Based purely on skill, your top 5 fighters of the decade?

[Manny#1ATG]

To do that is to do everything backwards, though. Do you really want to dumb skill down into ONE thing? Why call it skill at all if you're going to go blind, deaf, and dumb to certain things?

Roy Jones had more skill because SPEED IS A SKILL! How can it possibly not be? If you play "if so and so didn't have _____" then you're invalidating the whole argument. Yeah, no **** Roy Jones with the speed of a turtle would suck ass. So go find THAT guy and call HIM unskilled. A fighter simply IS the sum of their technique and talent put together to create their unique skill set. Is it not a special skill for Roy Jones to be able to do what only Roy Jones can do?

I have Jermain Taylor on my list out of personal preference...he is on nobody else list that has posted...I assume when he says "boxing skill" the TS meant who is most impressive to you based on their boxing skillset...Pacquiao's boxing toolbox doesn't impress me very much just like Jermain Taylor didn't impress anybody else who posted a list here...Pacquiao could be argued to be #1 on this list or as far back as #20 on this list IMO if we are talking since 2001...it is all about who is your own personal favorites as far as boxing skills go...why are you even upset about this?

[brick wall]

dude, all i wanted to see was ur list. if u dont wanna post it then fine. but i thought that was the point of the thread. if u wanna sit here and argue about this then it obviously mean u are really bothered by everybodys choice. i mean seriously, what i said was the truth. personal choice. now do u have one or not, sissy boy?

i was about to post my list actually but you preempted it with your tantrums. and no, pac is not on my top 5 so don't worry. and floyd is no. 1 for me because not only his defense is superb, his offense is also very good...just a little too economical sometimes but defense has always been his priority anyway so it's expected.

[tdubb]

1. Mayweather
2. Marquez
3. Donaire
4. Hopkins
5. Haye

slurp slurp on some mayweather's nutz

[Las Vegas,]

dude, all i wanted to see was ur list. if u dont wanna post it then fine. but i thought that was the point of the thread. if u wanna sit here and argue about this then it obviously mean u are really bothered by everybodys choice. i mean seriously, what i said was the truth. personal choice. now do u have one or not, sissy boy?

Don't waste your time on Brick bruh. The guy says the looniest things sometimes. One of them was when he said "I don't support **** fights" then goes on to say "Mosley has a legitimate chance of beating Pac so it's not a **** fight". Sometimes some of the stuff he says is unbearable. Almost as bad as Hugh Grant's "Ronald Wright exposed Mosley, not Winky".

[Chadmazing]

I have Jermain Taylor on my list out of personal preference...he is on nobody else list that has posted...I assume when he says "boxing skill" the TS meant who is most impressive to you based on their boxing skillset...Pacquiao's boxing toolbox doesn't impress me very much just like Jermain Taylor didn't impress anybody else who posted a list here...Pacquiao could be argued to be #1 on this list or as far back as #20 on this list IMO if we are talking since 2001...it is all about who is your own personal favorites as far as boxing skills go...why are you even upset about this?

It... doesn't.

[-Kev-]

To do that is to do everything backwards, though. Do you really want to dumb skill down into ONE thing? Why call it skill at all if you're going to go blind, deaf, and dumb to certain things?

Roy Jones had more skill because SPEED IS A SKILL! How can it possibly not be? If you play "if so and so didn't have _____" then you're invalidating the whole argument. Yeah, no **** Roy Jones with the speed of a turtle would suck ass. So go find THAT guy and call HIM unskilled. A fighter simply IS the sum of their technique and talent put together to create their unique skill set. Is it not a special skill for Roy Jones to be able to do what only Roy Jones can do?

Roy Jones actually still has really fast handspeed believe it or not. He just lost his reflexes and legs that's why he's getting knocked out every where. Plus he's not all that powerful at 175+ and never was, as you can see how his KO's dropped when he went up to 175.

It's my opinion that handspeed and reflexes/elusiveness aren't a skill. Am I saying Pacquiao and Jones are not skilled at all? No, I clearly stated "They are not the most skilled" i'm not calling them unskillful bums.

I believe Mayweather's hand speed has dropped considerably, and Mayweather is not as elusive as he use to be. But why is Floyd 34 and still undefeated fighting world class fighters? That's cause he doesn't need extremely fast hands or elusiveness to win fights, he has counterpunching, see counterpunching is a skill that you don't need handspeed for. Jones and Pacquiao's ability to counter come from their handspeed, Mayweather's counterpunching comes from real good timing and accuracy which are actual mental skill. Same goes Hopkins.

You're gonna see Mayweather is still gonna be a decent fighter when he's older and if he's still fighting[I doubt he'd still be fighting at 46 like Hopkins], while Pacquiao will fall of real hard like Jones if he fights for that long, which again, I doubt it. Look at a real life example Jones and Hopkins, only that Jones, IMO, was better than Pacquiao in everything, reflexes, handspeed, power, elusiveness, so he barely got hit barely lost a round, while Pacquiao lost to some guys and had trouble with guys that Jones P4P would make easy work of[Morales, Marquez]. But in the sense that Pacquiao uses more handspeed and legs like Jones did, than skill, then yes they are similar and Mayweather and Pacquiao will be similar to Jones and Hopkins. Mayweather will become old and win fights on ring intelligence/IQ, smart counterpunching/timing, effective clean punching while Pacquiao will get old and what will he have once he loses his legs. But Pacquiao would have never beaten any version of Mayweather, unlike Jones beating Hopkins. That's just my take on it.

[RespekonMyName]

Roy Jones
Mayweather Jr.
Hopkins
Pacquiao
Marquez

[-Kev-]

When guys like Jones, Pacquiao and Martinez lose their legs, people will see all along that they really are not the most skillful boxers and they relied more on athleticism than actual ring generalship and skill. As we see Jones is living proof.

I didn't see Mayweather use his legs at all against Mosley, yet he completely outboxed him and countered him to death without even having the handspeed he use to have. I didn't see Hopkins running around the ring or using blinding handspeed to dominate the 175 Ring champion Pascal, he simply used his accuracy, well-timed counterpunching, and incredible defense.

[lets rumble]

mayweather hands down is the most skillful fighter of the past 50 years. no one has a complete range of skills like him. now im not sayin he is perfect at everything he does in the ring but i believe he is the most all round SKILLFUL boxer there probably has been and probably ever will be.
in saying that i wouldnt give him the most corageous fighter i think a lot of you will agree that could go to maybe ward or gatti ????
to create a list of the top 5 is hard because a lot of people are one eyed supporters and look for different styles.
mosley in his prime , roy jones in his prime even oscar in his prime was technically sound .

[Clint650]

Hopkins
Mayweather
Donaire
Juan Manuel
Pacquiao