Southpaws with the best defense other than Pernell Whitaker

Zapata is arguably #1 including Whitaker. It's definitely him.

 

Stevie Johnston when he wanted to be which wasn't usual the case cause he liked to mix it up he could be pretty slick. Plus I love him as a fighter and he hardly ever gets mentioned around here. Hes nowhere near the best defensive southpaw. Those are Whitaker and Zapata like @George Crowcroft said but I want to give some props to Lil But Bad.

 

Another great thread, Lads. Cheers!

 

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Zapta is thee slick southpaw IMO that’s an excellent fighter then Hagler 2nd…

 

An hounourable mention would be Chris Byrd. Yes, he got stopped by Wlad and Ibeabuchi. But those two were outstanding punchers.

He went 10 rounds with Vitali and would have gone the distance even if Vitali didn't get injured. He also beat the hard hitting Tua.

Byrd was an undersized heavyweight with below average power for a heavyweight. I am not saying he was defensively as good as Usyk. However, part of why Usyk is so good defensively is because he has above average punching power which deters guys from walking him down.

Byrd had considerably less power than Usyk. All he had was his slickness and defense vs much bigger and far far more powerful men.

For an undersized heavyweight to only be stopped twice in his prime despite facing heavy hitter after heavy hitter - Ibeabuchi, Tua, Wlad x 2, Vitali and even the likes of Golota and Mcline is amazing. If he could punch like Usyk, he might not have been stopped at all.

 

Kenny Lane

 

Good shout mate, I didn't think of him.

 

If we’re talking about defence in the way I assume you mean it, then it’d be a Chris Byrd or Michael Nunn, but defence in practically I’d go with a Hagler or Ronald Wright.

We could even argue that Golovkin had a better defence than Michael Nunn which might sound strange, but it’s all well and good avoiding punches, but it’s no good if you’re susceptible to getting taken out with 1 punch, Golovkin knew how to stay tight at the right times and see punches coming and was able to use his offence as his defence at times when timing guys trying to land punches.

He never got caught with many flush punches at all, he may have had more punches landed on him than Nunn, but he definitely didn’t get hit clean as many times.

I know Golovkin isn’t a southpaw, but I was just trying to get the point across that I was trying to make.

 

Prime Zapata had the second best defense of any southpaw.

I'd put Nunn at third.

 

Stop it. His defense was only quality against lower level guys.

Leo Dorin hit him at all, and got robbed blind.

Spadafora was a pretender who made his entire career off his sparring footage getting the better of a rusty Floyd.

HBO offered him a REAL FIGHT against Floyd and he turned it down like the coward he was.

 

Hagler is a smart call META, I'd rank him highly on a list of defensively capable southpaws thinking about it. He was that well-rounded and fluid in general that his defence doesn't jump out at you compared to everything else, but he wasn't an easy man to catch cleanly with more than one shot at a time even judging by all time standards.

Always liked how his upper body was never static but the constant bouncy dips and angling were minimalistic and unflashy and smoothly in tune with his footwork. Not exaggerated or excessive, and that's not easy to do if you don't have freakish reflexes and takes confidence and good judgement.

He never looked stiff or basic either despite having a tight guard with his elbows in and forearms close to his torso, chin down etc where a lot of fighters with that basic approach often don't develop much beyond it and are hailed as defensive wizards ie Wright. On top of that he could shift stances effortlessly when under attack and turn the tables quickly.

I've not watched a lot of him in recent years and had shamefully forgotten slightly what an effortless and formidably skilled, heavy handed machine he was. Great, great fighter. Swayed a bit recently to favouring him over Monzon and Robinson as long as he didn't allow his sometimes dubious generalship to lose him too many unnecessary rounds.

 

Excellent post.

He's so well-rounded that he makes his brilliance look easy and therefore doesn't necessarily receive the same plaudits as flashier fighters. Make no bones about it, outside of a perhaps questionable ring general quality against the absolute very best, Marv was one of the finest fighters ever captured on film.

His destructions of Minter and Sibbo - jheeez, pure ferocious skill.

I can see Marv beating Monzon (who ironically I feel may be Marv's superior for ring generalship and dictating the pace of the fight) but I've always suspected that the Robbi of Valentine's Day Massacre finds a way to beat Marv through speed, precision power punching and making him apprehensive. Marv certainly couldn't go toe to toe with him like he did with Tommy IMO.

 

Your entitled to your opinion. I don't agree with it. A coward? I'd love to be there when you call him that to his face. Oh wait you wouldnt

 

I'd be scared of him shooting me.

BTW, much of what of said isn't even opinion. It's objective fact.

Spaddy fought subpar opposition. Fact.

He turned down a payday with Floyd after calling Floyd after the Manfredy fight. Also fact.

Leo Dorin hit him at lot. Third fact.