Greatest jab of all time?

[billeau2]

Ali is a special case imo. Ali was Picasso to boxing, he invented a vocabulary where he reduced all form, all effort and strategy to a minimalism that expressed itself through the simple act of the jab. Ali could literally beat you with that jab and nothing else. Behind that jab was natural movement, speed and timing, with the jab becoming simply an extension of those qualities imposed upon the opponent.

So Was the jab that good? or was Ali that good and simply used the jab to express those qualities? Ali took all the sweet science and reduced it to clear categories of speed and timing and the jab was simply the most convenient way to express that approach. Ali was a departure from the vast technical skills of the puncher, the craftiness of the counter puncher, etc... Ali abhored the need for a big punch, a reliance upon technical skills... All that was needed was the natural application of speed and timing. The jab simply was for Ali the first thing that one could encounter the opponent with, the thing one could extend the speed and movement of the body with into the opponent's area.

Other fighters had great technical jabs. I like Liston's Jab because it could fell a moose! Also Liston could use that jab to set up combinations.

[OctoberRed]

Did any fighter win more bouts just based on using his jab as the main weapon than Klitschko did in the modern era?

[chrisJS]

Did any fighter win more bouts just based on using his jab as the main weapon than Klitschko did in the modern era?

Winky Wright perhaps?

[New England]

has to be a HW. they fight the furthest away and throw the fewest combinations. a jab at HW can break you down over just a few rounds. in lower weights it migh tnot even break you down at all. not to mention that you can set up right hands that can end the fight.

so fr that reason i'll pick only HW. ali, liston, holmes. if i had to pick one it would be ali. no surprise that he was the best HW ever, having the best jab.


honestly, honorable mention to wlaidmir klitschko. hard to discount the fact that he weighed 245 lbs at 6'6" and all he had to do was put hands on you lightly to really bust you up

[OctoberRed]

Winky Wright perhaps?

Nice catch. Forgot all about him. Although he did go toe to toe when needed and abandoned the jab, with Taylor and Hopkins.

[TBear]

Did any fighter win more bouts just based on using his jab as the main weapon than Klitschko did in the modern era?

I felt a young Larry Holmes as champ could claim this distinction.

[OctoberRed]

I felt a young Larry Holmes as champ could claim this distinction.

So could a young Zelenoff, 155-0

[Ben Bolt]

Bad luck turning into something good ...

In his winning fight against Roy Williams 1976, Holmes broke his right hand.
So for several months, he could only practise his left in training.

I believe this 'accident' was the key to his success.
I do rank his jab as No. 1.

Did any fighter win more bouts just based on using his jab as the main weapon than Klitschko did in the modern era?

Can't argue with that.

[Noelanthony]

Ali and it's not close. Ali had those reflexes that allowed him to hit opponents at angles with his jab. Holmes never had the athleticism, movement or reflexes of Ali.

Holmes , and I’m not even a major fan

[Dempsey-Louis]

Holmes, Ali . . . Carlos Monzon, and Tommy Hearns.