Willie Pep is he the 'Greatest Pure Boxer' Of all time?

God post, i haven't seen Gibbons much though. When i thought pure boxers before this thread was made, Tommy Loughran may have been my standout choice. But i really do think i'm leaning towards Locche. With the hitting and not being hit firmly established as the definition.

 

I don't seriously mean he is the best (just put him out there as a random selection others didn't mention - though he is a great boxer from what i've seen with his bout against Packey McFarland).

Tommy Loughran is definitely in the mix. A couple of other guys that don't really get mentioned as pure boxers but who I have a lot of time for are Barney Ross and Gene Tunney. Two of the better boxers of the first half of the 20th century.

 

Yes Teeto you are correct its the lack of genuine quality footage thats the curse of your average fight fan that would like to compare the skills of todays fighters v those of yesteryear , ive always had a fondness for the likes of Wilde & Driscoll and im only speaking out on what ive read , from what ive read on Wilde and what others have written bout Driscoll i can only deduct that they paid much more attention to the art of boxing than may be any other period in the history of the sport , it really was a sweet science to them . We can however see during the scant footage we have seen of them that they practised the carft to a very high standard . Btw Wilde used to make the film makers pay a substantial "FEE" if they were to capture his fights on film , apparently between 500- 1,000 bucks a throw hence the rare footage . lol

 

Wilde was a power puncher, not a pure boxer in any sense of the word, according to both film and accounts.

 

Why?

 

I disagree whilst Wilde had deadly power it was of no use to him when he was outeighed by 20lbs as he was on occasion , it was his Pure boxing skills that carried him through .

 

It was of no use to him? Odd then that he managed to knock out pretty much every single one of those opponents. Pure boxing skills are what is of no use when you have Wilde's kind of power, especially when you're routinely facing stiffs with hardly any skills.

 

as much as i like him, Locche is too much of a strict defensive specialist for this imne of the best ever in taht regard, but of all fighters who i consider to have great defence, i tend to see him as offering the least otherwise.

Really just palying devils advocate here, but if we all agree on hit and not get ethos as the essence of the term here, then it probably still is going to favour the well-balanced boxer-puncher types.

Hearns would take a drop because of his defence here, and so would someone like Locche who is too far toward the "not get hit" part.

I think it's interesting stuff to discuss.

Of all the great defensive guys i would probably go with Whitaker as the best potential nomination.Not because i see him as ntoably better than the others at not getting hit, but becasue he was more focused and consistent offensively.He had the best of both worlds as far as being able to make guys miss and outjab\outpunch fighters like the more offensive technicians such as Ohba, archer,Buchanan, Winstone etc..

Pep has the look of a special fighter even in the past prime stuff imo, but for me he loks a bit too reliant on punching in bunches in most of the fights available.


All that said, i'm still for the boring safe Sugar Ray Choice

 

Oh i see, i never knew about the fee charging. I am quite well up on Wilde and Driscoll though. Driscoll does fit right in here for me on knowledge from reading.

 

Yeah Ross is class imo. Not too sure about his placement in a thread like this, but i know you have seen more than me. like i always say, i luv that thrd fight with McLarnin.

 

Whitaker should be the clear choice, all things considered and bias aside.

 

It's just that i think he is more hittable than the likes of the men we are putting forth for the bauble of the best at hitting and not being hit. I know we can always say that his offense acted as a great defense and i understand that if you would like to throw him in the mix on that reasoning. But he's not getting my vote, just mine.

 

Ko most of his opponent ? Well it wasnt of no use to him v Tancy Leet the first time when he was out weighted by 8-10 lbs (at Fly weight ) or v Pal Moore who weighed 4lbs heavier than him , he lost both fights but boxing was the order of the day not power shots , Wilde was a Boxer mostly regardless of opposition .

 

Fair enough, but regardless of whether or not he can be lumped in among them, I think we can all agree that he'd be poison for any pure boxer.