P4p who's the best jab in history?

hearns
crawford

 

Bob Foster

 

Crawford's jab looked damn good a few weeks ago.

 

Hard to say.... But I know it's NOT Crawford.The latest flavor of the month. It's easy too look like you have a great jab if the opponents have little to no head movement.
Spence is a prime example, little head movement, no hand adjustment to catch or parry it.

But so many different great jabs throughout boxing history.
P4P?
Let's go by the quality of the competition it gave fits to, especially when he focused on using it.
.........Thomas Hearns........
But Ali
Holmes
Arguello
Liston
Sanchez
M.Spinks at Lt heavyweight.
Hagler
Zarate
Saddler
Monzon
Napoles
Whitaker
All those fighters had excellent jabs.
R. Leonard
Pep
Louis...

 

Hearns jab was so long and fast

Quartey’s was pin point accurate and solid

Ali’s was like lightning

Holmes’s was similar to Quartey’s

Foreman’s was a telephone pole with a glove at the end.

Robinsons was great but he was so aggressive he’d abandon it to unleash combinations and take his opponent out. He could have boxed behind it all day if he chose to.

 

Sweet menton regarding SRR, his jab often gets forgotten just as he often forgot it in favor of, as you said, unleashing his full offense.

 

GGG could use a mention for modern guys. Canelo has good head movement and GGG had great success with the jab.

 

I have to laugh at people saying Crawford, so he beats Errol Spence and now somehow he has the 3rd best jab in history ? Like come on......

As for the topic I'm big fan of power jabs myself so I always liked......

Holmes
Thomas
Quartey

For a fellow Brit I always liked Conteh's jab when he was at his best.

 

Ike Bazooka.

 

Tommy Loughran. The Philly Phantom's singular self contained jabs were unavoidable pole axes. Out jabbed Tunney and won an official decision over prime Harry Greb with it. Jim Corbett practiced and studied fencing. He rated Loughran's jab the very best within Corbett's lifetime. Tommy's jab literally gave Max Baer nightmares the night after they boxed, nightmares he detailed over breakfast to referee Jack Dempsey. Then, the Larruper entreated a stunned Loughran to teach him how to jab. Tommy did, and we see it pay off in the tenth round of his best career outing against Schmeling. Loughran effortlessly out jabbed opponents with superior height and reach. His final two LHW Title defenses were on film over the radically different 5'7" former WW and MW ATG Mickey Walker and 6'2" future HW Champion Jimmy Braddock. Defeated Jack Sharkey in their rematch to get his HW Title shot at Carnera, his third win over a former or future undisputed HW Champion. There is footage of Loughran easily out jabbing Primo in an extended 10:30 clip on YouTube. Did anybody EVER out jab Tommy in 170 career bouts? There does not appear to be any evidence to the contrary.

Joey Archer. From the outset of his career finale in the MW Title rematch with Emile Griffith, we see Griff try to dodge, duck and slip it, yet Archer's jab was a heat seeker, magnetically targeted to Emile's head as the crowd's cheers mounted. Joe Erskine was able to outmaneuver and out jab Willie Pastrano (thus imposing the Welshman's style preference and will over the then longtime American top ten HW contender and future LHW Champion), but I've not read any reports of anybody ever doing this to Archer, who was never convincingly defeated in four decision losses.

Very few southpaws were known for their right jabs during the Championship Distance era, but the greatest of these was certainly MMH, whose right jab was in reality what Sonny Liston's left jab was in mythology. Stepping into it, Marv stunned and knocked out opponents with it. He could also circle the perimeter of the ring to decision legendary opponents with it, as he did Bad Bennie Briscoe on the road at the Philly Spectrum. Convincingly stopped highly accomplished fellow southpaws with a variety of styles, Sugar Ray Seales, Alan Minter and Mustafa Hamsho.

Roberto Duran. Ask most of the honest opponents who took him on that went any length of time with him when he was in decent condition! For me, Iran Barkley at 6'1" tall and a 74 inch reach saying this about an aged 5'7" challenger with a 67 inch reach who decked and decisioned The Blade says something, and this is from a guy who BEAT Hearns TWICE. Barkley's multiple answers about Duran being tops in multiple categories (jab, strength, chin, skills) rings truer than most comments about a conqueror. We have plenty of footage of Duran covering decades (from at least Marcel in May 1970 to Camacho II over 31 years later) showing how long his jab remained a key tool in his vast arsenal. A long reach wasn't necessary to key a great jab.

Canto. Southpaw LFW Yoko Gushiken was 5'4" with a 64 inch reach. ATG FW El Maestro was 5'0" with a 60" reach, yet beat opponents like the 5'4" Shoji Oguma (3X) Betulio Gonzales (2X) and Martin Vargas (2X) with that jab, quickness, conditioning, speed and impeccable footwork. (Comparing Miguel's only title bout stoppage over Jiro Takada against Locche's only title stoppage win against Paul Fuji, there's no question Nicolino carried much more power if he chose to use it. At the end, Locche's right uppercuts were just about sending Fuji's head into orbit from his clamshell, and El Intocable's hooks buried into his body were taking their toll also on the Hawaiian native as his face swelled up. But Canto did it to Takada on sheer volume and uncharacteristic aggression.) In the early 1980's, I saw a number of Canto's and Gushiken's complete bouts presented on Cavalcade of Boxing by Steven Bass and Harold Lederman, sponsored by Malcolm "Flash" Gordon's "Tonight's Boxing Program." I've looked for the entirety of Canto-Takada on YouTube off and on, but haven't yet spotted it. El Maestro was in a different gear for that one. (At one point, he nailed a quick six left hook combination.)

Best jab at HW will probably always belong to Holmes. After Tiger Williams, nobody was ever able to out jab Larry. (Roy could have done it with his longer arms in their 1976 match, but only did it at one brief interval while Holmes won on initiative, aggression and body punching. Tiger's hook wobbled Larry at the closing seconds though, and again, he could have won with his jab. Nobody would ever be able to do these things again.)

 

I can't for the life of me remember such an impatient era. People are in such a hurry to proclaim greatest in various aspects whenever anyone has a top shelf current win. Usyk beats Joshua and he's beating just about every heavyweight ever, for some. Crawford beats Spence and he goes from underrated to an ATG, one who instantly gets favored over much more proven ATG's by some. Is it the age of instant gratification?

Crawford has quite a few fights and challenges left in him, lets watch it unfold. Usyk will hopefully have the chance to show where he lies in the Heavyweight greatness stakes. Lomachenko was another. They can fight, certainly, but let's hold off just a teeny bit before going completely berserk. Personally i like Inoue presently but being a small guy he tends to get forgotten by some.

 

Agree completely with all of this. I'm not much on lists, but I'd have Naoya #1 P4P right now.

I can understand the whole impatience thing, to a degree. I think it's the disappointment/frustration in waiting too long for important matchups to actually come to fruition, especially when a lot of the top guys are media-hounds that constantly spout complete and utter gibberish about "big fights" & "exciting news" that never seem to happen.

This, combined with the modernity of "instant gratification", so to speak, may lie at the heart of it. Fans rush to anoint the latest superman, because there's not enough special fights happening.

As to Tommy Loughran's jab, I think it's one of the best. BTW my avatar is a picture I took of a plaque dedicated to Loughran in So. Philly, it sits in front of an RCC church. From memory reading somewhere, I think Tommy was a good Catholic boy? That JAB though!

 

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Robinson
Loughran
Gans
B. Leonard

 

Tommy Hearns

If its height for height its Pernell Whitaker