The Greatest Defences In Boxing - all suggestions welcome

One of my favorites is the 3rd round of the 3rd Ali-Frazier fight when Joe slips about two dozen Ali shots.

Maybe one shot landed.

Another one of my favorites was when Qawi stood in front of Holyfield in the first fight and made him miss about 10 shots in a row.

At work, so I can't browse youtube to look for links.

 

Good idea Pacfan, i'd like to see your vid once you do it. Niccolino Locche is very possibly the best defensive guy ever, in terms of pure upper body movemement that is, was exceptional at blocking bodyshots aswell, which is a rarity.

 

You know what i luv about that Locche vid, check it at about 4 min in, the crowd noise i my favourite ever, actually at about 3.45, listen on from there.

You hit the nail on the head about Hopkins being a problem for the vid McGrain, but i would like to say now that in terms of tactical strategy in a defenive in the interest of defense, B-Hop is great.

 

Try to get some Dwight Muhammad Qawi videos. Really underrated in the defensive department.

 

toney vs barkley,
i know he's not the greatest opposition but toney really schooled him,especially on the inside,countering with short hooks and uppercuts beautifully,i can watch this over and over again.at one point toney's circling him,hits him with about 8 jabs and gets nothing in return

whitaker vs ramirez 2
awesome upperbody movement,ramirez couldnt hit him if he was swinging a freaking shovel.there are 2 times sweet pea is in the corner and ramirez is unloading but hitting nothing but air then pernell just strolls out after ducking.the last 2 rounds are especially good for footage.

mayweather vs jesus chavez
in the later rounds floyd lets him come forward,on the inside he's blocking EVERYTHING and just wrecking him with uppercuts,the punch stats percentages for it were crazy,great countering.

 

Duran has some subtle beauties. Against Cuevas just before the first knockdown, Duran is well within range of the Cuevas guns and slips about 5 shots by inches and then lands a right, steps to his right and cracks a left hook. Beautifully done -and the commentators completely missed it. The Moore fight was just a clinic. Duran was reading the shots as if they came with telegrams. Moore was a relative novice, though. In the Barkley fight, he's doing the same throughout. Gil Clancy saw much of it and at one point says "Al, Duran just slipped 6 consecutive punches... what beautiful boxing."

Considering the serious speed and fluidity at times broken rythym of Leonards offense, the amount of times Duran slipped shots in Montreal was about as good as it gets... and remember, his defense was only an addendum to a chronic offense. Concentrating on defense alone -like a Starling or a Locche, or a Pep or a Whitaker would often do- is simply not as difficult as not getting hit while you are preoccupied with hooking a floating rib or landing a right cross/left hook combination. It's multi-tasking... the shame is that it is often missed by commentators who more attracted to showy stuff. You gotta find it yourself.

Speaking of Duran-Leonard. Who slips prime Ray Leonard's shots??? Slipping Ramirez's shots or Jirov's shots is comparatively like slipping balloons.

 

Very good post. Duran was better defensively than a guy like Toney, as well as being overall the much better fighter and the better in-fighter as well.