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

Ali got hit just as much in the first part of his career as the second part, in fact a lot of what I mentioned in my previous post comes from watching footage of a younger Ali. Took a lot of risks, but didn't seem to realize the danger he put himself in, such as throwing shoe-shine punches against a puncher in close range and trying to skip back out with his hands low, which lead to him getting caught quite a few times with flush shots, and hurt a few times as well. He just didn't seem to realize that the opponent would actually hit him if he left himself completely open. Became a much smarter fighter later on, but lost a lot of his physical ability as well.

 

I think Ali learned his after Norton broke his jaw.

 

Ali was much better before the US Government took away three years of his career. We have seen too many of his fights during that time. Ali had so much natural talent, which made him lazy in training, this started to hurt him after the forced layoff. A fighter like Ali can not afford to take time off as he depended on his speed for everything. Ali had a very underrated right hand, great jab, but his left hook was nothing.

 

This is a tread about defense not jabs,lefthooks,or righthands.

 

How are we defineing defeesive? The ability to slip and duck making your opoent miss you completly? The ability to block punches? The usage of hight and reach keeping the propper distance to avoide getting hit?

 

Good thread.

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

Guys like Miguel Canto, Roberto Duran or even Mike Tyson deserves a mention though.

 

Speed and running should not be confused with defensive genius.

 

:huh

 

Ali's head movement was otherwordly. Same for his body movement. For a heavy, he was amazing defensively....but gets overlooked often because of his offensive gifts.

And remember, Im talking PRIME Ali...not the one who held on way too long.

This one...

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What Toney did is different from the guys on the list. Toney was a counterpuncher who would roll and counter, old style.

If we're talking just pure defense, as in, you can't hit me, he doesn't belong on the list.

However, if we're talking, I'll make you miss large percentages of the time then make you seriously pay, he's there, at least in the modern era.

For just pure defensive wizardry, my vote goes to Pea.

I have only seen grainy footage of Locche, not much of Benitez and not much of Pep, so it's a bit hard to rank them.

 

A prodigy is basicly a highly touted prospect. These guys are not prodigies. But anyway, I pretty much agree with your rankings.

 

sweet pea
willie
pbf
benitez
locche (i have seen the least of him out the 5)

 

In terms of defense I think Loche is the best.

 

1. Pernell Whitaker
2. Willie Pep
3. Wilfredo Benitez
4. Floyd Mayweather Jr.
5. Nicolino Loche

I saw two Locce fights - Cervantez rematch and Japanese bum. Nothing special. James Toney could be put on the list at the expense of him.