Fighters who had great movements...

I've seen his fight with Pone Kingpetch. Gives him a boxing lesson, though Pone was pretty much done at the time.

 

Muhammad Ali, both Sugar Ray's, Jones Jr., Johnson, Gans, and others.:good

 

Jersey Joe Walcott

 

No I haven't stolen it

Yes I still have it:good

Yes you can have it :good

Yes PM me your name and addy if you want it :good

 

As i've been saying in recent posts, Wilfredo Gomez was for a while, a compllete fighter. Fast, shifty boxer, a killer puncher, with a world class killer instinct. If he hadn't unraveled against Sal Sanchez, who knows how great he would have become? His blowout of Carlos Zarate is something special. Zarate was considered to be one of the most dangerous fighters in the world after knocking out Zamora. Gomez just obliterated him! Outboxing and then destroying him in round 5. He rivaled Duran as a killer in the ring.

 

willie pep
pernell whitaker
roy jones jr
floyd mayweather jr
ali
tyson
srl

 

Duran at lightweight was deceptively mobile and hard to hit solidly. Quick feet. He turned his head with punches, almost as well as Ali, to take the sting off 'em. His rep as a slugger and brawler has tended to overshadow his actual defensive skills.

 

Yes, and in Montreal, he seemed to make SRL miss more frequently than Benitez did. (Of course Ray also telegraphed his shots too, something defensive specialists like Benitez and Shield's also took advantage of. Many of SRL's victims were simply too intimidated by his speed to capitalize.)

 

Dulio Loi,Jim Driscoll,Tommy Loughran.

 

That he took such a cavalier approach to his match with Sanchez has always baffled me. After wiping out Zarate, his next superfight was going to be with Little Red. When Sal annihilated Danny TWICE, Gomez should have realized that he wasn't going to be in for a picnic.

I suspect that Sal successfully suckered him into a sense of false security by carrying Nico Perez the ten round distance in his warmup for Gomez. Wilfredo was ringside in LA to help promote their clash, and he had taken out Perez in five rounds defending his title in '79. Sanchez treated his match with Nicky more like an entertaining exhibition, just interested in having a good time with Perez. (Sal had a little grin on his face during the match, nothing taunting, just the expression of somebody having fun.) Afterwards, Perez picked Gomez to beat Sanchez, and maybe Bazooka bought into that notion a little.

Viewing Sanchez/Perez was one of the most pleasant televised viewing experiences I can recall in boxing, and without the pressure of defending his title, he provided a satisfying display of boxing skill which sent everybody home happy. (It was his only nontitle match as champion.)

 

Willie Pep was the most smooth and agile boxer I've watched. He would almost glide across the canvas. I love the way he searches for openings, feints with his feet and cycles round his opponent, switching stances as he does it.

But there's one fighter who rivals him for aesthetical movements - Jose Napoles. Though not the most elusive, his footwork was perhaps the best ever. Subtle, smooth - sleek. He maintained perfect balance at all times - his footwork was that of a clever predator, able to set traps and create angles while moving backwards or forwards. At his best, Napoles was brilliant to watch.

 

George Benton
Harold Johnson
Harold Weston jr.
Mustapha Muhammad
To add a few who have not been mentioned.

 

Pep's a fighter who I admire greatly. Mainly because of his all out boxing style. Very fluid mover around the ring, and fluid technically with his punches.

I recently read an article from an old Ring magazine, late 70's I believe. And Pep told a story to a reporter, among many other stories, that he once fought a journeyman who was in awe of sharing a ring with him. The opponent asked for Pep's autograph at the weigh-in, Pep declined with the media looking on. The opponent was shaking like a leaf when squaring off during the referees final instructions. With more or less the first telling punch Pep landed, he was over.

 

A young Lionel Rose deserves a mention as well. Just finished watching his fight with Harada again, and he did such a masterful job of keeping the little bull at bay. Just a superb display.