best defensive boxer of all time

[cuzfozzy]

willie pep was the best
followed by sugar ray robinson

[Sweet Pete]

willie pep was the best
followed by sugar ray robinson

Robinson was not a defensive boxer at all you twat.

And Poet, Ali was far from unhittable, though he did have good defense, just overrated on the defensive side.

He was prone to a good left hook, and aside from great reflexes, his technique on the defensive side was less than satisfactory. He was tagged a lot, but also showed enough highlight reel defensive moves to cover for it.

[TheGreatA]

Some vid's of defensive boxers:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LEKHMUCh8k
Nicolino Locche

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD5rx0OdyDA
Pernell Whitaker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZROK-t5Pmo
Another underrated defensive artist, never let a punch go past his face

[cuzfozzy]

Ali copied his style from Sugar Ray Robinson

[Sweet Pete]

Ali copied his style from Sugar Ray Robinson

His footwork yes, but other than that they fought nothing alike.

[cuzfozzy]

everybody knows that !! - roe

[them_apples]

Tyson's defense was good, in that video he was touched but not tagged, all of those punches slipped off causing no damage give our take 1 or 2.

[Jim_Davis]

Naseem Hamed great defense tactician with those un-human-like reflexes

[cuzfozzy]

Hamed was only good cos he fought tomato cans
oonce he fought a real boxer his defence was
shown to be weak ...

pep was the best

[StarshipTrooper]

Robinson was not a defensive boxer at all you twat.

And Poet, Ali was far from unhittable, though he did have good defense, just overrated on the defensive side.

He was prone to a good left hook, and aside from great reflexes, his technique on the defensive side was less than satisfactory. He was tagged a lot, but also showed enough highlight reel defensive moves to cover for it.

No question Ali's technique was wrong: Everyone one said he did EVERYTHING wrong but made it work for him. I think it's fair to point out we're talking over-all defense not mearly technique. Ali's speed and reflexes WERE his defense and enabled him to fight without good technique. Roy Jones is another example of this he did the same as Ali: Bad technique but using speed and reflexes to avoid getting hit. The difference between the two was that Ali adapted his style of fighting when his speed and reflexes started to slip and Jones did not. The result was Ali won two more titles past his prime and Jones got brutally KOed twice.

Personally I feel Willie Pep was the best defensive fighter ever but their are sufficient candiates to make it a hard call. Pernell Whitaker certainly makes the short list and so does Chris Byrd. Ali and Jones make despite their less than perfect technique. James Corbett was known for his defensive prowness as was Gene Tunney at Light-Heavyweight. Ray Leonard could play defense with the best of them when he wanted to and Wilfred Benitez was a defensive master. Honors go to Roberto Duran who was vastly underrated defensively at Lightweight. And no, Mike Tyson doesn't make the list. It's almost impossible to hit an opponent when you are moving backwards and most of Tyson's opponents were moving in reverse. Watch the Tyson fights where the opponent DOESN'T fight going backwards and see how often Mike gets hit then. Tyson's OFFENSE essentially WAS his defense.

Poet