Until people recognize en masse that it was a gorgeous jab, my answer will continue to be Billy Graham. It was technical, lighting quick, accurate, and active.
For their final bout, Jake said on camera with Robby sitting beside him and nodding in agreement that he was so weight drained that's all he had the strength to do, go with the jab.
I think a lot of jabs on this list don't get mentioned because they're taken for granted, and Billy's one of those stylists in that category. Maybe asking for underrated jabs would have been more appropriate.
Yeah, but the reason Emile gets omitted is because he ran into Joey Archer twice before a national audience, and nobody's out-jabbing Joey Archer. A key moment came in the middle of their rematch though when Emile, in mid round, moved his left arm from the orthodox position alongside his head down to waistline gunslinger position, instantly confusing Joey at a critical moment. Griff doesn't always get the credit he deserves for dealing with a definitive cutie like that over the limit.
He didn't use it as much as he should have, especially against Bonavena in a situation where Ringo was making liberal use of his jab while retreating. The Frazier of JQ II who used his jab and right hand effectively would have decisioned Ringo more easily than Joe actually did in the 1960's. JQ II was an instance where Futch's planning and Frazier's experience would have more than made up for Smoke's physical decline by 1974, if that measure of savvy was available earlier for Joe against Bonavena. (Irony also applies to the outcome in Manila. The mythical peak Ali of 1968-1969 NEVER would have stopped Frazier before the final bell. Ali stopped Joe in 1975 precisely because he WAS well past his athletic peak, and had to punch it out with a work rate he could not have sustained or would have attempted when his legs were youthful. That's part of why he cited Manila as his best fight after he retired. HE didn't know he was capable of a performance like that until after he'd actually been forced to do it.)
And Foreman got back to his jab for his comeback, keyed it well, and this time was lauded for the accuracy of it, often landing over 50% of them, impressive for a big heavyweight w/out top shelf speed.
Yep. At times he threw it really short, but I've NEVER seen power generated in such a small distance!