Sooooooo who had the best footwork you've seen. By footwork I don't mean prettiest moves, I mean actually effective movements. Like skills/speed ect. The best lead hand? As in, best mix of stiff arms, lead hooks and jabs and maybe even the odd uppercut. However, I don't mean list two guys. I mean list the person you think has the best blend of BOTH. Doesn't matter their styles or stigma, just who you think had the best of what I have just defined. I'll start: Muhammad Ali. Looking back at him in the 60s, he really did emulate the phrase "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee". His jab was like a rapier and he showed a nice left hook when he cared to use it(Williams, Bonavena, Terrel and the like). Who else?
The two which immediately jumped out to me were Ali and Holmes, but they're boring so I'll get my hipster on. Miguel Canto Unbelievable footwork, everything tidy and done properly; exquisite movement and balance. Watching him vs Avelar, he tuned angles and danced like a ballerina with a protractor. It was(an aging)El Maestro putting on an exhibition against a monstrous puncher who towered over him. His lead hand was like a whip. Brilliantly throw left hooks off the jab and used his left to control the range, perfectly. I have no idea who the opponent is, but this is one of the most cultured left-hand performances I've ever seen. Fighting Harada The complete opposite of Canto in terms of his execution. Harada used his feet to cut angles off, crowd his opponents and leverage his shots, rather than back off and use movement. However, when hurt he could do that too. His lead-hand was literally always extended. You can't find ten seconds of a Harada fight where he hasn't throw a jab or hook. He threw both perfectly, be it in chains or single shots, either way; the way he twisted into the body hooks was the perfect way to get as much torque as possible, land clean and keep himself as safe as possible. His jab was either a range gauge, or something to apply small amounts of pressure. It was masterful. Vasyl Lomachenko I don't really need to say anything do I? The guy's had more publicity and hype than most ATGs anyway. However, no matter how overrated, his skill is real and that lead hand is a menace. We've all seen the matrix shifts and pivots he uses but the fact he has such an effective lead as a southpaw is what impresses me the most. It's often hard for a southpaw to get a steady jab working around the(orthodox) opponent's lead, Lomachenko not only gets around it but shuts it down. His right hook and uppercut are nasty punches too, ask Roman Martinez.
'Miguelito' Canto really fits the bill in terms of using the lead hand to compliment outstanding footwork. Oscar De La Hoya really blended those attributes well when he was at the tail end of his 135 run and his fights at 140. It's not surprising that during that time he was trained by Jesus Rivero, the same guy who trained Canto, and who Robert Garcia and his dad credited with master minding the style that Nacho Beristein immitated with his own fighters. I'll throw Vernon Forrest in the mix too.
Maybe not an obvious choice but Julio Cesar Chavez had excellent footwork - it wasn't flashy, he wasn't a twinkle toes, dancing type obviously but he put himself in position to close space and cut off the ring. Not all footwork is going backwards and dancing and Chavez is a clear example of that. That left hook or straight right he'd throw when he'd got his man in position tended to keep them honest and meant he could go to work in his methodical way. He didn't waste punches or expend unnecessary energy with superfluous movement. There's a nice vid on it here: This content is protected
Macho deserves a shout. Extraordinary speed and he demonstrated underrated skill in using it to create angles and to control distance.
Absolutely. Napoles' left hook was insane, and he cut off the ring with the best of them. I really need to watch more Buchanan, as I've seen little aside from the Durán and Ortiz fights.
No one has mentioned Wilfredo Gomez yet ? I love how he would bait a guy into a corner ...then slip out and trap him into the corner