Willie Pep - would his fans please justify his placement in their top all time lists

While I know you're being (partly?) facetious (and I give you this--it is amusing), you also make a few good points. So...a few questions and answers:

* You've referred frequently to fighters of yesteryear as looking less sharp than their modern compatriots. You've said their boxing skills often are primitive. Could you be more specific? Who are they, and what specifically do they do that is primitive or lacking in sharpness? Give me a few examples.

* What is your top 10 pound for pound list? How many old-timers does it contain?

* When you refer to talent pools in different eras, you're making the assumption that boxing's popularity and social setting (how often did they fight, what sort of people were boxing, etc.) were similar to today. For all we know, the greater mainstream popularity of boxing in the 40's and 50's among a generally fitter America when contenders fought each other more frequently produced a greater talent pool than today.

* Steroids arguments work both ways. Remove them, and who's to say that today's fighters will still look sharper? If anything, this point would tend to weaken your argument.

* What are Pep's stylistic weaknesses? What exactly is he doing wrong? What does Calzaghe do better than Pep--describe it in mechanical terms ("his left hook is thrown in such-and-such a way, he moves in such-and-such a direction after throwing it, etc.")?

 

I was going to respond, but there's simply no need after a post like this.

 

Pep's biggest strength was his intelligence; from there stemmed the instinctual ability to hit at the right time, at the right distance, know which punches were coming his way next and how to baffle his opponents. Pep was an innovator of the highest order, and quite unorthodox. Watch how he'll switch from an orthodox stance to a nearly-southpaw posture while moving, feint with his feet, hop forward and threaten to attack and then cycle back out of distance again. These sorts of moves confused Pep's opponents, and so did his unpredictable, snake-like striking from angles the textbook didn't even dream of. Pep might be circling his opponent then suddenly feint, threaten the attack but then back off; a split second later, he's changed direction and hit his man with a kind of lunging southpaw jab or leaping hook. Nobody could figure out these moves, not even Saddler, and it's part of what made Pep so hard to beat.

On top of that he had blinding handspeed, natural agility and fluidity, cat-like reflexes and fifteen round stamina. Though not as complete as Duran, B. Leonard or Robinson, Pep was such a high level magician that it didn't matter.

 

****ing hell,are you really saying J calzaghe is better then pep now?

 

He is arguing moreover that JC is better than SRR