Footwork - the best ever?

Dam you! Haha, i'll have to review it. It's been a couple months since i've watched me some Jiro. I was always impressed with the shifts that created openings for his counters and jabs.

Nobody feeling Luis Rodriguez on the lateral movement front?

 

Man i hope so.

 

I find Louis quite graceful when he needs to be. But usually he's just stalking guys that dont really want to engage too readily, so there's no really much to look at.
I see Louis do some nice little side steps and quick deft adjustments when he needs to, and it's always tied in with his punching.
I think he gets a bad rap on his footwork. He looks pretty agile to me.

 

Especially against Baer..he's the closest thing to a "complete heavyweight" that I've ever seen in that bout.

 

Yeah, and the reason probably is that when you talk about Louis the comparison with Ali comes up. And his footwork just looks not as graceful and flamboyant as Ali´s. I think that´s hwere this rep comes from.

 

:good

Yeah, perhaps, and the comparison (one that is often made) comes from Ali himself originally. I think that's the root of it. Ali made a big deal out of that contrast.
But I think Jack Johnson (who Ali loved) was more likely to be flat-footed and completely static than Louis was, although he was graceful and versatile in his own way to.
Rocky Marciano looks pretty awkward with his feet quite often, but must have been doing something right. Definitely far less elegant or graceful - or even correct - than Louis, IMO.

But Ali chose Louis's footwork as a target. To be fair, he probably did so because Louis was the man being put forward most often at that time as someone who would have kicked his ass, but still .....

A lot here do diss Louis's footwork, though, or deem it "inferior" to just about every other great or ggod heavyweight.
A recent argument i was involved in was sparked by people claiming Tyson had "better footwork" and Louis's was "****" in comparison.
Nevermind.


:good

 

Sugar Ray Leonard had the best footwork that I have seen in my lifetime. Others that impressed me are Barrera, Azumah Nelson, Bernard Hopkins.

There is a good piece by Bernard Hopkins in this months Ring Magazine about cutting the ring - great advice in there.

 

Billy Conn
Ken Buchanan

 

Nice.

 

Probably Jersey Joe Walcott is finest for me - but I'm down with Louis too actually - plus footwork isn't all about runnning away in defensive mode but still Ali when he was in full flight was just sublime too

 

Yes, agree.

 

Walcott!! Yes, him too. Add his nemeisis, Ezzard Charles to the list.