How underrated is Nicolino Locche?

[Japanese Boxing]

I forget if this has been done before, but this guy was the epitome of cool, calm, collected, and genius. I know we have anecdotes about other fighters throughout history, but Locche seems to be the one guy that I always go back to when I try to look for something to work on. Willie Pep was a diamond in his own right, but I guess he didn't look as good controlling his opponents with his feet like Locche did. Skills wise he is one of the best I've seen, maybe I sound crazy, but I just don't get why we don't celebrate this guy more.

[rightsideup]

he does have boosters on this forum. He has been praised for his incredible defense.

[Locche]

Ahem....

I have discussed nicolino with my trainer. We both think he's incredible.

Very little punching power.

Defensively just sublime.

Not "flashy" so much as Whitaker or Mayweather, for example. More a solid defense a lot of the time. Looks like he can take a punch

Chain smoker (apparently).

Not the fittest of boxers. Didn't need to be. He was one of the most relaxed boxers in the ring you'll ever see.

The most intersting thing about him I think is that he incorporates a shoulder roll thing a lot of the time but always seems to press forward into the other guy, off a defensive stance. Always holds his ground.

Thanks for starting this thread. My answer to your question is he's so underrated that usually people haven't heard of him. But IMHO he is the best defensively and he's got a very strange style indeed.

Modern day equivalent would have to be Toney, I guess.

I understand he had trouble fighting outside of Argentina, which is why he isn't that well known? Or something like that...

[McGoorty]

I forget if this has been done before, but this guy was the epitome of cool, calm, collected, and genius. I know we have anecdotes about other fighters throughout history, but Locche seems to be the one guy that I always go back to when I try to look for something to work on. Willie Pep was a diamond in his own right, but I guess he didn't look as good controlling his opponents with his feet like Locche did. Skills wise he is one of the best I've seen, maybe I sound crazy, but I just don't get why we don't celebrate this guy more.

Interesting comparison to Pep but I am not sure that Loche had better feet than Pep, when it comes to the entire skills package no one beats Pep, Willie is the ultimate in skill and science and if he had actually had heavy hands like Robinson, Basilio, de Marco, jenkins etc I have zero doubt that Pep would be undisputed pound for pound number one and even without that added power he simply has to be one of the top 5. locche had a very different style but as you said he had true genius in defence as did Pep but he isn't in Pep's league when it comes to hand speed or reflexes, this was a man who seemed completely unbeatable after even his 200th fight. the earliest footage I have seen of Pep shows a featherweight with the most blindingly fast hands I have yet seen in boxing. Make no mistake about how awesome Pep was, his footwork was also sublime and the man was as hard as nails. Locche is a fighter fighters should study I feel, study Pep too by all means but good luck with that, copying pep is as hard as copying Ali.

[Locche]

^^^ I think Pep was probably more the athlete.

Locche had a more kind of "solid" style than Pep, sometimes he just stands there and seemingly takes it, although he is actually nullifying the work.

The great thing about Locche in a way is that he did have gaping flaws, not the highest fitness, no punch power, yet he overcame these with his relaxation in the ring. In my opinion one of the most unorthodox and interesting fighters.

But Pep though - who can argue with that? No one.

[SBleeder]

One of my two favorite fighters of all time, the other being Ricardo Lopez.

Definitely an all-time great and in my opinion the best defensive master of all time (better than Pep).

[Locche]

I lol at my avatar where he's covering his plums, as if to say "you ain't hitting me there".......

[McGoorty]

I lol at my avatar where he's covering his plums, as if to say "you ain't hitting me there".......

What I think he was a master at was mind games, you watch him doing that stuff and it really looks like his strategy was always to first get inside the other guys head and then sorta manipulate the other guy like he is a puppet. I reckon the best nickname I could come up for Locche is, "The PUPPETMASTER". Yeah I know he wasn't the first to try getting the mental edge but he sure did it in a novel way. as for a comment earlier that he was better defensively than Pep, i do have doubts about that but only because Pep was so clever, to have gone so long without getting caught with a knockout shot he simply must have been amazing. That certainly is not meant as any slight to Locche.

[Locche]

I'm not sure Locche was better than Pep defensively, but I don't think he was worse either. Perhaps they stand side by side as the two best defensive fighters of all time?

I think to say that one of them was better kind of unfairly detracts from the other one, if you see what I mean. It's a bit like saying who was the bigger genius out of Einstein and Newton.

[McGoorty]

I'm not sure Locche was better than Pep defensively, but I don't think he was worse either. Perhaps they stand side by side as the two best defensive fighters of all time?

I think to say that one of them was better kind of unfairly detracts from the other one, if you see what I mean. It's a bit like saying who was the bigger genius out of Einstein and Newton.

It is purely subjective. What about the incredible Benny Leonard, there was a guy with stratospheric defensive abilities as well. Saying there is a greatest boxer (at any weight is again purely subjective) is a bit like claiming some dude is THE GREATEST ever guitar player (again, no such animal). It is why I stopped caring about rankings like Bert Sugars GREATEST 100, (at best I can say that Sugar was right only about 10 per cent of the entire list, obviously he overlooked many more deserving fighters.). Pernell Whittaker and Ray leonard were no slouches in defence either.