Ezzard wrote:Azumah Nelson could adapt and fight in many different styles.
he was a very versatile fighter and though I'll be shot down for mentioning him; Orlando Canizales could do an awful lot in the boxing ring, he wasn't THE most complete but he was exceptional in his division.
I really liked both Orlando and Azumah. The professor was superb in his prime. Whitaker made him look a bit one dimensional though that's something he did to a lot of excellent fighters.
Crease wrote:And I'll name a few others who I think were very well-rounded fighters: (apart from Ezzard Charles)
Joe Louis
Henry Armstrong
Jersey Joe Walcott
Archie Moore
Alexis Arguello
Wilfredo Gomez
Carlos Monzon
Evander Holyfield Roy Jones Jr
Marco Antonio Barrera
Bernard Hopkins
Manny Pacquaio
Despite the fact Roy had more upside, I'd most certainly say James Toney was by far the more well rounded of the 2, and probably 3 if we're including B-Hop in the conversation.
I'd also say Ray Leonard has to be in this conversation and also Duran.
I'd say Jones Jnr does not belong there, neither does MAB. Jones could not handle a give and take fight and Barreras defence wasn't a strong point.
It was inevitable, then there is the elephant in the room that nobody has even addressed. Miguel Lora!
He did show the ability to box and fight effectively in different ways. Standing in the pocket and duking it out with Vazquez, putting on a Locche-esque defensive performance against Davila, using supreme ring movement and counter-punching against Zaragoza, bombing out the bomber in Antonio Avelar, etc. He could be a flat out wizard defensively, had some of the nicest counter-punching skills I've seen (or at least some of the most showy), and really had pop in his punches and knew how to fight in close. He just wasn't really consistent with any of it. He'd do too much of one thing while neglecting the other. As an all-around fighter he had the tools, but rarely put them together. He was a "less than the sum of his parts" fighter. Which in itself excludes him from this thread. Brilliant talent, though.
he was a very versatile fighter and though I'll be shot down for mentioning him; Orlando Canizales could do an awful lot in the boxing ring, he wasn't THE most complete but he was exceptional in his division.
