Hi all, it has been a while since I made my first thread here. I have been reading, but time constraints prevented me from posting or even watching very much boxing lately. In fact most of the boxing I have watched has been training videos, drills, and things of a similar technical nature. That brings me to my question, what are the best technical fighters (we have film of) from each decade. That is, who is has the best technique. I am trying to get a feel for the evolution of boxing styles through the eras, and I wanted to be able to watch the progression. I am not necessarily looking for boxer-movers even though they populate my list, I am just looking for people who used technique to maximum effect. My own thoughts for the sake of a starting point, these are just the examples that come to mind given my limited experience. 1900-1909: maybe Corbett not really sure of this at all 1910-1919: not sure here either. 1920-1929: Gene Tunney 1930-1939: Benny Leonard 1940-1949: Willie Pep, Joe Louis, Charlie Burley 1950-1959: Ezzard Charles 1960-1969: Emile Griffith 1970-1979: unsure of even a guess here, maybe Ken Buchanon 1980-1989: Salvador Sanchez, Wilfred Binetez 1990-1999: Pernell Whitaker 2000-current: Floyd Mayweather, Juan Manuel Marquez Well off to train a little, then some work, and then back here I guess. Bomber
1910-1919: Jack Britton- Mike Gibbons 1920-1929: Benny Leonard -Gene Tunney 1930-1939: Barney Ross 1940-1949: Willie Pep-Ray Robinson These would be more accurate for the decade...
1900-1909: Joe Gans 1910-1919: Jack Britton 1920-1929: Benny Leonard 1930-1939: Barney Ross 1940-1949: Willie Pep 1950-1959: Ezzard Charles 1960-1969: Eder Jofre 1970-1979: Alexis Arguello 1980-1989: Sugar Ray Leonard 1990-1999: Pernell Whitaker 2000-current: Floyd Mayweather Jr. Very difficult to narrow down some of these. Found myself having trouble picking slicker, clever boxers or perfect, efficient boxer-punchers most of the time.
Is Jim Driscoll the 20's or the decade before? I can't remember. I don't know how technically correct he was but one thing is for sure, his style is the technician and he was a ring general, i'm just going off the little bit of footage we have, and accounts of course.
Just to throw some different names out there.... 30s - Kid Chocolate 40s - Ron Richards 50s - Archie Moore 60s - Fighting Harada 70s - Locche 80s - Donald Curry 90s - Orlando Canizales 00s - Kostya Tszyu
Vic, I truly don't know what "technical" means in our post.Sometimes it may mean "perfectly school trained,BUT not the best" boxer. In that meaning , I would take Gene Tunney over Tommy loughran because of his more punishing hitting powers. Aside from that they were equal, I believe. Just as I believe that the 2 best fighters I ever saw in their primes Willie Pep, and Ray Robinson were "technically equal", Ray Robinson, because of his much better punching power, than Willie, was the better pound for pound fighter. So with Tunney over Loughran....:good
Thank you all very much. I am particularly interested in boxing technique, and how it evolved over the decades so this is a great place to start. I will be off to see about watching at least snippets of these fighters, and possibly reading some boxing manuals. My final goal is to examine in depth how and why boxing styles developed by decade. For instance, I want to take a close look at how bare knuckle boxing evolved into modern gloved boxing. This is in part to understand why fighters of one era may look so different than the fighters of others. Also this is a really great way to find cool new fights to watch.
1900-1909: Joe Gans 1910-1919: Jack Britton 1920-1929: Benny Leonard, Tommy Loughran, Tunney 1930-1939: Barney Ross, Joe Louis 1940-1949: Willie Pep, Robinson 1950-1959: Archie Moore, Ezzard Charles, Willie Pastrano, H. Johnson, Billy Graham 1960-1969: Eder Jofre, Luis Rodriguez, Giardello 1970-1979: Miguel Canto 1980-1989: Leonard, Benitez, Marlon Starling 1990-1999: Pernell Whitaker 2000-current: Hopkins, Mayweather Something like that......