Fighters with better defense than Mayweather - past and present

What about Joe Gans? or Willie Pep, or Jack Johnson. Tell me why Floyd is better defensively than these guys?


Since I know that you know **** all about Gans, here's a little blurb about him.

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Joe Gans, lightweight champion of the world from 1902-1908, whose talent, polished professional style, and punching power earned him the magnificent title of “The Old Master”, was as dominate a fighter as any who ever donned gloves. Gans was a defensive master as well as a devastating puncher. He attacked vital points with pinpoint accuracy and threw every punch perfectly, in combinations and with bewildering speed. He was a master at counter punching, of the now lost art of feinting, and at the neglected art of body punching. He was a complete fighter who could be champion in any age.
Gans great speed, power, combination punching ability and killer instinct is evident from newspaper accounts. The Sep. 28, 1904 San Francisco Chronicle reported, "Those who have watched Gans go through his work every day are amazed at his wonderful agility, his speed and his clean hitting ability." The Jan. 20, 1906 Chronicle summed up these qualities while describing the end of his fight with the highly regarded welterweight Mike "Twin" Sullivan, "He caught Sullivan partly turned away. A dusky right arm swung over with electric quickness. A sodden glove connected with the back of Sullivan's left ear. The Twin spun almost around from the force of the blow, and when he tried to steady himself he found that a straw colored tiger in the person of Joe Gans was upon him. Rights and lefts went with terrible swiftness to his opponents jaw. In went Gans right to the stomach, over circled his left to the jaw. And then Mike "Twin" Sullivan much the bigger and heavier man...fell backward to the canvas."
Gans excellent footwork was described as "beautiful side-stepping, and legwork" By Nat Fleischer in Black Dynamite. The Oct 1, 1904 San Francisco Chronicle reported that "Gans beautiful footwork became evident. He was in and away or inside as it suited him best, with will-o-the-wisp elusivness." Jack Johnson speaking of Gans footwork said, (Ring 1941, 16), "Joe moved around like he was on wheels."
Gans was a masterful defensive fighter and counter-puncher. Against Kid McPartland, “Gans blocked his rivals leads so well it was astounding. Gans presented a beautiful defense.” Against Elbows McFadden, "He danced and ducked, countered and jabbed and simply bewildered his opponent. He was cool, calculating, shifty and blocked most of his opponents blows.” The great lightweight Jack Blackburn was “utterly unable to penetrate the champions defense” acording to the July 14, 1906 National Police Gazette. Against welterweight Mike “Twin” Sullivan, SF Chronicle Mar 18, 1906, “Gans superior cleverness at blocking saved him from any punishment and his quick counters invariably landed with great force.” Veteran boxing observer Billy Duffy agrees saying, Ring Magazine Oct 1926, that "as a counterer he was second to none."
Gans had a remarkable ability to stop his opponent's punches and he is considered, by many, as perhaps the best fighter ever at blocking and evading blows. Ben Benjamin wrote, Sept 7, 1907 San Fransisco Chronicle, that he "blocked blows in his incomparable style" and commented, "It is as a blocker that Gans is at his best. There never was a fighter who could block with such skill and precision as Gans. He is a perfect marvel at stopping, using either hand with equal facility. He rarely wastes a blow, his judgment on distance being almost perfect." The August 1960 Boxing Illustrated in This was Joe Gans said, “Gans was born with a sixth sense. They tell the story of how one of his opponents, after Joe had "carried" him for six rounds, asked The Old Master, "how do you do it?" And Joe just grinned and said, "I really dunno. I tried to figure it out, but I can't put it into words. I guess I just see what you're thinking and when the thought gets down around the elbow I just reach out and stop it.”
The Boston Globe Sep. 2, 1906, described Gans as "one of the most wonderful fighters from a scientific view that the world has ever known. There is not a trick or point that he does not know, and he has a terrific punch with either hand. His wallops travel only a short distance and are better than the far reaching ones. Gans has a beautiful left (jab) and can do great execution with it."

 

Rigondeaux has the best defense and if you make a comparison, he is the hardest boxer to hit in recent memory. Also, if I'm correct, he is hit by the lowest amount of punches per fight on average in all of boxing.

 

Hell no ! people don't know **** about boxing. And usally the ones with the stronger opinions know the least. This is a sport that is far from finite ! That's why it's called the sweet science... Variables ... You wouldn't know unless you box....

 

You got film on Joe Gans? How the hell would you know?

 

Well I am reading an article about him as we speak, what you are doing to educate yourself about other boxers born pre Floyd?

I'm at least putting in some effort to educate myself, WTF are you doing?

 

In Fairness, I could easily find an article detailing mayweather as "unhittable" and "untouchable", I could do the same with Whitaker so articles are a poor form of evidence when it comes to fighters. A better old school example would be Johnson or Pep, at least there is footage

 

Gans boxed in an era where a lot of Black fighters were forced to lose fights due to their color. Black fighters were advertised as YELLOW! This was the marketing which still exist today. And if they didn't they would've been jailed or executed. It's interesting how none of you yahoos can even understand the lineage from that era when you look at Mayweather. That's why it's so dam frustrating to here some people make the threads and comparisons that they do. The defensive fight style that Mayweather dawns is something that was developed in the mid 1800s by black trainers and fighters to protect themselves because they weren't allowed to win fights. But by the mid 1800s black fighters became very difficult to hit and could lose fights yet have no damage. What you see in Mayweather is a direct boxing descendant of these defensive styles and techniques.

 

Boxing with a trainer who knows what the hell he's doing. Working on my game for my own physical well being. And sparring with guys who have experience with winning belts. Other than that I'm trying to learn the sport from people in it.

 

No fighter in history has a superior defense than Whitaker .

 

Pernell used to get starched! He just looked good getting hit. Dude had takin so much damage it was crazy. Great? Yes ! He fought great when he was shot like when he fought ODLH ! But Money isn't shot for a reason and it has to do with decisions inside the ring as well as out. And believe me, as great as Pernell was, he made a lot of mistakes that got him tagged consistently. And this is what led to his pugilistic dementia. Mayweather will not have this issue at least not on that level. You could see it in Pernell when he was still active. By the way, watch round 9 of Whitaker vs Roger Mayweather. Pernell found himself in that predicament in at least 10% of his fights... Money has never been there.

 

Whitaker never paid for his foolishness even against elite competition. He was simply having fun at their expense. Mayweather has been popped and buzzed pretty good by Chop Chop Corely, Mosely, and Judah. Mosely would be excusable but Mosely was pretty well shot by the time he fought Mayweather.

This is from one of my fellow posters on here who said it beautifully ^

 

People are really reaching in this thread, wow.