They ventured where all the purists, all the experts, all the masters tell you never to tread. These guys voluntarily put themselves in the danger zone, back to the ropes, and said ‘Come and get me.’ And proceeded to pound their opponents to a pulp, or box their ears off while the perplexed aggressor was left to scratch his head at those confounding counters. The Galindez-Conteh thread inspired me to make this tribute and discussion thread on this rare breed. So who’s in the club? Muhammad Ali: Inventor of the rope-a-dope ... cover and let the other guy waste energy, then, at the right time, lash out off the ropes with a blinding combination that would accomplish more than his opponent had done while Ali beckoned him in to do his best. Victor Galindez: The Argentinian light heavyweight did some of his best work laying back and countering with thudding salvos to the head and the body. Wilfred Benitez: Nobody better in this posture, El Radar was probably the principle proponent of setting himself up in no-man’s-land and letting his opponent whale away and miss and miss and miss to the point of frustration, seeking surgical counters that are breathtaking in their beauty. Roberto Duran: Not his chosen mode of expression, but the Hands of Stone could pelt an opponent from in close while backed up to the ring’s limit. ... Watch him completely overwhelm Carlos Palomino in one of his most masterful (and least appreciated, or at least least mentioned) performances. It’s like a classical musician letting his hair down to show that, yeah, he could have been a heavy metal guitarist to rival any ... just to show he could do it. There are others, I’m sure, but these stand out to me. Who else belongs?
Duran. Galindez Frank Fletcher beat the crap out of guys while on the ropes. Aturo Gatti was a fine against the ropes fighter.
