Age and ring age are two different things. You know that. He'd already labelled Roy as being a shot fighter before he invited him to his camp.
Pretty obvious. Jones wasn't really world class by that stage and Calzaghe still was. Primes and peaks aren't exactly linear especially in regards to boxing.
Pep and Hamed both deserve mentions Patterson is my #1 p4p fastest with RJJ at #2, #3 can be anybody on any given day depending on my mood, sometimes Ali, sometimes Khan, sometimes even Leonard
For heavyweights, a prime Floyd Patterson. His left hook and combinations were super fast! Even older, past prime Patterson matched up well (in their rematch) with Ali. In their first fight, Floyd was hampered by a back problem. Honorable Mention: Prime Michael Dokes Meldrick Taylor and Howard Davis fought to a 10 round draw and their hand and foot speed were off the charts. Both couldn't really punch that hard though.
For me, the most impressive hand speed I ever saw was Tommy Hearns in the 2nd round v Duran. There's a left hook I have watched at a quarter speed and it is still too quick to really see. More impressive is that not only were his hands quick but he was putting power in too. Many examples of blinding handspeed are relatively light punches but Hearns, in this round, combined lightning with thunder.
Eddie Hopson was very fast. Michael Dokes was very fast. Tony Tubbs had INSANE speed for someone of his build. Johnny Famechon was quick esp lateral. Virgil Hill was super quick with the lefthand.
He was no Duran in terms of fundamentals either, all he had was raw athleticism that Duran wasn`t prepared for at all.
For any weight, my vote goes to Ray Leonard. At heavyweight, Ali’s knockout of Brian London is without a doubt the fastest flurry of punches I’ve ever seen thrown on an opponent by anyone over 200 pounds (It looks like CGI or something) but I’d say Patterson was more consistently fast strictly in terms of hand speed, even if he didn’t have an individual highlight moment a quite like Ali going all Tasmanian Devil on London. I think Roy Jones’ hand speed would probably rival Patterson’s at heavyweight if the Ruiz fight had taken place five years earlier. (For overall speed and reflexes literally no one at heavyweight touches pre-exile Ali.)
Hill wasn`t super quick with his left hand on this highlight reel but he did double up more consistently and quicker than most. This content is protected
McClellan`s hand speed wasn`t faster than Benn`s when they fought and Benn got underneath most of his shots pretty easily.
All Laing did v Duran is counter punch he hardly threw any leads and when he did he got countered, he didn`t throw enough punches like Fury v Wilder but less impressive.
A small clarification..McClellan fought with Benn not in shape, many here know it..he was previously and deeply concussed by Julian Jackson reporting severe signs of neurological damages.
He got knocked out because he had bad defensive fundamentals, against Duran he kept moving back in straighht line and falling off balance but Duran didn`t have the reach to catch him with the straight right.
