The greatest defensive fighter?

[Steak]

I disagree. Benitez acutally had some of his best performances at 154lbs, such as his wins over Hope and Duran. I think early in his 154lb career he was at his all time best defensively, and definitely among the best defensive fighters ever.
later on at 154 and above is whole different story.

Benitez at 140 was certainly not more defensively sound than the version of him at 154, based on his outings against Weston Harold and Bruce Curry.

Locche is imo the most skilled defensive fighter of all time. he had very few physical gifts and got away purely on boxing knowledge, he just knew how to defend unlike any other.

[TheGreatA]

I disagree. Benitez acutally had some of his best performances at 154lbs, such as his wins over Hope and Duran. I think early in his 154lb career he was at his all time best defensively, and definitely among the best defensive fighters ever.
later on at 154 and above is whole different story.

Benitez at 140 was certainly not more defensively sound than the version of him at 154, based on his outings against Weston Harold and Bruce Curry.

Locche is imo the most skilled defensive fighter of all time. he had very few physical gifts and got away purely on boxing knowledge, he just knew how to defend unlike any other.

I'd say he was as defensively sound, but he had a tendency to get frustrated, showboat and trade punches unnecessarily. The Cervantes performance shows how well a young, focused Benitez could perform.

The greatest defensive fighter to me is Pep, not necessarily because he had the greatest defense (there isn't enough film to definitely make that claim), but because as a fighter he rates above Whitaker, Locche and Benitez in my opinion. The men who rate above Pep in the all-time lists were mainly offensive or all-around fighters, not defensive boxers like Pep.

[BigStereotype]

Casting my vote for Pernell Whitaker, with Niccolino Locche, Willie Pep and Floyd Mayweather trailing immediately behind.

[EMSLDB]

are not the greatest but miguel canto marlon starling deserve mention

[blaze778]

Nicolino Locche, Willie Pep, Pernell Whitaker.

Pick Em', imo they're the 3 greatest defensive boxers, couldn't choose one over the other.

I was gonna say those guys, lol.

What makes them special is that they made defense actually fun to watch. Like watching a matador in a bullfight.

I would add Mayweather and Hopkins and to the list, although their defense is not as pretty as the 3 fighters mentioned above.

James Toney is worth a mention.