Best jab per division

HW: Joe Louis
CW: Oleksandr Usyk
LHW: Michael Spinks
SMW: Mikkel Kessler
MW: Sumbu Kalambay
JMW: Thomas Hearns
WW: Ray Robinson
LWW: Antonio Cervantes
LW: Pernell Whitaker
SFW: Vasyl Lomachenko
FW: Vicente Saldivar
SBW: Wilfredo Gomez
BW: Fighting Harada
SFW: Gilberto Roman
FW: Miguel Canto
JFW: Joey Olivero
MW: Ricardo Lopez

 

Pelenchin was not really a jab guy, despite his length. He moreso relied on those whipping power punches. Mathebula outjabbed him for most of their fight, from memory. I'd certainly put guys like Inoue, Morales, Barrera above him in that department.

Didn't Junior Jones have a really good jab as well, by the way? It's been a while since I watched him fight.

 

I like the Bob Foster mention. He is mostly remembered for his power but he had an excellent jab.

 

Hw. Liston
CW. Uysk
LH. Hill
SM. Kessler
MW. GGG
Jm. Winky
Ww. Quartey (my personal pound for pound no.1 jab)
Jw. Eddie Perkins
Lw. Pernell
Sfw. Lomo
Fw. Arguello
Bw. Harada
Fw. Canto
Mw. Lopez

For the most part, I like guys that had a power jab. Liston, Winky and Ike really hurt folks with that punch.

 

Yeah IMO Bob has a underrated jab on the whole. It was beastly.

 

Hi JT.
You are not wrong, very underrated jab indeed, I was at the Foster /Finnegan fight, and you not only see the impact on Chris face but also hear the deep thump every time Fosters jab landed, in fact foster pretty much won the fight with his vaunted jab, of course he supplemented the jab with solid accurate right crosses, might well have been Bobs finest defense of the title, Finnegan put up stoic resistance, he was out gunned, out boxed, out thought, but still he advanced onto unrelenting punishment, I have been to dozens, if not hundreds of live fights, but few have moved me the way this fight did, if the fight was scored on bravery, Chris would have been a runaway winner, I had the dubious pleasure of talking to him many years later when the fights and drink had caught up with him, it wasn't a pleasant experience, he recalled that the Foster jab was harder than Conteh,s right cross, that's saying something, felt like a scaffold pole with a boxing glove on the end, not a true brit great, but a game and brave fighter, who properly overachieved, I was proud to have shared some time in his company.
stay safe buddy, chat soon.
Mike.

 

I love your stories Mike, i almost feel like i am there. Fighting prime Foster would have been one of the more terrifying assignments in world sport. It was right after he looked like he had killed Mike Quarry, to boot. I believe it was Ring mags fight of the year.

 

Thanks JT, my pleasure.
Mike.

 

The only Monzon , with Foster, and a double up on Hearns ... wins it for me .. Nice list JT

 

Cheers surf!

 

Nice list JT, even if you have 'cheated' with a double Tommy.

I concur with Pete at LW, the speed, versatility and rhythm of the jab was beautiful. He would lure people right into power shot, just cranking up the pace on the left.

Why Ali over Holmes, Liston or Louis? Kudos to @George Crowcroft for the Louis mention. Absolute triphammer piston. Busted up Max Baer good with it. I, too, am an Ali jab guy but interested in your reasoning JT as I recall you being a Holmes' jab guy years back. Maybe I'm misremembering?

 

He was in contention for 160 too

You might be misremembering. I've said a couple of times a fair way back i like the overall package with Ali, 60's Ali mainly. Guys like Norton (and not just him) have opined the Ali jab was better. In the 60's he was very mobile and could jab on the move while making himself extremely scarce. He could use it for attack, or defense, of course. How often did he get countered throwing a jab in the 60's?

Holmes jab is great but he can be countered and i think a higher level of opponent might be able to take it away, somewhat, or hurt him. Guys like Ali and Louis were great with right hand counters. Liston's jabs certainly up there as is Louis' obviously. Ali had the fastest jab of all of them as well. Louis could be countered as well, less so post Schmeling but it was still there to an extent.

 

Here's a collection of quotes i chased up ages ago -

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/rate-listons-jab.713746/page-3#post-22640026

 

Some great lists here. Am I just being a casual by noting the lack of love for Ike Quartey (I see @Flo_Raden mentioned him)? Surely he should feature more?

 

For me, his jab to the body and the way he bladed in the 60s, so fluid and clean.

Once that corkscrew jab started landing, it messed people up, consistent, speedy impact on the forehead, many eyes swelled up, many cuts opened up.

The way he controlled ring centre and boxed against Liston - a mature, mature, very technically sound performance against an all-timer in such a massive fight for all the chips.