Best Jab in boxing? Ward, Cotto, Floyd, Wlad?

Wlad does not belong in this conversation..

 

Actually, Vlad has been 6 feet 7 inches tall since he was an amateur. HBO said that Vlad was only 6 feet 5 inches tall until Vlad stood face to face with Bostice who is 6 feet 5 inches tall. Lampley said that Vlad looked to be, at least, 2 inches taller than Bostice, this was on HBO MSG, NY, USA. Vlad was also taller than the 6 foot 6 inch Derrick Jefferson, taller than 6 foot 6 inch Austin, McCline, etc. Vitali is 6 feet 8 inches tall, has been for years...........I don't care, but they find anyway they can to cut Klitschko down........

 

Wlad's jab is S H I T. If he had any confidence in his jab then he would follow it with a right hand - like guys who have good jabs like to do. Instead, Grabbimir spends half the fight pawing with his jab. Did you not see the Ibragimov fight? That was a sad spectacle.

You Klittards really need to keep Larry Holmes' name out of your mouth. Holmes' jab puts Wlad's to shame. Leave the crack alone...

 

LOL. Holmes was an OLE MAN by the time of the Tyson fight. BS free? Not hardly...

Lol. Ok dude, if you say so. I fail to see how Grabimir's pawing jab equals a Holmes right hand but maybe I haven't been using the same quality of narcotics you have...

 

I'd rate Holmes Jab as being better than Lewis' and Wlads. Both Wlad and Lewis pawed with the jab way too much, they rarely committed to the jab like Holmes did.

Holmes didn't dominate opponents with the jab alone like Lewis and Wlad do but then he didn't usually have their huge size advantages and in general he had a more aggressive style and more varied offence that didn't rely solely on the jab like Wlad.

Look at how Lewis was out jabbed by Bruno and matched in the jab department by Mercer. I've only ever seen Lewis really commit to the jab in 1 fight and that was the rematch against Rahman. Every jab was thrown with bad intent and then he dominated Rahman and brutalized him with the jab in his last great performance. If Lewis committed to the jab in every fight like the in the rematch with Rahman then I'd rate his jab higher.

Wlad suffers from the same problem Lewis had. He has a great jab but doesn't use it. He paws with it way too much to control range. When he does commit to it, it is a thing of beauty but that happens only a handful of times a round. He has also never really faced an opponent who had a good jab themselves so it's hard to compare his jab when everyone he faces has a mediocre jab at best.

I'd also rate Ali's jab above Lewis' and Wlads.

 

Gotta go with Wlad.

Floyd has a good jab but he doesn't use it to control fights often and it doesn't carry nearly the power of Wlad's.

The question should be: if you had to pick a jab for YOURSELF to use, which would you pick? The obvious answer is Wlad's.

 

Can be a bit tricky to judge jabs - Ward and Floyd, for instance, often fight people with longer reach than they have and thus utilise their jabs a bit less - but at the same time they are technically very good. Wlad has a good jab but it is improved no end in effectiveness by his physical attributes. Kessler used to have a great jab-right combo, but injuries have forced him to abandon that style.

 

To the people complaining about various fighters "pawing" with the jab - I'd ask you to consider that sometimes that "pawing" isn't a result of not wanting to commit but rather an attempt to control the opponent's jabbing arm with your own and keep them where you want them to be in the ring - this can be effective but it isn't really punching. When e.g. Wlad actually jabs, it's a hard, accurate shot but he spends a lot of time just slapping the left of his opponent to keep them at bay - this can be frustrating to watch, but it doesn't mean the fighter can't jab.

Mayweather has a good, accurate jab but he is often fighting opponents with much longer reach/height and thus does not use it to control fights as much.

 

I'll go with Ward, he fought better opposition than Wlad P4P and is more accurate with his jab, can also use it as a power shot.

 

Ward.

 

Floyds jab doesn't carry nearly the power of a 7 foot tall HW? Thanks for clearing that up for us :nut

 

Ward's jab against Rodriguez was awesome. Hard, accurate and with perfect timing he hit Rodriguez with when he was coming in he hit him when he was going out ,he finished some of his combinations with a hard jab leaving Rodriguez without a chance to punch back, he put on a clinic on how to use a jab and showed why the jab is the most important punch in boxing. Overall one of the best jabbing displays i have seen for quite some time.