Willie Pep and other defensive Wizards of our time

For me, Pep is the whole package. He displays brilliance in every area. The footwork alone is astonishing, but when you couple that with great handspeed, and the sharpness, accuracy and volume of his punches you have something truly remarkable. Add to that the unorthodox use of angles, and his jumping in and out, too fast for his opponents to react, and you're in rarified boxing air. The fact that it was so difficult to hit him clean is a whole other thing.

 

Concerning Locche and Pep, Willie was the better offensive fighter, the better ring general and the superior fighter overall. But I still think that Locche was slightly better in a purely defensive sense. Pep's lateral movement and footwork were both superior to Locche's, but its precisely this which makes me think that Locche was actually the better pure defensive fighter in that he was just as unhittable as Pep - perhaps even more so - despite not having the nifty feet that Pep had.

I don't think even Pep had Locche's skill in the pocket, although he was the more complete fighter of the two.

 

Locche was an atg defensive fighter, but did he fight the level of competition that Pep did?

 

I've never really taken time to compare their records in depth to be honest. Pep's most notable opponents at a quick glance were probably Manuel Ortiz, Saddler, Chalky Wright, Sammy Angott, Joey Archibald, Phil Terranova, Sal Bartolo, Ray Famechon, Harold Dade and Paddy DeMarco, alongside all the other good rated contenders he fought. Locche's most notable ones were Joe Brown, Eddie Perkins, Carlos Ortiz, Carlos Hernandez, Ismael Laguna, Paul Fuji, Sandro Lapopolo, Antonio Cervantes, Jaime Gine, Peppermint Frazier and Adolph Pruitt.

Pep fought more contenders, but I don't really see any significant difference between their level of competition that favours him. Purely on name value, Locche actually has the slight edge IMO, although he could only manage draws with Ortiz and Laguna. Still, his schooling of Fuji is more impressive than anything I've seen of Pep ON FILM.

 

I have been thoroughly entertained by Willie Pep on this video..in fact, after the Pep segment, I started in back up just to see it again...I vote for Pep and Locche as 1 and 2, I don't which one is one or which is two, but those two are the best..followed by Whitaker and Benitez.

 

Both Pep and Locche are masters in two different areas of defensive genius...they are peerless.

 

Its a myth that DLH landed his jab much he barely landed it and never landed it clean, its either wishfull thinking, listening to the crowd or bad eye sight that may think fans think otherwise

 

Anyone fancy taking a stab at a best defensive fighter by weightclass, country/ continent, list, or whatever comes to mind.

Who was the best British defensive fighter is an intersting one for me.A lot of very good fighters over the years, but unlike a lot of the other major boxing countries have never really produced a universally recognised defensive great.

 

It may reflect a lack of awareness of British boxing history, but my favorite defensive boxer from Britain would be Ken Buchanan.

 

I was thinking maybe Driscoll would be the consensus pick.Just as far as footage goes he's mostly an unknown quantity.


Buchanan was one of the best at using slick defensive work on the ropes to regain ring centre.His moves were quite unique in those situations.Makes of interesting fights with the more patient pressure fighters...could even Chavez cut the ring off on him enough? Or would he need to let his work on the way in do the scoring as Duran did.

 

You may be right about Driscol in regards to him being perhaps more of a purist defensively, but I know relatively little about him, and I did just yesterday watch the Buchanan-Paduano bout, and that never fails to impress me.

 

Yeh definitly Defence is my favrouite aspect of boxing.

As for British i would say Driscoll he really was such an elusive guy used his feet mostly to stay out of range but had head movement aswell. I always think pep was quite similar to him in the way of the lateral movements etc...

As for Buchanan i thought he was pretty good defensivly but he could be hit he was slick but let it lapse at times and relied on his offence and grit a fair few times at the top echelon but still a top defensive boxer but i would say hes more of a ring general than defensive wizard.

excellant observation. I think him and Chavez is a toss up perhaps Kens lack of power might just cost him abit here as Chavez could take a shot to get inside with Ken.

I always think that Buchanan would beat a prime Ortiz, and i stand by it still.

I watched this fight a few months back. And i have to say i was very impressed. However i thought it highlighted Buchanan's offence and in particular his jab more than his defence. I just thought his timing was slightly out and seemed to get caught with a few he normally wouldnt have.

 

GP, Ken was hampered by a cold, from what the guy calling the fight said, so I give him a pass for finished slower than he started, but the guy he beat, Donato Paduano, was a hot fighter on his way up, who defeated Marcel Cerdan Jr. in a celebrated contest in '69, and was welterweight on top of that. I think that minus the cold, and if it were 15 round title defense that he would have won even more impressively.

 

yeh definitly was a very good performance im just nit picking