I am of the opinion that the fetaherweight king Willie Pep is the greatest BOXER of all time. No the greatest FIGHTER, but the greatest BOXER. Hit and dont be hit is the name of the game and Pep was the best at it. Gil Clancy rated Pep number 1 all time p4p, and while I dont think he was number 1 p4p heś top 3 for me. I dont think he gets as much credit as he deserves.
It's hard to say who is the best boxer because there are so many different styles. Some styles emphasize elusive and speedy footwork, some emphasize economy of motion and positioning for counter-attack, some emphasize jab and grab, some emphasize hands-up to block, some emphasize hands-down and measurement of distance, etc. But when Willie Pep was matched right, he was the closest thing to poetry in motion that I have ever seen.
Strong argument as the greatest defensive fighter of all time. I used to rank him higher p4p than I do now. Had he picked up the lightweight title as well as the featherweight title then he’d be clearly top 10 and working your way up from there. As it is, I have him in the top half of the top 20. Greatest featherweight of all time in my opinion. Yeah, Sandy Saddler beat him in 3 out of 4, but everything he’s done up to then was enough to already place him at the top. Saddler might have always been a bad style match up for him, though.
