Rate These Defensive Prodigies... Pep, Pea, Locche, Benitez, PBF

Also: In 94 Bernard was very aggressive and nothing like the defensive master he is now..

 

1. Pernell Whitaker
2. Willie Pep
3. Nicolino Locche
4. Wilfred Benitez
5. Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

 

1. Locche
2. Pep
3. Whitaker
4. Benitez
5. Mayweather

 

1. Whitaker


2. Benitez
3. Floyd







4. Pep
5. Locche

 

In terms of defense purely, and not all around skills:

1. Locche-Capable of staying in the pocket and not just rolling punches at least as good as a Toney or PBF(better really), but capable of ducking and weaving them as well, all in a tight space. Amazing, and most prime footage is not available.
2. Benitez-In his PRIME, his slipping skills were sublime, not as flashy as Pep's or Pea's, but the way he ducked and weaved full on combos in the corner against Hearns was amazing, and his subtle slips of the head in every fight was excellent.
3. Whitaker-Not many flaws, but could be caught at times, resulting in flash knockdowns.
4. Pep-Showed that a tall, rough fighter like Angott or Saddler could use their reach and tactics to rough him up.
5. Mayweather-Susceptible to being roughed up when he goes into his shell or lays on the ropes.

 

You've clearly not seen much Locche, other than perhaps a HL of his rematch with Cervantes, when he was past his prime. Still displayed excellent defense.

 

After watching more of Benitez in the past could months, I'd put him higher and lower Pep.

 

I assume you've seen his fight with Hearns, where even though he lost handily on the scorecards, he showed amazing evasive skills, even against furious Hearns flurries. Hearns was actually hesitant to throw the jab at certain points in that fight because of this, and because Benitez was starting to time it and counter it at one point(though not to full effect).

Locche is one I've seen a bit more footage of(his full fight with Fuji, not just the Youtube clip) recently and he's really entertaining and amazing to watch. Immensely defensively skilled. In the line of fire of a big puncher the entire time, ducking, weaving, rolling, and countering perfectly at every opportunity. Masterclass performance that one.

 

1. Pep
2. Pea
3. Mayweather
4. Benitez
5. Locche

 

Excellent post. While there's clearly no slouches among these 5, I have to give the nod to Locche. He didn't have the speed, and definitely not the power (which is saying something), of anyone else on the list- so for him to have been so successful based purely on his defense in the pocket is enough for me to put him at #1. Another interesting fact is that he'd actually spark up and smoke in between rounds! His corner would hold up a towel, and let him take a few drags to "recharge". While that doesn't mean much in a ranking like this, imagine how demoralizing it was to fight a guy like that.

I posted a couple Youtube clips in the Classic section for anyone wanting to check out a little bit of Locche. I'd love to see prime footage of him.

Edit: Here's the thread with the clips: http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47500

 

I haven't seen much of Locche other than the footage out there on YouTube. Even in the clips and highlight, there is enough for me to see how defensively gifted he was.

Do you know of any links to download his fghts or sites that have his fights for sale?

 

You need to have the right media player, but here's the link to his fight with Fuji.

http://www.stage6.com/user/VINXGC/video/1753564/Nicolino-Locche-vs-Paul-Fuji

 

Thanks

 

The more I see of Locche the more impresed of his defensive skills I become.