Who was the better defensive fighter; Whitaker or Locche

Not to denigrate either of these defensive masters or others but I personally find defensive masters with a front foot aggressive style who can blend great defence and offence seamlessly and move in and out of range with the grace of a ballerina who are as adept at making you miss both when they're stepping into range to attack as they are when retreating back out as truly great defence.

Octopus grabbing, running, ducking below waist level, stiff-arming and boxing at range behind a long jab is not great defence in my book. That's cheating and the easy way to avoid getting hit. Again, I'm not alluding to or denigrating either these fighters because they're undoubtedly great. But the way Loma is able to blend offence and defence and glide in and out of range whilst also making it look so beautiful is mesmerizing and it's all sans that illegal stuff or poor man's defensive tactics.

Loma is simultaneously one of the best offensive and defensive fighters in the sport and he also sports some of the best plus/minus stats and they were considerably more impressive when he was campaigning down at his natural weight class 126 and up at 130 and not routinely giving away huge physical advantages in terms of reach and weight. He did sport the best ones at those weights.

Terry Crawford is a superb boxer and is rightfully considered one of the most skilled and best defensive fighters in the game today. However, he's never been at a reach disadvantage in a single one of his world title fights and he's often had a significant reach, weight or both advantage and he's rarely been the smaller man. Whereas, conversely, Loma is is often fighting opponents who weigh two or even sometimes three divisions more than him, has very rarely had a reach advantage, like twice, and has often given away just under 6'' in reach.

This content is protected

This content is protected

This content is protected

This content is protected

This content is protected

 

This content is protected

This content is protected

This content is protected

This content is protected