Fastest handspeed: Meldrick Taylor, Hector Camacho, or Howard Davis Jr

That's very true.Shame they couldn't meet at lightweight.

 

True that.

 

Howard was flu-ridden. Plus, after Rosario, wasn't same fighter. TBH, may have lost something after Watt.

 

Meldrick Taylor

 

I never gave Hector much credit because of how good he could have been.

 

Hector's combos which were all thrown with good technique were lighting fast so i go with him. The real test of speed are guys who can throw quick and with good form

 

I would favor Camacho and Taylor prime for prime over Davis.

He was missing something.

They fulfilled their potential.

He didn't.

He lacked their chins and fortitude.

I really wanted Davis to beat Rosario but when the moment of truth came his chin didn't hold up.

 

Camacho didn't live up to his potential - life in the fast lane made sure of that. There were some titles but he dropped off fast and fell short, possibly well short tho he kept fighting on.

To be fair Howard was about 10 seconds (from memory) off a fine win over Rosario before being caught which gave the fight to Rosario on the cards. He was as close as it gets. Definitely didn't fulfill his potential tho.

 

I’m going with Camacho here. Extremely fast when it came to single punches, arm flurries, and also full on combos with leverage behind the punches.

This content is protected

This content is protected

 

Taylor could flurry better then those two but Camacho was lighting.

 

Well, Camacho may not have lived up to his potential but he did win two world titles.

Davis was a huge disapointment.

As we know, Rosario blew hot and cold, and he performed much better against Camacho then against Davis.

Rosario was hugely motivated against Camacho - he was the challenger and it was an all Puerto Rican affair.

I give credit to Davis for almost beating Rosario - but it was a listless Rosario. And then when Rosario had to turn it on at the end he did what was needed. He was a winner, Davis was not.

I really liked Davis. But, he was missing in the intangibles department.

And he lacked punching power and chin.

I can't see him beating prime Camacho or Taylor.

 

True but it would have been nice to see where he ended up with a more spartan lifestyle. Immense talent.

Absolutely. He was the can't miss boxer of the 1976 games ahead of such notables as SRL and the two Spinks brothers. Such an incredible talent.

We differ a bit here. I thought both fought extremely well and it was a credit to Davis he fought Rosario so closely. I don't think Rosario was necessarily that much better vs Camacho. Howard at this point in time was very close to their level.

Rosario beat the best Howard Davis there ever was. Howard had actually been working on getting more power and leverage on his punches and had been sitting down a lot more on his punches. Not long prior to Rosario Davis had stopped Greg "Candyman" Coverson whose only loss was via decision to none other than Camacho just 7 months prior. Davis looked fantastic in dominating and stopping him and showed much better punching power. He actually hurt Rosario a few times too.

In the wash up Rosario did know how to win more than Davis but he was oh so close wasn't he.

Truth be told Davis got caught because he came out trying to be just that - a winner. He really came out to win that last round and it probably cost him. He turned it on extremely well and was almost there.

Davis and Rosario were my two favorite lightweights of the era. He was a bit chinny yet he was never stopped until his very last fight as a 40yo. He could be dropped tho and it cost him against Edwin. He was an improved fighter when he decided to sit down on his punches more and fight more aggressively but it was offset by his chin. I think the Davis that Rosario beat would have given Macho a very good fight.