Sonny Liston was a very good defensive heavyweight with a very versatile defense. Most caught up on Michael Spinks when he slipped up to Heavyweight but his defense was superb well before that. If you put peak Spinks against a frightening guy like Foster you'd see him ramp up his awareness and defensive effectiveness due to the situation dictating just that.
When people think of George Foreman they think of his power but his defense was really good especially during his comeback. As slow as he was when he was in his 40's he was never knocked out despite facing brutal punchers like Moorer, Holyfield, Briggs, Morrison and Cooney due to his very underrated defensive abilities. Watch videos of his comeback when he used that cross arm defense when guys got close to negate hooks and uppercuts and at range, he was great at simply sticking his arms out (mummy guard) to blind dudes and keep them at range or deflect oncoming straight punches like jabs and straight rights. For a guy with little speed he certainly made use of his arms a lot like a slower fighter should.
Joe Louis. The subtleties of his highly effective defensive measures are often overshadowed by the brilliance of his more dramatic offensive executions.
Just recently I've come to appreciate Julio Cesar Chavez's defensive ability. It was subtle bit he blocked well and moved his head better than given credit for.
Marciano - slips, parries, weaves, coming in low, broken rhythms and leaning away from jabs - by no means greatest and he could get tagged, but better than given credit for.
Foreman, Tarver, McCallum, Golovkin, Jack, just because they aren’t defensive wizards, and not doing fancy shoulder rolls and hands down avoiding 10 punches and showboating, they don’t get recognized as good defensive fighters, you rarely seen any of these hurt in their career, they’re tight and responsible defensively and people don’t really take note of that
I completely, 100% agree on McCallum, he had an excellent defence and it's clear to see how effective it was in contrast to the flashier guy in his first fight with Toney.
Roman Gonzalez and Golovkin currently, from the past, Jake Lamotta, i dont know if it is underrated but Roberto Duran to me is one of the best defensive boxers i seen, Chavez too. Most of the pressure boxers are the ones who doesnt get much credit for their defense.
