[POLL] Best defense of all time

[War Room]

Only all of them that were televised.

Solid fighter but hardly a defensive wizard if you ask me. This is the first time I've ever seen him considered in this type of conversation.

Hardly a defensive wizard?

[mjbjst]

Mayweather

[IronDanHamza]

Hardly a defensive wizard?

Nice video. Did you come across this video and consider for this list from that? Because it's just a few highlight clips.

Don't get me wrong Byrd was a decent fighter, good defense and very slippery but you'd be hard pressed finding his name in any of these kind of discussions before this one.

[famicommander]

It's Floyd.

It's hard to even get into position to hit him because he's so smart.
If you get into position, hard to even make contact because he's so fast he'll likely dodge it or clinch you and smother it.
If he doesn't dodge it or clinch, he'll likely block it off the shoulder roll or the gloves.
If he doesn't block it, he'll likely slip it.
If he doesn't slip it, he'll likely roll with it.
If he doesn't clinch, dodge it, slip it, block it, or roll with it and you manage to land hard, it probably won't hurt him because he has a great chin.
If you do manage to hurt him, he'll likely recover quickly because he's always in great shape and he knows how to survive.

And the entire time all of this is going on he's firing back and stinging you with jabs, body shots, and check left hooks.

[CubanGuyNYC]

Its relative to who you fight which makes the question very subjective, in my eye, Pea and Floyd had ungodly eyes balance and positioning, when you consider who they fought and then realize out of the 1000s of shots thrown at them by elite fighters they were only ever hit really solid 3-5 times, their hand-eye coordination was computer science of the brain.

No doubt about it, when you consider it that way, which is really how it is, the feat is staggering. I do things for fun that challenge my reflexes, so I have a real appreciation for their abilities. Those guys were inhuman.

[Rosco3387]

Putting Byrd on the list is respectable, I agree. Think about heavyweights who fought with elite defensive skills... I would put Byrd, Toney, and Jimmy Young down and one could make a case that Byrd was in the running out of those three. Ali could be listed as well... But Ali did get clipped!

I am in the Sweet Pea Camp on this one. All good choices... Pep is another... I have no particular reason as you could justify any choice. Another is Jones. Up until he was drilled he was untouchable.

[War Room]

Nice video. Did you come across this video and consider for this list from that? Because it's just a few highlight clips.

Don't get me wrong Byrd was a decent fighter, good defense and very slippery but you'd be hard pressed finding his name in any of these kind of discussions before this one.

No.

I just typed Chris Byrd Defense and figured something would come up.

I used to follow Byrd in the amateurs and followed him closely as a pro. His dad made him spar inside truck tires to work on defense. Like if you watch him vs Tua, his defense is incredible. When I saw it live, I was on the edge of my seat because Tua could ****.

[just the facts]

Whitaker for me. He used more offense than the others and did it vs a higher level of competition than the others (even Floyd). Pernell was also a victim of two of the biggest robberies in boxing history (Ramirez 1 and Chavez).

[IronDanHamza]

No.

I just typed Chris Byrd Defense and figured something would come up.

I used to follow Byrd in the amateurs and followed him closely as a pro. His dad made him spar inside truck tires to work on defense. Like if you watch him vs Tua, his defense is incredible. When I saw it live, I was on the edge of my seat because Tua could ****.

His win against Tua was a good win, Tua was a good fighter. But I mean that fight was fairly close, he's not exactly dominating him, Tua is landing his fair share of punches.

Chris Byrd was a good, solid, slippery fighter with good defensive skills, but he simply doesn't belong in this conversation in all honesty.

[War Room]

His win against Tua was a good win, Tua was a good fighter. But I mean that fight was fairly close, he's not exactly dominating him, Tua is landing his fair share of punches.

Chris Byrd was a good, solid, slippery fighter with good defensive skills, but he simply doesn't belong in this conversation in all honesty.

8-4 isn't close. I felt like Byrd dominated Tua completely.

He's a smw that wormed his way into the hw's with the literal best defense in hw history.