Best Movement and Footwork of these 3...

Ali but it's close with Billy Conn.

 

Ali of the 60s had awesome feet, possibly the best ever in any weight.

 

Quick Tillis

 

Benny Leonard, for the sole reason that his footwork was more multifaceted than either. Muhammad had great speed and balance, and was a master of range but maybe not as good on the front foot as the other two. On the backfoot he is better than both. Conn was also very quick, good on offense and defense but lacks the torque from punching power that Leonard had, and he is slower than both IMO.

Leonard's is the best overall, he controls the space very well with his sidesteps and boxes extremely well off the back foot to start with. But he is also capable of swarming and fighting coming forward, he is better at pressuring and swarming than the other guys IMO. So i give it to him on being well rounded, generating knockout punches, and being very fast.

 

SRR had better feet than Ali

 

depends whether you go for the classical style or the unconventional approach...

ali's footwork during the sixties was spectacular, but served more to tire out his opponents and assert himself physically, than set up his own shots efficiently (not that it wasn't a great platform from which to go on the offensive too). his upper body movement, especially in the defensive sense, was effective due to his phenomenal reflexes and great chin, but made him vulnerable to the odd knockdown as he was often off balance.

fast forward to the seventies and both elements have changed. he showed his greatness by employing an altogether more conventional footwork, which although effective was a far cry from the perfection of someone like leonard. his upper body movement showed flashes of change, but still primarily relied on reflexes (which were by now fading fast, so this was unfortunate), and this resulted in ali taking a lot of beatings.

i haven't seen enough of leonard, but based on what i have seen, and thinking of others who boxed in the classical style, i'd have to favour his movement and footwork (taken alone). i would rate ali more for his physicality - amazing speed of foot, hand and head, extreme stamina both before and after exile. i'd also rate him for how spectacular he looked doing it all (sixties ali).

 

Ali :rofl

 

Best footwork of these three????

Eeeerrrmmmm????......

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJUzl0aFHZw[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFFDe9FQL3s[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrTgGlmHTT8&feature=related[/ame]

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbDMaV8wIyk[/ame]





[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSxreC59N9c&feature=related[/ame]

 

rocky... the first minute of that ali folley video highlights exactly what i'm saying. when folley connects at about 43 seconds in, ali is in a very vulnerable position. if he had not had such a great chin and great recuperative abilities, he could have been in real trouble there. also, he expends a lot of excess energy by moving more than he has to (this is of course negated by his supreme stamina).

if you remove ali's physical attributes (the ones not directly linked to the footwork patterns themselves e.g. stamina) and his chin (to isolate his upper body + head movement), you'll see that the techniques themselves are flawed.

if best = most spectacular, ali's movement and footwork qualify. if best = most efficient, leonard and other classical boxers get the nod. the way i understood this question is as a comparison of movement and footwork in isolation from other attributes. if you isolate them in ali's case, they are flawed if best = most efficient.