Who's your favorite defensiver fighter to watch?

sweetpea...........

I've been watching some Wilfred Benitez lately. Watching him slip, bob & weave punches on the inside or outside, in the centre of the ring or the ropes is amazing. Benitez was awesome

Easily Floyd Mayweather.... His defense is simply incredible. Zab Judah landed 18% of his punches on Floyd. These kinds of figures show Mayweathers great defensive ability.

Pernell Whitaker was the best I've seen, he could be aggressive while being defensive - I think that's what sets him apart from other guys being named. Winky Wright is second. The mark of great defensive fighters is their ability to move up weight classes and be successful despite size and strength disadvantages. From a purely technical standpoint though, I don't think you can say anyone is more well schooled than Floyd - he's been perfecting his craft since he was about 5 years old; he has that shoulder roll, he can pick punches off with his gloves and arms, he has quickness, speed, excellent reflexes, and being in the ring is probably as natural as sleeping to him.

Louche....

Floyd, just as slick as peabut with punching power

other than whitaker, i like watching winky.

Just out of curiosity, how many guys that really like the defensive, counter style of Mayweather, Whitaker etc, have actually seen Locche fight? I notice that he is rarely mentioned among the best defensive fighters ever here, which is usually among Mayweather, Hopkins, Pea, Jones etc, but for those that love defensive genius, Locche is without a doubt easily as good, if not quite a bit better, than Mayweather. I remember him standing in front of the great Antonio Cervantes with his hands by his sides, completely squared up, with his chin hanging out and slipping every single punch Cervantes threw with just the slightest of neck movements. Absolutely incredible! He did this round after round too. He wasn't called 'Untouchable' for nothing. Edit: As Manchine wrote, his only problem was his weak punching. If he had some power he may have been the greatest ever fighter. He fought in a period of amazing fighters and beat many HOF'ers and was simply impossible to hit. It wasn't until he was many years past his best with well over 100 fights that he was finally stopped. It was due to a bad cut that had opened up over his eye. He ended his career at 117-4-14. Some of his greatest opponents included the amazing HOF'ers Joe Brown, Carlos Ortiz, Ismael Laguna and Antonio Cervantes. He was only beaten by Cervantes in the aforementioned rematch fight of theirs due to the hideous cut sustained during the fight.

For me it would be Toney and Duran. The way they both use their defense to start their offense is a much greater display of pure fighting, for me, than a much more straight up counter-punching defensive fighter. Yes, Toney was a counter puncher but he was a very aggressive counter puncher and was there to actually fight. I love watching all defensive fighters, whether it be Mayweather, Hopkins, Pep, Graham, Benitez, Locche, Whitaker etc etc, but I still prefer those two guys over any other. They actually remind me of each other somewhat, with Toney being just a bit more of a counter puncher. Duran's ability to slip, duck and counter on the inside is easily the greatest I've ever seen from an offensive oriented fighter and seeing as how aggressive he was it makes it all the more impressive that he was rarely ever hit flush until he got older. His counter right over a slipped jab is quite possibly the best I've ever seen. There is just something about those two guys that I love to watch in terms of defensive fighting skills. Maybe it's the fact that they both use it exclusively to create openings for their offense instead of using it as simply a defensive move in itself. :thinking: :dunno:

All I know is that in his day you could've put James Toney in a phone booth and he still would've been hard as hell to hit. He wouldn't need to tie you up either. He would also make you really pay for throwing with some nasty crisp counters.

Whitaker was a beast, he's my favorite defensive boxer of all time. He looked like he could predict what punches were being thrown. Exactly. Whitaker was an easy choice for me.

Winky. Dude is defensive but at the same time always comes forward and either punches or makes his opponent punch. He ain't as boring as he gets criticized for.

I'd say PBF. Barely gets hit clean, and he uses the philly shell to perfection. Since he has retired I started looking at this Joan Guzman cat, I like how he starts doing samba/tango whatever and then dodges everything thrown at him. haha

Nicolino Locche was an entertainer even though had no punching power. He would dare his opponents to land a punch on him and make them miss by an inch.

Whitaker was a beast, he's my favorite defensive boxer of all time. He looked like he could predict what punches were being thrown.

Bump Bump Bump...B2K Style...

Toney used to be. Just because it made no sense. He looked like a fat turtle just sitting there. But you couldnt hit him.

It was close for me......I was chosing between Whittaker, PBF and Toney but I ended up with Toney. I loved watching each of those guys but I just think that Toney capitalized on his defense more so than the other's. His defense would open up his offense with counters and body positioning.

I will vote Hopkins because he is my favourite fighter. Mayweather and Whitaker are also great defensive fighters to watch.

maweather copied of toney and still doesnt hit as hard or have a right hand like toney