rolling with punches

If your strictly comparing these guys, I'd say Leonard, because of his uncanny speed and reflexes.

But Benitez was damn good at it.

Duran was a hot/cold fighter. Some nights, like his fight with Davey Moore, he'd roll with the punches. Others, like his fight with Barkley, he'd take them and return fire.

 

Duran was awesome at rolling with punches, it's what made him so hard to hurt. Nowadays Cristian Mijares is very good at rolling with punches.

 

Jake LaMotta and Muhammad Ali were good examples.

 

You got me. At first I was like, wait a minute, Tyson???

But yes, there are two ways to really "roll" with punches - with your face actually moving with the contact (Ali did this quite a bit), or actually moving your body in a motion under/around the punch.

So yeah, Tyson's athleticism made it possible for him to do this very well. Especially in the Bonecrusher Smith fight, and the Ribalta one as well. :good

 

benitez

for his style, duran was very good at avoiding and rolling with punches to avoid them or minimize the impact.

 

I actually didn't - I don't have access to many of Benitez fights, even though he was one of my favorites. Class act, loved his style.

 

I agree with all of the names mentioned so far (they were all phenominal at it)...but noone is going to mention the guy who was arguably the best EVER at it???

James Toney anyone?

That was ENTIRE defensive game...especially when he moved to the higher weights. Cant believe Im the first one bringing up his name???

 

For th heavyweights I would say Oliver McCall was always good at it. I think that's why he never gets hurt.