Who is the best defensive boxer of all time?

Floyd Mayweather Jr
He is hated for the most part in classic but he deserves a mention. He was statistically the best boxer at hitting and not being hit since compubox started keeping track. And he did it against world class competition for most of his career.
Willie Pep deserves a shout. If I were able to see more Pep fights I maybe change my mind. He did well for himself in a lot more fights even if the completion wasn’t as good.

 

Post of the day. Well said.

 

Locche
Benitez
Whitaker
Pedroza
Zapata
Floyd

 

I think sugar Ray Robinson was pretty damn good defensively. 200 fights and never stopped except for a corner retirement due to heat stroke.

 

Willie Pep

 

Mayweather Jr., Pep, Burley, Jack Johnson, say what you want about Johnson for his era his defense was airtight. He toyed with those boys.

 

I have Pernell up there though I know there are excellent defensive fighters I haven't watched fight
Floyd has a fair claim as well, but I still prefer Pernell for taking riskier fights

 

Gotta be Floyd at this point, you can make an argument for Robinson or pep or Leonard or Locche or Whitaker but at the end of the day, Floyd is king of defense

 

James Toney. Unlike the others, didn’t need to run around the ring or even move his feet at all.

 

Defence is a multifaceted thing.

Footwork - angles, pivotting, half steps, dancing away from danger
Body movement - squats, twists and turns, shoulder rolling
Hand positioning - catching, parrying, blocking, elbow covers to protect the body
Headmovent - slipping, ducking, pulling, last minute reflex to soften punch impact, head placement at inside range
Reflexes - being able to make reflexive adjustments to avoid taking punches and escape danger/counter


Often, you'll find the elite defensive masters great at a few of the components of sound defence but rarely are they combined seamlessly and consistently whilst being offensive. Great defence is typically at the sacrifice of equally great offence.

Ali could be great defensively at times and despite oft repeated dogma, you can find evidence of him blocking punches with his shoulder, parrying and catching jabs, elbow blocking hooks and uppercuts to the body, slipping inside and outside, blading and hiding his chin with excellent footwork. However, his getting tagged routinely with left hooks and wanton abandon to sound defensive hand placement disqualifies him from the very elite, though I still find him elite at his very best.

Floyd was perhaps the most consistent of the elite defensive masters and was capable of doing every facet of defence with precision and technique, yet, he doesn't look as smooth as the best of Sweet Pea, Benitez or Mantequilla could do so at times. I put more stock in making Hearns and Leonard miss so much than I do in making old De La Hoya or PAC miss. Regardless, Floyd has the consistency and numbers and I wouldn't argue with anybody that proposed him as the best demonstrator of defence, but I would caveat by asking what was the quality of the opponents come fight night in comparison to fighters that other greats went to war with?

Duran, for me, demonstrated the best blend of defence whilst on the attack. All the defensive excellence that he showed whilst consistently being in the danger zone gets more kudos than staying out of range and beating a man cos you're faster, a better boxer with quicker reflex. It's the same reason why I really rate Tyson's defence at mid-range as well as the best of Toney.

Statistically, Floyd - to my eye and stylistic preferences, I might venture the best version of Duran.

 

If your defence (not getting hit) defines you are you doing it right? Being elusive is one thing but are you really fighting or just not getting hit? I hope that makes sense.

Take someone you wouldn’t consider like Jeff French and compare him to say Benitez often times Wilfred does jive and look real elusive but he also pulls back and takes himself out of position to shoot and when he does get caught…

Then you compare that to Jeff who has a really nice weave he is coming in dodging and shooting all in the same motion, blocking, parrying and ducking with purpose he doesn’t do everything pretty of course but my point was that he does something with the movement he chooses, he isn’t just trying to not get hit he isn’t pulling back dodging everything and resetting it’s a single simple movement towards winning.

 

/\ Why I believe Toney is king. He was always in position to fire a counter right hand after slipping. Whereas an Ali or Money May were often skipping backwards away and not firing counter shots.

 

Nicolino Locche...tops even Pep by virtue of his consistency.

 

Willie pep and Pernell Whitaker.

Floyd is good but not quite as skilled as those two in my opinion.