BoxRec

Benitez., Locche, Hopkins? Who?

Willie Pep was tough to nail clean.

borinken25 wrote:Benitez., Locche, Hopkins? Who?

My top 5 in no order

Willie Pep
Nicolino Locche
Young Griffo
Wilfred Benitez
Pernell Whitaker

with honorable mentions going to Marlon Starling and Jimmy Young.

The smoothest, most elusive fighter I've ever seen is Willie Pep. The man literally glided across the canvas. He would slip punches and cycle away from his opponent, duck his punches, spin him around, feint him into making mistakes. Pep's defense wasn't what you'd call tight, but he was just so hard to hit.

Also, Roberto Duran. He was quite easily the best defensive fighter of all the swarmers/sluggers/brawlers. Amazing reflexes the man had, could turn his head away from a punch at the last minute to reduce its effect, or even duck a series of punches and stop them connecting at all.

Tommy Loughran
Benny Leonard
Pascual Pérez
Nicolino Locche
Wilfredo Benítez
Miguel Cantó

Martin Sosa Cameron wrote:Tommy Loughran
Benny Leonard
Pascual Pérez
Nicolino Locche
Wilfredo Benítez
Miguel Cantó

Good list, but was Perez considered a defensive specialist in his day? I've always seen him as a clever pressure fighter. He had great skills overall, but were his defensive abilities on par with guys like Locche, Benitez and Whitaker?

Willie Pep or Sweet Pea Whitaker.... Top 2.....

Hello, Nero3000! You are right, but see Pascual Pérez-Sadao Yaoita II, and how a defense master was Pérez!

Benny Leonard, Maxie Rosenbloom

DoubleM wrote:The smoothest, most elusive fighter I've ever seen is Willie Pep. The man literally glided across the canvas. He would slip punches and cycle away from his opponent, duck his punches, spin him around, feint him into making mistakes. Pep's defense wasn't what you'd call tight, but he was just so hard to hit.

said it perfectley! pep is one of if not my favorite fighter to watch on film and hes at the top of my list as one of my favorite fighters of all time.


my pick is willie pep if u gave me one choice

Great call on Young Griffo, Nero. The guy may have been the greatest defensive fighter ever. According to accounts he made prime Hall of Famers Lavigne, Dixon and McAuliffe look silly trying to hit him. Wasn't a big puncher though and he got done in by his love of the bottle.

In the modern era, as I like to say, when Pernell Whitaker switches into "you can't hit me" mode, he was amazing to watch.

Seamus wrote:Great call on Young Griffo, Nero. The guy may have been the greatest defensive fighter ever. According to accounts he made prime Hall of Famers Lavigne, Dixon and McAuliffe look silly trying to hit him. Wasn't a big puncher though and he got done in by his love of the bottle.

In the modern era, as I like to say, when Pernell Whitaker switches into "you can't hit me" mode, he was amazing to watch.

Thank you*s* People forget how great this guy was. He also outboxed the quick and clever "Belfast Spider" Ike weir. If my memory serves me, his defense and boxing was so superior that it forced Torpedo Billy Murphy to quit.

Jim Corbett, who was not known to fawn over the skills of others in his day, admitted that Griffo was a "marvel". Griffo even picked a fight with him at a bar once!

Pernell Whitaker, or Willie Pep...Tommy Loughran was right up there as well.

Benny Leonard was not just a defensive fighter...he was an offensive machine as well...as was Eder Jofre!

Floyd Mayweather for sure, and from the past England's
Len Harvey was famous for defence, and what a record!