, who became the only man to ever last fifteen rounds against Marciano. Marciano won the first fight on points and the second by an eight-round knockout. Then, Marciano met British and European champion, Don Cockell. Marciano knocked him out in the ninth.

Marciano's last title bout was against Archie Moore on September 21, 1955. The bout was originally scheduled for September 20, but because of hurricane warnings it had to be moved to the 21st. Marciano was knocked down for a two count in the second round, but Marciano got up and knocked out Moore in the 9th round. Moore was also knocked down in the 6th and 8th round but was saved by the bell.

Marciano announced his retirement on April 27, 1956.[5]

[edit] After boxing

Marciano considered a comeback in 1959 when Ingemar Johansson won the heavyweight championship from Floyd Patterson on June 26, 1959. After only a month of training in 3 years, Marciano decided against it and never seriously considered a comeback again.[6]

After his retirement, Marciano invested in restaurants, though many of his investments (such as buying Florida wetlands) were disastrous. Many times, the money he gave to his friends was not repaid.

He hosted a weekly boxing show on TV for one year. For a brief period, he worked as a troubleshooting referee in wrestling (Marciano was a good wrestler in high school). He continued as a referee and boxing commentator in boxing matches for many years.

In late July of 1969, shortly before his death, Marciano participated in the filming of the fantasy, The Superfight: Marciano vs. Ali. The two boxers were filmed sparring, then the film was edited to match a computer simulation of a hypothetical fight between them, each in their prime. The bout was aired on January 20, 1970. Marciano won by KO in 13.

[edit] Death

In 1969, on the eve of his 46th birthday, Marciano was a passenger in a small private plane, a Cessna 172 ([2]) headed to Des Moines, Iowa. It was at night, and bad weather set in. The pilot, who was not certified to fly in such dangerous conditions, tried to set the plane down at a small airfield outside Newton, Iowa, but hit a tree two miles short of the runway. The plane was out of gas as well. Rocky, the young pilot, and another passenger (alleged Iowa mob boss Louis Fratto's son) were killed on impact. Marciano was on his way to give a speech to support a friend's son and there was a surprise birthday celebration waiting for him. He had hoped to return early morning for his 46th birthday celebration with his wife. He was coming from a dinner in Chicago at STP CEO Andy Granatelli's home. Marciano died intestate.

He is interred in a crypt at Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His wife, who died five years after him at the age of 46, is entombed next to him. His father died in March 1973, his mother died in early January 1986.

[edit] Legacy

In 1971, Ring magazine founder Nat Fleischer named Marciano as the tenth greatest heavyweight champion ever.[7] In 1998, Ring magazine named Marciano as the sixth greatest heavyweight champion ever. In 2002, Ring Magazine numbered Marciano at #12 on the list of the 80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years. In 2003, Ring Magazine rated Marciano #14 on the list of 100 greatest punchers of all time. In 2005, Marciano was named the fifth greatest heavyweight of all time by the International Boxing Research Organization.[8] A 1977 ranking by Ring magazine listed Marciano as the greatest Italian-American fighter. In 2007, on ESPN.com's list of the 50 Greatest Boxers of All Time, Marciano was ranked #14. A 1968 radio computer simulation by Murry Woroner concluded that Marciano was the greatest heavyweight champion.[3]

Marciano holds the record for the longest undefeated streak by a heavyweight and for being the only World Heavyweight Champion to go undefeated throughout his career. This record was challenged by Larry Holmes in 1985 when Holmes went 48-0 before losing to  

Answer 8

I think its both, but it is hard to know what his training looks like since (as far as I know) no one really gets to see how he trains day in and day out. Yeah, you get public training sessions but those are quite probably just for show and don't show what he really does. However, you can tell that he trains very well. Look at his weight at the Zab Judah fight, for example. He weighed in at 147 the night before and was still 147 the next day. The fact that he didnt need to hydrate to make weight is an example of how disciplined he is in his training.

His talent is also unquestionable. It could be the genes, it could be from growing up with a boxing family, who knows. He's a natural.

I also think he is the best because he is great at getting inside the heads of his opponents. He gets a lot of criticism for being so outspoken before fights (to be honest, its very annoying) but it definitely works. I was watching Hatton on one of the HBO podcasts before the fight and he basically said "Alright Floyd, we get it... you're the best, you dont need to keep saying it all the time!" When a fighter admits that his opponent is the best, I don't give him much of a chance. Judah entered the fight just hoping to finish (which became more and more obvious as the fight wore on) and you can't win if you go into the ring thinking like that.

So Mayweather is a talented, hard working, psychologist.