Akexis Arguello vs Willie Pep.

I love AA...but prime Pep would win with such class and artistic license that you would wonder what the big deal was all about. Arguello's biggest weakness was vs movers and slick boxers, as it's been previously noted...and Pep is the absolute cream of the elite of mover/boxers.

 

J :good

 

Pep may have been greatest ever, all divisions. He also could take a great shot if caught. Pep wins, maybe easy.

 

I love both of these fighters, but Arguello was troubled by quick movers, and Pep, imo, was the greatest of all time at doing just that (and P4P too).

I think Pep would do his usual moving around being insanely elusive and peppering Arguello with quick punches. Arguello would be throwing back, but mostly hitting air. I wouldn't rule out Arguello briefly dropping Pep with one of his pin point accurate and perfectly timed right hands.

Pep by a decision.

 

Alright I am not a Pep expert by far, and have now made researching him more in depth my next boxing priority.....so in my ignorance (not meant sarcastically so please don't read it that way!), can anyone explain why Arguello is such a dark horse that he is given next to no chance in this fight, when I have not seen anyone totally whitewash him in the way that I am hearing????

2 questions 1 about Arguello and 1 about Pep:

1. Who are these movers that so perplexed Arguello??? And how was he able to adapt and compensate for that disadvantage in light of his own solid record????


2. I know Pep was a defensive wiz (And I have been impressed with the limited footage I have seen), and a slick mover....I can understand how he becomes a difficult target for Arguello, but how does he manage to get inside of arguello's superior reach and land sufficent shots of his own??? Did Pep struggle with taller fighters ie Angott & Sadddler who he gave away 3 inches to, how does he deal with 5 inches of height and 4 inches of reach to Arguello or does his speed simply nullify that????


I am not critiquing all of the Pep picks, just curious as a Arguello admirer why he is given next to shot in this fight????

 

P,Arguello had more than a "shot" against ANYONE. No disparaging of him at all. But Willie Pep, before his accident [I saw him then], was almost unbeatable,as his record shows,gives him surreal qualities today.
Incidentally, the one featherweight of modern times, who i believe would have beaten a prime Pep, was the prime 126pound Henry Armstrong. Hammerin Hank would fire so many bullets in close,it would wear Pep out.Young Henry beats Willie at featherweight. Styles make fights...

 

I have mentioned this before, but when I visited Canastota I was struck by how, while the largest fist cast on display was Carnera's, the very tiniest fist cast seen was that of Armstrong's. Hank may very well have been a natural featherweight throughout his career, which would make him an absolute monster at 126. In 152 fights, nobody else ever took Sarron out, and Henry did it in just six rounds, only two months after Petey concluded his excellent rivalry against the great (and nearly five years younger) southpaw Freddie Miller with a superb 12 round decision win in Johannesburg.

Pete usually went the distance, and might have been expected to be able to take Armstrong into the later rounds, but no natural featherweight opponent aside from Arizmendi was able to consistently compete with Hank over the limit by this stage. (Sarron would win his next 11 bouts before perpetual headache Angott retired him.)


Courtesy of our very good friend TGA is rare footage of a pre plane crash Pep in action:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNhKyvrGp_4[/ame]

 

:goodthanks for that duo. what i see there (for what my opinion is worth) is the usual elusive, master feinting pep (really, did any feint as well as he did). so ****ing evasive it's a miracle any clean shots were landed at all. It also looked like he had more pop than given credit for but rarely stayed still long enough to set up his shots to get any beef into them

 

He concluded his series with Bartolo by knocking Sal out in 12 to unify their competing featherweight claims, fracturing Bartolo's jaw with a right hand. That result stands out to me on Pep's record. In 97 bouts, the only other time Sal was ever stopped was by a torn ear. 65 knockouts is not a total to sneeze at, even among 229 total wins, and Willie stopped a number of decent opponents. However, he boxed in a manner which best supported his busy schedule.