Was Floyd the greatest evasive fighter ever?

Well, let's see, when Floyd was 18 he started boxing at 130. When GGG was 18 he was an amateur boxing at 140. 140 + 30 = 170 So basically Ward or Gilberto Ramirez like people are always demanding?

 

Huh? Floyd fought at featherweight (126) in the Olympics when he was 19. Unless I'm mistaken, both Mayweather and Golovkin hit their starting pro weight classes (130 and 160) when they were 20.

 

Okay, I thought Floyd was 18 but he was 19 when he went pro at 130. According to his record Golovkin was competing at 147 pounds when he was 19. He goes up to light middleweight when he's 20 and doesn't hit middleweight until he's 21. So Gilberto is out but Ward as a light heavyweight is still in.

 

GTFOH

Here's Ward being "evasive":

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Winds up a bolo punch and gets smacked in the gob.

 

Doesnt Floyd have more reach than Golovkin?

 

So ward isn't evasive. Not top-shelf evasive, anyway. He's a hit n holder and a rythmn breaker. Floyd is way ahead of him in the "don't get hit stakes".

If Ward impresses Dildo, then he should check out a guy called Wladimir Klitschko against Chagaev

 

He's excellent obviously, albeit against a distinctly lower level of opponent and offensive talent than past defensive greats. From a standpoint of natural evasive reflexes, honed defensive sophistication and range of tools/manoevres all combined and proven against better opposition, I've seen quite a few who Id rate higher. Talking about pure ability and not the overall topography of their careers....

Pep
Canto
Locche
Benitez
Lora
Zapata
Whitaker
Kalambay
Wolgast
Jones Jr

Off the top of my head, these guys were all better defensive operators than Floyd. I'd say he's more viable for discussion with guys like Starling, Billy Graham, Laguna, Benton, Famechon, Duran, Moore, Chang, Toney, Payakaroon etc. All excellent at not being hit, Duran especially when you consider how aggressive he was.

 

The thing with Mayweather I think is that the shoulder guard/roll and cradled left combined with his pure focus on not being hit against better opponents, the consistency of his approach etc make him seem a bit better defensively than lots of guys who had similar defensive talent levels but got hit more for a number of reasons. Focus, dedication, general approach to fighting, less aversion to being hit, slower reflexes, more offensive orientation etc.

A guy like Napoles for example was great at slipping punches, controlling range with his feet, really understood defensive upper-body positioning/angles and movement, planes of transition etc. He just didn't give a **** about getting hit and was happy to exchange punches in a firefight to **** up the opponent rather than tighten up defensively and avoid punishment if it meant he couldn't get in a position to counter in combination like he loved to do. Supreme confidence in his own granite chin with little reaction to taking power punches flush on the button and a genuine badass.

 

hes up there, amongst the top twenty evasives.

 

or rather, defensives.