My stylistic favourite fighters of recent times are all quite different - but all a joy to watch: Kovalev - just so fundamentally well schooled, but always chose violence. Maybe my all time favourite jabber. Tony Harrison - great technical boxer, defensively sound, good combination puncher when he wanted to be, never looked anything other than very relaxed and under control. His shell defence was classic old skool style too - really narrow profile. He may have never quite pulled it off at the top level, but he was a total joy to watch stylistically, I always thought. Pacquaio - unorthodox, high volume, great chin, and angles angle angles. A total one off. So exciting. From a pure stylistic point of view, I wanna give props to Ammo Williams too. He had a very hard fight last night, admittedly - but like Harrison, his style and schooling looked top notch at times.
Floyd was always great to watch, I never really understood the complaint that he was a boring runner. His boxing was at such a high level, it made him consistently fascinating. I do admit his earlier fights were more exciting, and I don't think much of his personality, but got to give credit where it's due, he was an all time great and could hang with the best of them.
To me it depends on the matchup. With two pure boxers the level of both fighters has to be quite good for the fight to be really enjoyable. But a pure boxer against a puncher can be great at many levels
A mix for me 1. Technical boxer-punchers like Holyfield, Sugar Ray and Arguello 2. High calibre defensive counterpunchers like Sweet Pea (my god) and Mayweather. 3. Flawed yet impressive KO specimens like AJ, Shavers and Tua as there's always a level of drama and the unexpected.