What Mexican fighter had the best defence?

Canto is the sure answer.
Gilberto Roman is a good one.

 

Gaspar Ortega should be mentioned ( yeah, yeah, how crazy that sounds), he had a good defense, the only guy that stopped him was Griffith and this is something in like almost 200 fights. It was not about chin.

 

Have you seen Ortega fight? I would guess not.

 

You didn’t think I posted that without having something to say, did you ?
It look like he didn’t, from a black and white footage in a bad image… in what? 3 ,4 fights that we have acess to ?

Since you probably understand spanish, here you have it
– A sus 73 años de edad, con más de 180 peleas, no parece que haya sido boxeador; es usted un hombre lúcido, ¿cuál fue su secreto?

“La defensa”, responde instantánea y categóricamente. “En el boxeo hay que evitar golpes. Les puedo decir mi secreto, pero no lo pueden ver. Hay un movimiento de cabeza que sirve para que los golpes resbalen; cuando el golpe no se puede evitar no hay que aguantarlo, sino irse con él para que pierda efecto. Entonces, hay que cabecear para evitar o amortiguar golpes y contraatacar. Muchas veces la defensa es contraataque y lanzar golpes caminando hacia atrás”, revela.


https://suljosblog.com/suljos/front...l-marquez-extraordinario-gaspar-indio-ortega/

no lo pueden ver, he is 100% right

 

So he says he rolled with a lot of punches and that is true still his defense was average compared with the best of them and no he doesn't deserve a mention not in this case.

 

Yes, he says he rolled with the punches and never really took real punishment. Considering his career, and how well he died without any dementia... the evidence is that he had not a bad defense. I believe him.
Everybody was mentioned already. Canto and Roman are the only correct answers.

 

Yeah, was surprised not seeing him mentioned until now.

EDIT: But saw now. Still, Cuban born Mexican is Mexican as far as I'm concerned.

 

Obviously it's Canto by quite a distance but there's an interesting medley in the tier down from him with a lot of the names already mentioned. Most of them though being offensive/aggressive fighters to varying degrees where good defensive schooling and awareness were naturally a part of the equation.

If Roman hadn't had the somewhat trademark slight weakness against straight punches seemingly typical of the Romanza fighters, he might be a clear second. Great feet and range control though, really maximising his oddly long reach.

Chavez and Chucho were good mentions, the latter especially. Chavez only had a relatively short window though imo before he became a bit upright and rigid in terms of slipping shots, though his very consistent chin and hand placement and excellent close range defensive positioning remained til the mid nineties. Castillo was just a very capable and tidy all round a-level fighter. Herrera too to a slightly lesser extent.

Olivares was a good rhythmic natural punch slipper and a very capable if awkward mover. Saldivar did a lot right too for such an aggressive fighter. High guard, chin down, elbows and forearms really nipped in to cover his short torso, subtle upper body movement etc. Similar to Chavez but in a smaller, stockier body. A bit of a tendency though on occasion to square himself up when exploding out of the blocks which saw him caught against Seki and Legra.

Guty Espadas Sr was a very good defensive fighter on his day. Really good hand placement and smooth, swift, rolling upper body movement. Always moving forward with that pleasing, hooking approach but not easy to hit cleanly. Slightly resembling a lesser version of Duran on occasion.

Medel another one who was defensively adept. Perhaps the most relaxed of the top Mexicans, typically well-schooled in terms of drawing and then calmly slipping, parrying and blocking punches before springing very nasty traps like a mini Archie Moore. Outstanding and a dangerous b*stard when fighting off the ropes. Average defensive reflexes though and a slight disregard for being hit.

The modern trio - MAB,JMM & Morales- are an odd shout though to me. Neither defensively varied nor with notable reflexes, compounded by a tendency to throw caution to the wind and engage in punch ups when clipped cleanly. Morales particularly so. The man couldn't ditch a competent punch if came from ten feet away with lights and sirens, which is why we all loved him dearly. Barrera more responsible but very vulnerable to straight power punches and speed. Marquez was the most accomplished of them in an overall defensive capacity but still average. Very likely though to make you pay horribly if you threw and missed (or landed even, sometimes).

 

Actually, Sanchez was probably the most relaxed along with Medel, that was a big oversight. Another one who had plenty of defensive to offensive tools at his disposal in the way he fearlessly baited the space and could slip, block, weave, lean forward etc, but was an uber-poised cyborg with a head of adamantium who didn't give a bollocks about being hit. Quite similar in a few ways to Napoles.

 

Napoles considered himself mexican for what is worth.

 

Salvador Sanchez

 

Canto and Roman are the Mexicans most renowned for the defense, and deservedly so.

Finito Lopez was probably the most elusive disciple of the Nacho Berestain stable and he gets mentioned by me as a result.

I think Canelo Alvarez has advanced to the upper tier of Mexican fighters in terms of defensive ability over the past few years.

 

His defense was leaky. When he wanted to, he could look as slick as anyone ever, but he got hit way too many times with punches that had no business landing on a defensively responsible fighter. That might have improved with age however.