All time - Boxer with the best defense?

[Kenzi_1985]

Willie Pep and Pernell Whitaker have to be the two at the top, yes?

[JC]

Yes those guys are right up there alos worth considering is Nico Locche and maybe to a lesser extent Wilfredo Benitez

[DavidPayne]

Loche, who I'v eonly recently discovered was an artist.

[TerribleTerry]

The main men defensive masters have already been mentioned but I would put Roberto Duran forward as a fighter with a phenominal defense, despite using a pressing style - he could avoid punches by millimeters, never mind inches..

(Hearns KO loss notwithstanding 8) )

[dondada]

The main men defensive masters have already been mentioned but I would put Roberto Duran forward as a fighter with a phenominal defense, despite using a pressing style - he could avoid punches by millimeters, never mind inches..

(Hearns KO loss notwithstanding 8) )

That is a good shout and I always used to love how a peak JC Chavez would do the same.

But Whitaker was something else. And a peak Herol Graham - was great to recently read Mike McCallum basically thought the same!

[Happy Slapper]

Floyd Mayweather Jr

[Mensa07]

Money May didn't look all that elusive against Oscar DLH.

[Old bones Ian]

On the british side, in the modern day Herol Graham, Johnny Nelson both Ingle boxers, used movement and unconventional punching angles to keep opponents at bay.

A prime Lloyd Honeyghan was a good offensive boxer that avoided his opponents punches with head movement, but staying in range to land his own bombs.

Probably the best in the modern age is Ken Buchanan.

[big lennox]

Johnny Nelson was an expert at making people miss and fighting at his pace.I loved watching him for that, in the gym or in his bouts.Floyd Mayweather too, was just fantastic -when you consider how much bigger De La Hoya is than him,and fast as f*ck, he did very well -he made him miss all night long

[MR UNTOUCHABLE]

For a big guy I always found watching Witherspoon to be educational.

He was very smart defensivley.

[Captain Hook]

Peak Toney?

[Captain Hook]

How about:

Pep
Loche
Mayweather Jr
Whittaker
Toney

All deserve a shout.......as mentioned

[DavidPayne]

Jersey Joe. What a fighter he was.

[Poncey]

Johnson for me. As Terry said, brought sciene to the table. He spotted the idiosynchrasies in Louis's defence to allow Schmelling to get the win.

How did you get hold of Walcott tapes, I can't find them for love, nor toffee?

[jimglen]

I think this is a British boxing question so my answer would be Len Harvey, he was famous for it, Defensive Master!

[jamesmcdonnell]

Agree with many of the picks here. Pep, Whittaker, Toney, Duran, Chavez.

Surprised Ray Leonard hasn't got a mention. Combined incredible handspeed with the ability to stand in the trenches without getting tagged by consecutive shots.

[Phenomenal-Nutrition]

Whitaker, Pepp, Loche

Jones Jr doesnt get much of a mention, nothing conventially sound about his defense but he had the reactions to pull it off.

Toney is 1 of my faves but he wasnt exactly untouchable, his defense wasn't inpenutrable

[Phenomenal-Nutrition]

Money May didn't look all that elusive against Oscar DLH.

I suggest you watch it again, the thing about Mayweather is allot of the punches you thought he ate at the time didnt actually land, I'd say this for the Judah fight too.

[Chambers2]

Peak Toney?

Good call. I know he was past his peak when he fought Jirov at cruiser, but what an exhibition of defensive boxing and punch-picking that was. I love Toney in that fight

[Gray-Fox]

Whitaker, Pepp, Loche

Jones Jr doesnt get much of a mention, nothing conventially sound about his defense but he had the reactions to pull it off.

Toney is 1 of my faves but he wasnt exactly untouchable, his defense wasn't inpenutrable

To say he spends 95% of the fight directly in front of the opponent, his defense is amazing.

[Gray-Fox]

Money May didn't look all that elusive against Oscar DLH.

I suggest you watch it again, the thing about Mayweather is allot of the punches you thought he ate at the time didnt actually land, I'd say this for the Judah fight too.

You're right. Not to mention most of DLH's punches were body shots.

[The Law]

In recent years it would have to be Winky Wright (for his immense guard), James Toney, Pernell Whittaker and Floyd Mayweather.

[Loynesy]

In recent years it would have to be Winky Wright (for his immense guard), James Toney, Pernell Whittaker and Floyd Mayweather.

Problem with Winky is that he has used his defence as a negative tool, i.e. spoil the opponent's work, wait for the action to re-start, switch your guard and then try and go onto the offence - this is not to knock Winky, who was the best "nullifier" I've ever seen, but the truly great defensive greats used their covering up and feints as a way to counter.

Like everyone who has ambitions of being a boxing historian on this site, we've read about Lynch, seen the not quite in-time footage of Pep and Moore (and from what I've seen, Archie was a spoiler in the mode of Hopkins), watched proper tapes from the 70's [choose your time period based on age], have seen fights live on TV and for some of us, attended fights, so you have to choose answers based on your own sphere of understanding.

On a personal level, I find it incredibly difficult to gauge a fighter from TV. In the abstract of the fight: is A better than B or not, I'm fine, but I've always found attending fights is the only way to form my own views as to how I think that fighter will progress (actually, Ian or Terry, as I type this, it might be a useful article for BBN, i.e. the methodolgy by which one forms a view about a fighter and the different media: let me know if you agree)

Cutting through my own rhetoric:

Cliched best defensive boxer: Pep (of course)

Best I've seen from old timer tapes: Laszlo Papp - rock back on the right foot and then throw a lead right, very hard to do.

Best from real time tapes: Pernell (that one is a slam dunk)

Best I've seen live: Mayweather, closely beating prime RJJ.

Apologies for the long post.

Loynesy

[Marlin]

Jones Jr doesnt get much of a mention, nothing conventially sound about his defense but he had the reactions to pull it off.

I was going to mention the same thing.

[Scrap]

For Fighting in the Hole in distance, Sweetpea He was a Joy.