Who has greatest footwork ever?

Christ, that is an impossible question to answer.

I will make a pick, but what are you criteria?

Sugar Ray Robinson's footwork against Jake LaMotta in their sixth fight (The only filmed one) was absolutley extraordinary. He gets real purchase on body punches and combinations despite the fact that he is on the back foot for almost the entire fight. It's amazing to watch - you saw how hard exactly that was for Cotto just the other night.

Recently, I thought Joe Calzaghe's footwork against Hopkins was amazing. Amazing footwork.

Check out Joe Louis for the most economical footwork of all time, perhaps. And he was almost ALWAYS In punching postion.

 

Ali is a reasonable pick too.

Ali sold a lot of feints with his feet, and although there was often no pay-off it made fighting him murderous, because you had to chose to ignore the feints, react and risk being re-countered or treat them as a case by case basis...horrible, nightmarish stuff.

 

Roy Jones...amazing how well balanced he was. So beautifully balanced that it's almost unfair comparing him to others! Certainly he is up there and he knew what he was capable off. He could do the seemingly impossible, turn on his opposite foot (To the one techncially associated with a given punch) and still generate great force through his body, such was his balance. He could move.

 

Here's a round from Robinson-LaMotta. Check out the way Sugar doubles and triples the jab but stays live enough to skip out of range when LaMotta bores in. Also, see how he is able to set himself at a moment's notice. The full 13 rounds is a bit of a masterclass in footwork if you want to watch or re-watch it for a great example.



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I'm not an expert on Mayweather's footwork, to be fair. ANy particular fights you'd refer me to?

 

Damn right he is. A proper master. Maybe the definitive choice from the last generation.

 

You're a huge help.