Willie Pep - How Was He Brilliant?

from all accounts it was his effortless movement and evasiveness. bert sugar said that it was like he was constantly dancing, his boxing was like watching a symphony. hyperboles aside, he was apparently nearly impossible to catch and made movement as a defense an artform.

 

Being Italian, largely, I think.

 

There's plenty of footage of him to judge, you don't really have to go by accounts.

 

APPALLED! BE. It wasn't because Pep was Italian; he was flat-out BEAUTIFUL. PEERLESS at his best -- so fluid. A dream boxer who could rat tat tat pinpoint shots 'n be gone.

 

...You don't think those traits had anything to do with him being Italian? Pete, you talk to him.

 

Well, speed and mobility for starters. The guy was exceptionally fast both with his hands and his feet. Tremendously mobile, and could move from side to side and change direction at the blink of an eye. It's difficult to get at a guy at all if you just can't catch him, and then when you get close he uncorks a combination, spins and dances off before you have the chance to even think about countering. He was so fast he could get away with throwing all manner of leads that his opponents would never have expected - lead right uppercuts from the outside (3:29), for instance. Add to that the fact that he had extraordinary reflexes and you have yourself arguably the most elusive fighter ever. He could even slip punches and fire back all while back-tracking (6:53), something which even the illustrious one in my avatar didn't achieve to quite the extent that Pep did. Even in the rare event that you manage to trap him into an exchange, the guy's almost unhittable, sees everything coming (3:11). Even against a monster ATG Feather in Saddler who knew how to crowd a man and cut off the ring better than anyone, he's able to outbox his man for long streches simply by dictating the action with his legs, pepper him with a few shots and get away before he can reply.

He was also an unusually clever fighter. He was very smart in the exchange, always one step ahead of his man, knowing what was about to come at him and being able to dictate things from there. He was a crafty feinter, which was perhaps what made his offence so world class - he wasn't a power-puncher, but speed, accuracy in combination (9:12) added with unorthdox moves, angles and feints all add up to a very cultured attack on the whole. At 3:58 and 4:20 he has Famechon literally falling over himself by feinting him. He used weird angles, catching you when you thought you were far out of range (5:40), and often pulled little tricks such as subtlely switching to southpaw after an exchange and then hooking you with the right hand (2:58 ) (Andre Ward does this a bit also). He did all these things while maintaining poise, always able to make you miss if you threw something and then be in position to whip back the counter if it were on. He could also handle himself on the inside, and had no qualms about employing all manner of dirty tactics to keep his head above water (favourite move: grinding laces in the face). The complete package.

And as you probably know, all this artistry took place after he suffered a debilitating plane crash, in which his prime supposedly vanished.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq09V2AeKvo[/ame]

 

Great post :good

 

Some think that Pep was the best pure boxer ever...

 

I'm one of 'em, RJ

 

I agree, Pep was the best and did it all before a lot of them. Shame Pep is known by some in his career after the plane crash where he was still great but not prime. I guess a lot of the ignorance attached to Pep is because these kids know jack **** about the game.

 

top 5 fight i'd love to see-pep saddler 2 which may be the single greatest performance by a fighter in the post war era

 

Because he was Willie Pep---
As I have posted before, I saw the great Willie Pep in his prime Jan.29,1943...His opponent was a CLASSy lightweight contender from New Jersey, Allie Stolz,at MSG...Stolz weighed about eight pounds more than Pep, and I seeing Allie Stolz before,was convinced that he would be too big for the featherweight Willie Pep...
Was I in for a rude awakening! Pep won about every round from the clever Stolz, and dropped Stolz also...Was I impressed that night..
What made Willie Pep special ? I think it was his sense of anticipation..Pep seemed to know his opponents next move...He would befuddle them by his mind and body instant coordination,thus avoiding his opponents punches...
Had a beautiful left jab,and was a very fast combination puncher...
Before his plane accident Pep was virtually unhitable...A ring marvel was Pep.He fought almost weekly against every featherweight at the time.
I think his most impressive victory was against a great lightweight boxer Willie Joyce, who twice whipped the great LW champ Ike Williams...
Willie Pep , next to Ray Robinson, was the two best fighters I have ever seen....

 

Well, there is no denying that the Italian-Americans have had some of the greatest fighters ever. In a sense of courage,heart and the ability to fight. I guess it comes from the Roman roots, where the Romans were the world greatest soldiers and conquered the civilized world from England, Germany and beyond.

Pep falls into the elite category of the Italian -American boxer, which there were many, but most of the time there are known for there solid chins and balls which are among the best in boxing.

I fear you may have meant it in an undermining way, shame on you son.

By the way Pep was the greatest pure boxer, bar none