Manny Pacquiao up first - He graciously agreed to speak to The Ring about the best he has faced in 10 key categories. BEST JAB Oscar De La Hoya: His jab is a tactical weapon. It can set up a punch or act as a weapon. BEST PUNCHER Miguel Cotto: I can still feel some of those punches he threw at me. Staying on the ropes is not the best place to be when you are fighting him. He’s also accurate. He’s incredible. FASTEST HANDS Lehlo Ledwaba: His hands were blazing. FASTEST FEET De La Hoya: He moves so quickly and effortlessly. He is a complete athlete. SMARTEST Cotto: It was hard to bait him. He has seen it all. I really had to out-hustle him. He made me work. BEST CHIN Antonio Margarito: That fight was a war. It was brutal. I threw everything at him and he not only took it but came back for more. Incredible. STRONGEST Margarito: Big and strong is an understatement. His body shots hurt me several times throughout our fight. BEST DEFENSE Joshua Clottey: And not for a good reason, at least for the fans. BEST SKILL SET Juan Manuel Marquez: He is the only fighter who really could figure me out and anticipate my moves. He is a brilliant counterpuncher and a tremendous warrior. BEST OVERALL Several: I cannot specify one. Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto, Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Marquez and Erik Morales all had tremendous skills. They commanded respect because they were all multi-dimensional. I had to be on my toes and give them my 100 percent concentration because they were so dangerous in the ring.
Good to know he isn’t bitter about losing his 2015 super fight against some guy from Michigan. Ridiculous.
To play devil's advocate here, he did face him when both were on the slide already, 2015 was post prime for both and their skills were obviously diminished. While he met most of the mentioned opposition in their prime. Without Clottey Floyd would still have won the best defence category probably.
This one is good - JESSE JAMES LEIJA (LOL) at Bojado references though. Best Skills – Francisco Bojado – You know what, I fought 57 times, so there are so many good guys, with great skills but sometimes it’s the fighter that when you’re near the end that you recognize more because he was the latest one. I think one of the guys who had one of the best skills of all the fighters I fought was probably Francisco Bojado. He had great power, he had great speed, he had combinations, quick hands, had a bit of everything. I think he’s someone that had everything, the whole package. This content is protected Of course Oscar De La Hoya had great skills, he was also much taller than I was, he had a lot of things going for him as well. For some reason and I even told people after the fight he (Bojado) is one of the best guys I fought cause he had everything – skill, speed, power, agility, flexibility – he had everything and then he knew how to fight. He was a great fighter. I just think he was lacking determination ÔǪsomething was missing ’cause I was able to take all that away from him with bodyshots and headshots. [We] had a great strategy for the fight and it helped. Best Jab – Oscar De La Hoya – He had that long, stiff, powerful jab. He was really a lefty but fights righty – that jab had so much power, and that hook of course, but he had a great jab. Shane Mosley had a great jab but he didn’t have the power behind it like Oscar did. I would have to say Oscar – he had the power and speed mainly because he’s a lefty, that jab’s gonna come at you hard. Best Defense – Azumah Nelson – I think Azumah Nelson had a great defense. Shane Mosley’s defense was great, mainly because of his speed and his distance but he was so fast. But Azumah Nelson knew how defend and counter from the inside and not just step inside and make me miss. Azumah Nelson knew how to stay in the pocket and make you miss and make you pay while in the pocket. Some of the other guys like Shane Mosley, even Oscar, they used distance by backing away and that didn’t show you defense – that just showed you couldn’t reach them. Someone fights on the inside and makes you miss and pay that’s good defense. I think Azumah had that. I would see [Mosley’s] punch but by the time I even thought about slipping or moving out the way it had already hit me and then there was another right behind it so fast. Best Chin – Nelson – Guys that I could hit clean and not even blink, Azumah was one of them until I dropped him. As a matter of fact, I was the second guy ever to drop Azumah Nelson since Salvador Sanchez. That’s saying a lot, he’s fought everybody. I think I just threw everything in that one right hand, caught him off guard, hit him on the chin and dropped him. That was one of my claims to fame. That’s the type of chin he had. Best Puncher – De La Hoya – I think Oscar. In every fight I had I was really well prepared and ready to go and just at the top of my game and Oscar drops me and stops me in the second round. That’s the power he had and I tell people Oscar knocked guys out at 130, 135, 140, 147, 154 and I think he dropped a couple of guys at 160. People always say fighters don’t take the power up with them in weight. Oscar did. If he was knocking guys out at 147, 154 and 160 can you imagine how strong he was when I fought him at 135? You know what, maybe he was off, but Kostya Tszyu never hurt me, never in the five rounds that I fought, he never hit me and hurt me with anything. He busted my ear drum but that’s just air going into your ear and busting your drum, it’s not really power that causes that. He never hurt me or stunned me at all. I know he had power maybe he didn’t catch me right, maybe my defense was better than what I thought it was or anyone else thought. This content is protected Now Micky Ward’s power was incredible. His left hook was amazing. I remember when he would throw punches at me and just miss me, the first thing I would do is catch them with my gloves, the first thing I would think was, ‘Man, that would have hurt if he would have hit me.’ I never let him hit me to the body cleanly; he hit me to the head but to the body are the ones that can really hurt you, and he never caught me to the body. He caught me to the elbow several times and I could feel the power that he had and why he stops people with bodyshots. Gatti had some great power. He was heavy-handed but I think just me not sparring for four weeks before our fight, it takes it’s toll, you’re not adjusted to it, you haven’t been hit for four weeks so even if you get hit by a guy who can punch a little bit it’s going to hurt you, plus he caught me clean with a good hook. But when guy with power hits you and you haven’t been hit in four weeks it’s going to take it’s toll and Gatti did a great job with it. Best Handspeed – Shane Mosley – Shane Mosley by far. Your whole thing in training is for reaction. When you see something coming, you’re supposed to react to it, slip or dodge out the way. I would see his punch but by the time I even thought about slipping or moving out the way it had already hit me and then there was another right behind it so fast. I could imagine what people thought when they fight Sugar Ray Leonard or Floyd Mayweather. You see it coming but it’s too late to move, you’re not fast enough to get away from the punch, and that’s the type of speed Shane Mosley had. Best Footspeed – Mosley – Mosley was great at moving his legs. His hands were fast and if his hands weren’t moving his legs were moving. And when his legs were moving they were so fast you couldn’t get close to him. [Bojado] had great power, he had great speed, he had combinations, quick hands, had a bit of everything. I think he’s someone that had everything, the whole package. Smartest – Nelson – He knew when to load up, he knew when to throw bodyshots, he knew when you were exhausted, when to push the fight, when to relax. He was great. As long as he was a world champion, 10 years, something like that, he knew every trick in the book. It was always a constant battle with him, more of the mind than anything else because you were going to try to figure out what he’s going to do next and he would lure you in to think he was hurt or slowing down and all of a sudden he’d throw a four-, five-punch combination – all of them with power. When you were in a clinch and thought you could take a little break he would hit you with a bodyshot. It was amazing. You never knew what to expect. You had to be on your toes every single second of every single round with Azumah. Strongest – Micky Ward and Arturo Gatti – [They] were strong, physically strong guys. I think even Bojado was strong. Brute strength is what I’m talking about. Best Overall – Bojado – I still think overall talent of every fighter that I have fought – I fought so many it’s really hard to say – but I just think talent, skill, speed, power … I have to say Francisco Bojado. I don’t know why he’s just the first guy I think of when I think of all those things combined. [I fought] Mosley and Oscar but for me Bojado had everything, but lacking that one thing which was maybe will-power. He had a chin, too. I hit him clean and nothing happened to him. I think whoever gave him all that money on the way up ruined him. It’s not just given to you, it’s earned. I think if he had will-power he could have been the next Oscar De La Hoya or the next great champion. BEST OVERALL - BOJADO this is what I mean.
Yeah that’s fine but I think Clottey’s shell and complete lack of counter punching or anything resembling aggression points to Pac being disingenuous here, that’s survival from being outmatched as opposed to defense. Gives us an insight into Pac not rating defense, which no doubt pleased the two best counter punchers he faced in Mayweather and Marquez. This is a man who told Kellerman he won the fight. I’m thinking 2015 Floyd is smarter in the ring than all of his previous opponents, surely? Cotto was smarter??
Yeah, Clottey best defense is dumb as hell. He had to have meant "Best at surviving against his Uncle Arum's stablemate?"
Him saying Oscar had the fastest feet to me was the worst of the bunch considering he was a walking zombie and couldn't move in the ring that night.
Stop being such a *****. The interview was published only in July 2015 of Ring. Do you actually know when this interview was taken? Look at the rest of my comment. Interview was published in July 2015. The OP doesn't know when the interview was taken.
You two should take in to consideration where he and Floyd were when they finally fought. Hell, some her say Floyd was already SHOT when he fought Pac. Obviously he wasn't, but the list he provided clearly had more guys in their, and his prime.
So Cotto was smarter than 2015 Floyd eh? How so? Was Clottey ever better defensively? It’s a ridiculous set of answers.
