Which boxers in history had the best form ?

I would start of by nominating Jose Napoles. You don't get the nickname 'Mantequilla (Butter)' unless your technique is slick.

Harold Johnson is a cliche, but apt reply

When Erik Morales was in a mood to box, rather than brawling bell to bell, his form and poise was beautiful to watch. The perfect incarnation of that upright, hand high, mobile 'Kangaroo' style of boxing. He gets extra points for being the best, along with Mayweather, at landing right hands to the body in the form of both straights and crosses.

Kostya Tszyu's punches looked like they'd all been carefully, and individually perfected by a team of engineers. His amateur era rival Vernon Forrest belongs in this thread as well.

Owen Moran, from the historical accounts we have.

 

Mikey Garcia has great form

 

Evander Holyfield was a well schooled fighter who kept his hands up, elbows in, chin down, knees bent, has good footwork, etc. Doug Jones, Marvin Hagler, Ruben Carter, are more examples. I like that type of fighter...I would consider Dwight Qawi that type although because of his height he had to be more aggressive than some, he was still fundamentally sound. When I watched the video you posted of Drodz I thought he fought a lot like Holyfield.

I almost don't like to list people for this topic because I know I'm forgetting some...I haven't seen his fights in awhile, but from memory Jimmy Ellis?

 

Jose Napoles, Eder Jofre, Juan Manuel Marquez, Ricardo Lopez are personal favorites that immediately jump to mind.

 

Battling Jim Johnson. He just lacked a bit of speed.

 

Sal Sanchez
Ricardo Lopez
JMM
Ivan Calderon
Donald Curry
Mike McCallum
Marlon Starling
Buddy McGirt
Terry Norris
Dmitry Pirog
Bud Crawford
Mikey Diva

 

Kennedy McKinney. He seemed to do everything textbook

 

It’s interesting I spoke to Nacho Beristain once and mentioned Salvador Sanchez and what his thoughts were. He went in prettt hard saying he had horrible technique, an ugly style and was overrated. I don’t share that view at all. He just thinks he was doing well because he was bigger and stronger than his opponents and that if he hadn’t died people were likely to see his level as he was going to take a loss at any point.

 

This may not be in the context of the best form, but three of the most relaxed styles were actually all welterweights and from the same era. They were Hedgemon Lewis, Harold Weston and Angel Espada. Again, three of the most beautiful relaxed styles I've seen. Lewis in particular held his left low, but was so good that it looked so right. Again, these may not be in the correct context for this subject, but I thought it was worth a mention. Sorry if I veered.

 

For pure textbook form look no further than:
Ricardo Lopez
JMM
Donald Curry
Alexis Arguello
Yuri Arbachakov
Carlos Zarate
Harold Johnson
Mike McCallum
Eder Jofre
Alberto Davila

 

Arguello was the most poised fighter that immediately came to mind first.

 

I enjoyed watching Alberto Davila in action because of his beautiful boxing style. But Davila admittedly was not outstanding or great as a fighter.

- Chuck Johnston

 

Many have been mentioned already. Perhaps Duran's already been mentioned, but he deserves a mention. As does Benitez, Toney and Kalambay. And I will stick my head out and say SRL. Didn't have the most disciplined of guards, but always with great balance and so smooth and accurate when rattling off those combos.

 

Marijan Benes
Saensak Muangsurin
Sung Kil-Moon
Ricardo Mayorga
Carl Froch
Ali Raymi
Mustafa Hamsho