Better defensive skills : Hopkins or Mayweather Jr ?

Mayweather

 

Close, but I'll Hopkins.
Hopkins is able to put up an extremely strong defense without the benefit of extraordinary speed.

 

Clinching doesn't count.

 

Just look at MW's fight with JMM ..JMM could barely touch him ..Hopkins defense comes from rough tactics ..

 

At their best, Mayweather, as he is the more athletic imo, in terms of speed & reflexes.

Although I guess it depends on how you view it, as Hopkins reflexes left him years ago, right now he is surviving on ring craft, timing.

Mayweather's legs are his greatest asset imo.

 

Somewhere, Wladimir Klitschko is reading your post in utter disgust.

 

They are both brilliant at using angles to make it hard for their opponent to hit them. Hopkins was trying to make the point that Pacquiao has never faced anyone that can do this. But when he brought race into people got offended and missed the point. To me this is a lost art in boxing in general.

I was recently watching the fight between Rosario and Chavez on youtube and I was amazed at Chavez's head movement in this fight, and then I thought about how Tyson used head movement when he was first heavyweight champion. It is amazing how little defense the 'Top fighters' of today have.

 

Both bring excellent skills to the table.
But B-Hop is willing to do all the lil' extra''s that put him over a bit more.
(An elbow here... A hip shot there, A shoulder against the chin ect...)

 

Both are excellent in terms of setting traps with their defensive guard that try to lure their opponent in and subsequently lower their opponents punch volume and activity. Mayweather is obviously the more athletic of the two, Hopkins has the less penetrable guard. It's what you like to be honest, they are both defensive masterminds.

 

And what does that have to do with how good they are defensively?

 

Floyd "Elbow" Mayweather!

 

They are very different and I like them both, but I'd have to go with Money. If you look at his last two fights he was hit like 5 times in 24 rounds.

 

Toney > both

 

everything.