Most defensively capable aggressive\balanced boxer-punchers

...ezzard charles..and i'm surprised no one picked him before this..

 

Zamora is oft-underestimated in general these days.He had his flaws for sure, but i've seen more than a few on here call him an unskilled brawling puncher, something i don't agree at all with.

 

Well done Sherlock, give yourself a pat on the back and a gold star

 

Some good answers in this thread.

I think Tony Canzoneri would be right up there with some of the other greats mentioned in this thread (Hagler, Napoles, Gomez, Chavez, Nelson).

Too Sharp Johnson is another that could rate a mention, though he did fall in love with his power and abandoned his defense.

 

The hawk gets tagged all over by anyone with decent handspeed.

 

Hagler wasn't great defensively at all.

 

Nelson was an odd one defensively.

Sometimes he would show good, slick educated upperbody movement and pick punches off well.Other times he would just march forward in a straight line with a mostly static head and guard.

I think he was a fighter who could get lazy very quickly if he didn't think the opponent could hurt him.

Defence is one area where he did improve as his career went on though.

 

You think so? I'd say he improved technically as his career went on, or at least relied more on it. One guy who didn't attempt to take the puncher role up the weights with him.