best defensive boxer of all time

[Jim Jeffries]

Going deep through time: Young Griffo (1869-1927) should, at least, be one of the top five. It was said that Griffo was able to avoid punches while standing on a handkerchief, without taking a step whichever way out of the hanky. He lost a controversial decision to Hall of Famer Jack McAullif, who barely touched him in all of the ten round fight. He arrived in many of his fights drunk, but often managed to win because his foes didn't get to him at all.

More recent past: Nicolino Locche, aka, "The Untouchable," should not be overlooked.

Yeah Locche was pretty damn impressive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LEKHMUCh8k
sorry I don't know how to put vids on here yet.

[grayfist]

Yeah Locche was pretty damn impressive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LEKHMUCh8k
sorry I don't know how to put vids on here yet.

Heya there gavinz...

Yeah, Locche was something. Lost only 4 out of 135 fights. Uncanny reflexes. Registered wins over HOF fighters like Joe Brown and Antonio Cervantes. Held two other HOFers to draws: Ismael Laguna and Carlos Ortiz.

Locche had two careers; he staged a come-back some three years after he retired following his second meeting with Cervantes. He won all 7 of his comeback fights but decided to retire again.

Although he knocked down Carlos Hernandez in his successful defense of his WBA LightWelter title, he was featherfisted. He stopped only 14 of his opponents in 117 wins. He was kd'd by Hernandez too, but he rose without allowing the ref to start a count.

He died a little over two years ago, just days after his 66th birthday.

I too don't know how to embed (is that the right term?) video on these pages.

[Jim Jeffries]

Heya there gavinz...

Yeah, Locche was something. Lost only 4 out of 135 fights. Uncanny reflexes. Registered wins over HOF fighters like Joe Brown and Antonio Cervantes. Held two other HOFers to draws: Ismael Laguna and Carlos Ortiz.

Locche had two careers; he staged a come-back some three years after he retired following his second meeting with Cervantes. He won all 7 of his comeback fights but decided to retire again.

Although he knocked down Carlos Hernandez in his successful defense of his WBA LightWelter title, he was featherfisted. He stopped only 14 of his opponents in 117 wins. He was kd'd by Hernandez too, but he rose without allowing the ref to start a count.

He died a little over two years ago, just days after his 66th birthday.

I too don't know how to embed (is that the right term?) video on these pages.

Yeah, I didn't realize there were any old school fighters that fought like that, makes me wonder how many more recent fighters copied elements from his style.

[grayfist]

Yeah, I didn't realize there were any old school fighters that fought like that, makes me wonder how many more recent fighters copied elements from his style.

Locche had most of his fights in his home country--Argentina. As far as I know, he went to Japan only once (to wrest the WBA title from a Japanese fighter) and another time to Panama (where he lost the title by UD to the Panamanian, Alfonso Frazer).

Given the state of the art of video recording in the late '60s up to the mid-70's (virtually non-existent except in celluloid and those huge aluminum reels wound full of tapes that were inches wide), I dunno that many of today's fighters have seen him. I am sure though that most of the leading trainers have. So, it is not really difficult to believe that some of the latter may have adopted what they saw of Locche in their training regimen for their wards, both present and those in the immediate past. Just the same, training can only do so much. Locche had what I believe was inborn radar. Truly uncanny.

Though a hero in his native Argentina, Locche's talents did not get their due even among the boxing experts in the US who constitute the majority of those who choose inductees to the Hall of Fame in Canastota. Locche was voted into the Hall in 2003-- four years after Kaosai Galaxy of Thailand and three years after Ken Buchanan (who, as a lightweight, fought in about the same era as Locche).

To think that Galaxy was only about 8 years old when Locche held Ismael Laguna and Carlos Ortiz to draws and 12 years old or so when Locche became WBA champ.

[fortune100]

pernell whitaker has to be the best defensive boxer of all time but there are other contenders such as ali, willie pep,robinson,lamotta, mayweather jr

[grayfist]

pernell whitaker has to be the best defensive boxer of all time but there are other contenders such as ali, willie pep,robinson,lamotta, mayweather jr

Welcome to BoxingScene, fortune100.

Just curious... How is it that you think of the Raging Bull as among the best defensive fighters of all time?

[Jim Jeffries]

Welcome to BoxingScene, fortune100.

Just curious... How is it that you think of the Raging Bull as among the best defensive fighters of all time?

To quote a line from Cinderella Man, "Did you see many punches getting past his face?"

[grayfist]

To quote a line from Cinderella Man, "Did you see many punches getting past his face?"

Hi gavinz...LOL!

[Sweet Pete]

This guy


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[Feint]

As far as the boxers I have seen, Whitaker and Leonard were pretty good.