Of course my boy Pep was mentioned. As of recently, Pacquiao has some of the best offensive footwork. He's always in position to punch. Floyd too I barely see him off balance. Chad Dawson moves well he's such a good technician to be young and fight in current times. Benny Leonard deserves a mention aswell.
Excellant post. Also just because you mentioned Gonzalez, when he was younger and in his prime he actually seemed to be able to spring forward and back reasonably well, like the second Oguma fight.
It would include Pep Pastrano Conn Canto Driscoll Delaney Loughran Robinson Loi Buchanan Ali Tunney Corbett Gans I would go with Pep ,but others, more qualified may disagree.
Willie Pep-He wasn't called 'The Will Of The Wisp ' for nothing. Benny Leonard -Gliding in and out of range. Ray Robinson-Beautiful to behold his footwork. Gene Tunney-For a big man .economy in motion.
On 2nd though, I would have to place Willie Pep's footwork up there with Ali and Walcott...maybe even higher. Willie was like a skater on ice.
At HW: Ezzard Charles, Jersey Joe Walcott, Muhammad Ali, Evander Holyfield come to mind Non-HW: Ray Robinson, Willie Pep, Ray Leonard, Roy Jones Jr.
pep's is the best combination of athleticism and educated movement i've seen, apart from whitaker. Ali is another good shout.
Nice post. Good points especially about Harada, Ebihara, Chang and Lynch. Sal Sanchez had terrific footwork for his particular style: very subtle, acute and shiftily minimalistic even if the consensus is that he could look below par against slick or awkward movers. Against aggressors though his movement of foot was something to behold at it's best, aided of course by his sublime balance and temperament.