Rank in order what's most important for success in the fight game

[YoungCashMoney]

Fighters have to believe they’re the baddest mother fucker on two feet. Their coaches have to find them matches they can win. I’ve seen a rash of guys going pro too soon and getting their asses beat because their coaches don’t care enough to temper that delusion and let these kids make their own matches.


We train for 100 punches a round for our novice fighters, and between 120-150 for our open fighters. Smart pressure and busy hands win fights in the amateurs

Yep 120-150 in the amateurs sounds right to break down opponents. I only said 100 with the pro game in mind.

You're right about the mental part of boxing. Even me personally, I can come off cocky with the things I say about my own speed/power/heart whichever, I may be wrong, I've been wrong before so it would be nothing new. But I believe I'm right, and I literally need to believe I'm right to even have a chance of being right, ya know? lol.

 

[DoctorTaco]

Yep 120-150 in the amateurs sounds right to break down opponents. I only said 100 with the pro game in mind.

You're right about the mental part of boxing. Even me personally, I can come off cocky with the things I say about my own speed/power/heart whichever, I may be wrong, I've been wrong before so it would be nothing new. But I believe I'm right, and I literally need to believe I'm right to even have a chance of being right, ya know? lol.

youve to be cocky in the ring and humble in the gym. It’s not an easy balance

 

[dudeguyman]

Curious as to what the general opinion is on different attributes and how important they are.

Offense:
Speed
Power
Timing
Accuracy/Precision

Defense:
Head Movement
Reaction Time
Footwork
Strong Guard (catching all the shots, some guys are tanks with this.. think Arthur Abraham)

In those 2 categories, where would you rank how important each attribute is? is it better to have faster hands than power? raw power over accuracy? What will have more success as a defensive fighter, someone who catches all the shots or someone who makes you miss completely?

Here is my opinion, I think offense is more important than defense, since landing blows is what wins fights, and in this order: Timing/Speed/Accuracy/Power, for defense I believe it goes Footwork/Reaction Time/Head Movement/Strong Guard. Guys with quick feet can literally run around opponent for days it seems, if they don't want to fight it is almost impossible to make them fight if they got good feet. The other defensive options can be penetrated much more successfully over beautiful footwork.

What do ya'll think? Feel free to add more traits/qualities I may have missed, I just picked the first 4 that pop up for me when I think offensive/defensive attributes.

Also, how much importance should be placed in having a good chin? Is it overrated? Or if anything, is it underrated?

Floyd Mayweather has many physical gifts, but I think by far his most underrated gift is his ability to absorb a punch. That on top of his defensive abilities makes beating him by knockout an extreme improbability. You'll never land the same shot twice on him, but once you do land that money punch that was set up/worked on all camp, he eats it for breakfast.

I'm sure a lotta y'all went through it but the Mayweather/Mcgregor fiasco had so many dummies talking to me about the fight, and the most common opinion from casuals was: when McGregor hits him with that left hand, Floyd will be knocked out. I told them all the same thing and was proven right during the fight, that if McGregor landed his vaunted left hand on Floyd, Floyd wouldn't even blink. If he somehow managed to land that money shot, Floyd would hardly react. As much as casuals that hate Floyd like to think he is a sissy who runs/hugs, the dude is tough as nails and clearly has a genetic gift in his chin, which I think is a huge reason he was as dominant as he was. It is hardly talked about though..

my opinion is timing and footwork.

 

[rmongler]

1: The ability to self motivate.

2. The ability to see the future.

3. Other stuff.

 

[Uchi Mata]

It depends on which combat sport you're talking about to a certain extent. I'd say timing is the most important thing to have both offensively and defensively in any fight (which really just means it's useful to be a skilled fighter. No shit), but beyond that it starts to break down along combat sports lines. For example, I think accuracy is much more important in MMA than power because of the small gloves. That's why Mac KOs people with middling power shots: he hits them dead on the chin or temple. Those shots don't end your night in boxing, but with 4 oz gloves they do. I'd also say that in kickboxing power and toughness gain significant importance because you're going to get hit more often (just more targets), and you're often fighting 3 round fights, 5 at the most so you can afford to expend more energy throwing power (and judging favors power even if you're not landing clean, especially with body kicks). Pro boxing I think cardio and the ability to set stuff up over rounds and really read your opponent gain importance they don't have in MMA or KB with their shorter round count and overall fight length. Having many layers of defense also matters more in boxing just because your opponent also has a long time to get a read on you, so if you're just doing the same thing defensively all the time a good fighter can take advantage of that over many rounds whereas in a 3 round KB fight it's much harder for your opponent to adjust to you in real time. I think you see much, much more round to round adjustment in boxing than you do in KB or MMA.

Those are broad generalizations of course, plenty of exceptions to them, but I do think it's hard to say any one attribute is most important without talking about the specific sport you're competing in.