Who was the greatest pure boxer of all time?

Chuck Wepner.

 

OK seriously?

 

i agree but in amongst it all there was still some sublime skills.against foreman when backed onto the ropes he would occasionally open up with lightning quick combo's which would befuddle and actually hurt big george.

 

That's right, great example.

 

Ali was for me the greatest heavyweight of all time ,but not the greatestr boxer he had god given reflexes ,sense of distance ,speed and anticipation ,but lacked some of the basics as did Jones Jnr ,when alis speed fell off a step he compensated with heart and unsuspected durability,but there are many better pure boxers than him.
FOR EXAMPLE
Tommy Loughran
Willie Pep
Billy Conn
Harold Johnson
Miguel Canto
What Ali had over them was phenomenal speed of foot and hand,he got away with basic errors like pulling back from punches instead of slipping them ,because he had such incredible reflexes,as those eroded he adapted his style to include clinching ,holding and even Moores old cross arm defence,this isnt just my laymans opinion it was also Eddie Futches.

 

Great joke!

 

:thumbsup

 

This raises an interesting question though. How many boxers were so skilled that their skill was enough to sustain them when the advantages of youth abandoned them?

If absolutely forced to pick a single greatest pure boxer of all time, I would probably select the pre plane crash edition of Willie Pep who secured the undisputed World Featherweight Championship by fracturing Sal Bartolo's jaw to post his 100th win. His amateur record was 62-3, meaning he had a combined total competitive boxing record of 162-4-1 at age 24, and would continue boxing for another 20 years.

When he finally stopped competing in 1966, he had a combined pro-am record of 291-14-1, and had boxed since 1937. He didn't enjoy the statural advantages frequently possessed by Robinson, and he had superior mobility to Louis. He wasn't dependent on counterpunching to the extent Harold Johnson sometimes was, but could make things happen on his own initiative. He could be cut, yet he sustained only one loss due to one, when ahead on points, he retired between rounds of the final fight with Saddler, claiming that the pain from a deep gash he'd sustained was too intense for him to continue. A boxer of lesser skill would have sustained much more than one loss on cuts in 306 total matches with the skin he had. (Even Robinson was in danger of getting stopped on a cut in the Turpin rematch.)

Ali did impress me most with his skills in the Spinks rematch. To be 37 years old, and dominate a youthful athletic opponent like Leon 11-4 in rounds is a pretty solid achievement.

 

But he´s right, Ali and RJJ weren´t good examples for great pure boxers. Good examples would be Whitaker, Loughran, Rosenbloom, etc...

 

When someone asks for the best pure boxer, for me it is a fighter who has the best technique, and that contains things like combination punching, jab, right hand, footwork, guard, head movements, timing of the punches, etc., Ali and RJJ lived primal because of their speed, if they wouldn´t have this god-given talent, they wouldn´t have been twice the fighters they were...