How Can Willie Pep's Defense Be Better Than Floyd's?

[Thread Stealer]

Willie Pep suffered from Alzheimer's late in his life.

I never heard about him suffering brain damage from fighting.

But if he did, well that can happen even if you're a great defensive fighter, if you're fighting so often and at an old age, and also from sparring so much.

[Bhopreign]

Willie Pep suffered from Alzheimer's late in his life.

I never heard about him suffering brain damage from fighting.

But if he did, well that can happen even if you're a great defensive fighter, if you're fighting so often and at an old age, and also from sparring so much.

Yea it can, I only started this thread, not that I believe that Floyd's defense is better, because I havent seen much of Pep, but there have been threads this week on who's defense was better so it was mainly for debate.

[Silencers]

His uses the right glove just to protect his right jaw, the right hand is mostly used to counter with when he is using it. Trust me it would work.

It would be much harder to block shots with his shoulder when opponents use those small gloves, they sneak in much easier, I'm not saying it wouldn't work but it would be very tough.

[roujinziro]

Who did Pep fight and which ones did you see.

Sandy Saddler for one, another hall of famer, saw the fight on an old Espn Classic Ringside with Bert Sugar. He went 1-3 with the man. Pep went 63-0 before his first lost. Now I'm not gonna sit here and say Pep probably didn't handpick any of his 242 bouts, as Floyd did before he retired recently, but Pep wasn't afraid to fight a man knowing there was a legitimate chance of losing. If he did he wouldn't have fought Saddler again after losing by knockout. Plus Mayweather has the advantage of still being able to hurt a guy with his punches. Pep had 65 knockouts in his 230 wins, not the greatest KO percentage whereas Mayweather had 25 in 39 fights.

[Brockton Lip]

Pep had hundreds of fights and was in a very bad plane crash.

Also Benitez has excellent defense but look at his situation as well.

[Thread Stealer]

It's too bad a lot of Pep's best fights and performances weren't filmed.

The first 3 Saddler fights, to my knowledge, were not filmed, and the 2nd fight is supposed to be one of the great fights and performances ever.

Pep is said to have never been the same after nearly dying in a plane crash.

We'd also have clarification on the whole "winning a round without throwing a punch" against Graves, though it appears that it's just a myth.

[warp1432]

That shoulder roll bollox wouldn't work with the gloves they used back in the day, he still uses one of his gloves to do it.

A lot of fighters back then used to slip and roll punches. Charley Burley, Archie Moore, and Willie Pep somewhat did it too.

[Silencers]

It's too bad a lot of Pep's best fights and performances weren't filmed.

The first 3 Saddler fights, to my knowledge, were not filmed, and the 2nd fight is supposed to be one of the great fights and performances ever.

Pep is said to have never been the same after nearly dying in a plane crash.

We'd also have clarification on the whole "winning a round without throwing a punch" against Graves, though it appears that it's just a myth.

The third fight was partially filmed, there are highlights of it.

I've read that the round where he supposedly didn't throw a punch to win was one of the most action packed of the fight.

[warp1432]

I think the second fight was partially filmed too. It shows clips of it in that Pep video on youtube. The one where they are talking about how great he was and ****.

[pbftxrs316]

That shoulder roll bollox wouldn't work with the gloves they used back in the day, he still uses one of his gloves to do it.

how do you know really? you don't, that's how. you're going off of assumption, that's it. floyd didn't fight back then, and comparing level of competiton when talking about pep and mayweather jr, and overall skillset, pep fought many more fights than floyd, but floyd accomplished more faster than pep did. you'd have to compare their skillsets, that's all, compared to their competition in their respected eras. imo floyd is the most skilled fighter overall that i've seen, period with srr as the runner up, willie pep is a legend and an all time great, that's where i stand. defensively, floyd was more athletic imo, with better upperbody flexibilty as far as slipping AND blocking, whether on the ropes, inside, or outside, it doesn't matter, imo, overall, mayweather was the better overall defensive fighter.