Footwork

What does one say?? He was obviously unique for a H/W with his feet and balance combined with timing and speed.. it all went together perfectly for him pre-exile..

 

Technically his footwork was very flawed, bu then so was the rest of his game. Effectiveness is key, and his feet made him the most elusive HW of all time. In that case, for a HW I'd definitely say so. I can't say a man who made such fundamental errors with his footwork had the best of all time, though. That distinction would probably go to Willie Pep, all things considered.

 

Spot on. Mayweather's footwork is brilliant, Robinson also, if you factor in balance, then we could say maybe Napoles and Rodriguez possibly, Rodriguez for the lateral stuff i'd say.

 

I've never thought too highly of Floyd's footwork, to be honest. I thought Roy Jones had pretty phenomenal footwork back in the day.

 

if we only look at the heavyweights.. YES he defintely had. by far better then any other heavyweight. don't care if people say it was technically not perfect. the result. that's what matters.

 

Well said, and I agree.

A fighter that I think is often overlooked in terms of footwork is Julio Cesar Chavez. Chavez was never considered a speed demon, but how often was his opponents able to evade him? Chavez cut the ring off as well as anyone.

Chavez is often categorized as a "swarmer" or something similar. There is really a lot more to it than that. Chavez had a great understanding of range. Chavez knew where he was effective, and how to maintain that position. Chavez was often the aggressor, but that is because he was most often the stronger fighter and his opponents were usually in retreat. Chavez had the ability to outmaneuver an aggressive opponent as well. Chavez was one of the best offensive fighters ever, and did not want his offense smothered. If an opponent came forward, Chavez would regress so as to keep his preferred range.

If you've never paid attention to Chavez' footwork, I urge you to do so. It is almost like he is dancing with his opponent, trying to maintain his desired distance.

 

You are right about Chavez...his game was very effective.

 

I would say Pep had the best footwork of all time.

 

Pep was magnificent..as was, in a different way Napoles.

 

Benny Leonard had very effective footwork.

Didnt look as flashy as Roys or Alis, but was probably
more effective.

 

Wifredo Gomez' footwork was subtle and very effective..check out for example, his destruction of Carlos Zarate.

 

Tommy Loughran, Billy Conn and Gene Tunney, 3 Irishman with great footwork.

 

I hink his footwork is brilliant personally, it's not something he employs constantly, as he likes to sit in the pocket or on the ropes through choice at times, but it's very much existent, and it's quality. Like last night his gameplan was to exploit the weakness of Marquez, which is the Mexican's footwork, he knew that if he just stepped once or twice to left or right that Marquez wouldn't be able to get set, just completely executed a gameplan to perfection. Not to big up the win there, just the performance and tactical astuteness purely.

 

I'm surprised no one mentioned Whitaker yet... he was brilliant because he could evade a 3-4 punch combination while circling and still being in good balance to throw a counter punch without falling down or anything. McCallum and Mayweather Jr. (very impressive yesterday) are up there as well.

But yeah, as far as heavyweights go, Ali is at lonesome heights footwork-wise.