Jose Napoles Discussion

Napoles just more refined in terms of footwork, balance, combination throwing, defensive headmovement. Not to say Galivan wasn't a supreme talent and sublime skillset

A fight between the 2 would be a classic

 

Sorry to be the lone dissenter here (which I usually am wherever Napoles is discussed), but I never was quite as captivated by Napoles as, well, basically everyone else who followed boxing. He was a well-rounded fighter who could do a little bit of everything, but he wasn't spectacular in any one area. But more than that, he came around at what I thought was a very undistinguished era for welterweights. Cokes was a respectable champion, but Griffith's status was very questionable then IMO as he had been looking faded since the Benvenuti fights and plus was sucking back down to a weight class he had outgrown several years earlier. Outside of those two, I felt most of Napoles' challengers - ie: Red Lopez, Backus, Armando Muniz - were fairly unexceptional contenders.

Personally, I don't know where to rank Napoles among the all-time welters. He's probably one of the most troublesome fighters to rank for me.