Slowest boxers in history?

Foreman is the slowest I can recall.

The problem was not moving out of the way of one punch. It was moving out of the way for 12 rounds. He hit so heavy that his lack of hand speed really wasn't an issue because he was going to badly hurt you eventually. He didn't need volume to destroy you, he only needed to tag you once. That slowed you down and gave him all the time in the world to finish you off.

 

Joe Joyce

 

Completely untrue. I question how many of you guys have actually seen Liston and Foreman fight, as opposed to watching Ali interviews where he makes fun of them for being slow.

 

Excellent point regarding Liston's jab. Liston's ring IQ is highly highly underrated imo, and as you said the jab was very multi-faceted. Ali and Liston, imo had the most adaptable jabs out of the heavies imho. Someone who I think is overrated in this department is Holmes. Excellent jab for sure, but he couldn't change the direction of the jab after he threw it like Ali, and Liston, among others did which is why I think he'd have a much harder time against the likes of Frazier.

 

Celestino Caballero was really slow and awkward for a super bantam. I don't think I've seen someone so light who is so slow and awkward.

 

Seen both. And that’s my opinion.

Reckon I have watched more of Foreman than just about any other fighter. I loved him but he telegraphed everything, especially during the second incarnation of his career. Liston (whom I never even mentioned by the way) in the old black and white videos is harder to judge because the timing in a lot of old tapes is off and can’t be trusted. So, based on what I have seen (and none of us has seen every fighter so your opinion is worth no more or less than anyone else’s) I will stick with what I posted. Thanks.

 

The Liston comment wasn't referring to you, it was referring to the people in this thread and forum overall, who think Liston was slow, presumably judging him from the Ali fights.

Regarding Foreman, I can agree with the second incarnation of Foreman being included here but not the first. Their are actually a multitude of heavyweights today alone, who Foreman is much faster than.

One very underrated facet of Foreman was how he could slip to the side of his opponent to get a better angle frightengly quick.

He was also, surprisingly mobile and very quick at cutting the ring off.

If he was this mind-blowingly slow, Frazier would've demolished him.

Even Ali admitted he was surprised at the speed of Foreman.

 

That's the beauty of it.

 

No, Don't show this video to Chok. Ha Ha.

 

Well yes, their's that factor as well. Patterson and Ali, respectively are number 1 and number 2 when it comes to handspeed at heavies. Williams was also very quick, though not quite on the level of the aforementioned two.

Haven't watched the Westphal bout in a while, but remember the KO blow being swift. I think he was overweight against Westphal as well (though he did carry the weight very well).

His hand speed, imo looked most impressive against Whitehurst and Cab of the fights we do have on film. Tbh, I think his hand-speed peaked before he did. Even by 1960 (where he was overall a better fighter imo) his hand-speed seemed to slow down a tad but even then he wasn't slow. Patterson was asked after their first bout why he lost, and his response was Liston was "to fast".

 

My apologies. I was thinking of his previous fight with King where he was 219.

 

Dustin Nichols, although he was still fast enough to turn Wilder into Bambi.