Best Defense

Hearing some of the rave reviews Pep got, it's hard to go past him as the best. No one has recieved the adulation he has for his defensive skills.

But from the footage available, which pretty much consists of past prime Pep, he looks a notch below the likes of Benitez, Locche, Whitaker, who I think are his closest rivals to the mantle of best ever defensive fighter. Like I said, this is viewing past prime Pep though.

 

Ill go Whitaker because he had the full package, inside, outside, movement, feints.

Pep looked like he had cement in his shoes sometimes, sure Pea was flat footed, but his lateral movement was great..

NOTE: havent seen a lot of Willie Pep, so feel free to criticize about the cement shoes...

 

Out of the original three Pep, but Benitez was up there, definitely better than Sweet Pea.

 

In some facets of his defense (i.e. in terms of economy of movement through subtle shifts of the head) Benitez was peerless, but in terms of overall defensive ability, I think Whitaker and Locche were his equal.

 

Benitez is the type of guy that could beat whitaker head to head though, his head movement was better and he had more power.

 

Whitaker had a better jab but benitez was better at making you miss, IMO.

 

Pep just moved for defence, he had nowhere near the technical level of the defensive impressiveness of someone like Whitaker, or Floyd Mayweather for that matter, or just about any current example...

 

I seriously doubt it.

 

I like Whitaker, at 140 especially, simply for the reason that he was more active. Pea would throw and thus land a bit more and take a close decision with neither coming close to really hurting the other. At the heigher weights Benitez has a better shot because Whitaker's activity level dropped markedly at 147-54.

 

You have to admit, Benitez looked more impressive in his fights against cervantes and maurice hope than whitaker did against vazquez and mcgirt 1.

 

You gave whitaker all 12 rounds against vazquez?

 

True, but you have to admit Whitaker looked better against Pineda and Chavez than Benitez did against Cervantes and Hope.

 

The Vasquez fight wasn't a shutout, but Whitaker won a good 7 rounds, and with the point deductions, took it rather handily.

 

Nice to see you writing a bit more realistic...


no,seriously, don´t overact so much, a shutout is JC- Lacy, but not that fight...