how would you rate willie pep's defense

[RadioCart]

relative to modern day defense like floyd..... now of course he wasn't as talanted as floyd but still...? where does his defensive skills rate

[toshmurph]

relative to modern day defense like floyd..... now of course he wasn't as talanted as floyd but still...? where does his defensive skills rate

Says who!? The Will O' the Wisp was the greatest defensive fighter of all time, and arguments could be made that he was the greatest fighter ever, he had a 26 year career with near 250 losing just 11 times, and retired at 44!

Now why do you think he's not as talented as Floyd?

[Salardo]

relative to modern day defense like floyd..... now of course he wasn't as talanted as floyd but still...? where does his defensive skills rate

How was Pep not as talented as Floyd?
Pep is probably the most talented defensive genius of all time.

[TonitosWay]

Are we talking about the same Willie Pep that notoriously won a round without throwing a single punch?

Sorry but Willie Pep is top 5 ATG in my opinion and might be number one defensively.

Off-Topic: Found out yesterday that Rigondeaux's opponents only lands five punches per round on average (way below anyone in boxing today).

[SlySlickSmooth]

He's a black/white fighter who is a white man, therefore he is not as great as Floyd Mayweather.

[NearHypnos]

Defensively he's one of the goat. Dude was a genius and just had great instincts and footwork. Some people would rate Peps defense over Floyd's relatively speaking through eras (though this was years ago I've seen a discussion on both) though that could be heavy bias.. I wint go there but Pep would be on a short list of fighters defensively speaking which Floyd would be a part of. Dude won a round without (purposely) throwing a punch. Its worth noting most people have pep top 3 atg defensive skills. With more times than not as number 1. Pep to ME was one of the only fighters that i truly feel was so ahead of his time.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Great defender, easily top 3 of all time, and maybe #1 of all time...

Hard to judge defenders, because it really depends on the level of opposition, floyd looks fantastic vs B-level guys like canelo, ghost but does get touched up alittle vs top guys like castillo, hatton, judah, oscar, cotto

[revs1227]

u moron wille pep is like (floyd x sweetpea) ^2

[ShoulderRoll]

If Willie Pep was fighting today he would be called a boring runner because he wasn't a face first brawler.

The guy had amazing footwork.

[sicko]

Love watching Pep video, he literally FLOATED around the ring

His defense was making people miss with excellent footwork and head movement, people said he won rounds during fight without throwing punches because he made his opponents look so bad missing every punch they threw at him

So yeah his Defense was GREAT when he was able to get away from you, but you did have a guy like Sandy Saddler who roughed up Pep and fought an extremely rugged and it worked, Saddler kinda had his number because he was able to get Pep to fight his fight and would apply relentless pressure to the point that Pep would have no choice but to fight him inside and that is where Saddler really got rugged

But no question Pep, Nicolino Locche, Pernell Whitaker...it doesn't get no slicker than those legends and you can see their style has effected generations of boxers.

But sadly in today's boxing with the fickle minded boxing fans being at all time high and the politics with the networks and promotions, guys like Pep, Locche, Whitaker skills would not be appreciated and like Miguel Vazquez and Chemito Moreno, they probably would be left off of the major networks