Best Footwork of All Time

[Ca$ual Fan]

It depends maybe on the fighter’s approach. There is a difference of footwork between a fighter that is chasing their opponents and pin them to the ropes/corner than a fighter who tries to move around and box his opponents.

[A-Wolf]

Yeah I never understood that about Manny, even when he's training on the bags, he'll be bouncing around. As you say, it's similar to clichéd visions of martial artists; Street Fighter, Bruce Lee, etc

I've sparred guys with similar habits to Pacquiao, bouncing up and down all the time, and it's quite simple to slide out to the side and away. Whilst they're going up and down, I'm moving on the horizontal plane. I think good boxing footwork should resemble something like gliding around the ring, always ready to move in any direction (except up!)

That's cute. No "good footwork" means CONTROLLING DISTANCE, kids. It means getting into position to land your shots and getting out of harm's way when your opponent is trying to land theirs.

[A-Wolf]

Again, best footwork of all time?

Floyd Mayweather. HANDS DOWN.

It's not even close. As I've said for years he was like Allen Iverson inside a boxing ring. THAT is what made him what he was. That's why he was able to just completely toy with incredible handsmen like (the utterly flat footed) JMM and Canelo (and so many others). It was his ability to control distance on them (AKA FOOTWORK) that made all of that possible.

NOTHING is more important than distance control in combat sports. NOTHING.

[sicko]

Pep, Ali, Leonard, Whitaker, Jones Jr, Mayweather, Prince Naseem...





Threads like this Expose A LOT about people on this forum either they haven't been watching boxing very long or they just don't know SH#T about boxing Looking at those legends, the current fighters really don't move anything close to the likes of Ali, Pep, Ray Leonard or Naseem. A lot of guys have more of that Quick Choppy Feet this ERA but they don't FLOAT like these Legends not even close. Actually Anthony Sims last night despite losing he has excellent feet and fights with that Floating style but he doesn't have that STRINGER to "Sting Like A Bee" to go with the Footwork

[QueensburyRules]

Mannys footwork is nothing on Floyd and its why he couldnt catch him at all.

Footwork is more than just reaction, its also balance and rhythm , the best footwork glides and is so smooth, from the comment I feel youre only seeing snappy quick reaction.

- -Runnin' & stinkin' ain't part of boxing footwork lexicon until the modern subspecies, Crusted Petardis suddenly appeared to stink out the joint.

See Sims Jr last night.

[ruedboy]

I never see this guy mentioned here. Orlando Canizales. certainly worth the watch.

Agree. Loma reminds me a bit of Canizales, the way he moves in the ring. Two fan friendly fighters, Orlando was just a lot of fun to watch, same as Loma is.

[Vasyl’s dad]

Agree. Loma reminds me a bit of Canizales, the way he moves in the ring. Two fan friendly fighters, Orlando was just a lot of fun to watch, same as Loma is.

I made a thread once about Canizales vs Rigo because Lomas footwork reminded me so much of Orlandos. Nobody but one person replied, and it was to downplay Canizales. The footwork aspect of boxing is severely lacking these days and is a true lost art of the sport. But hey, so and so made a gazillion dollars for one fight!

[Roadblock]

Pacquiao? Are you serious?............

He doesn't know what elite footwork is, doesnt know the basics even .

It always seems to be a Manny fan that doesnt understand boxing at a deeper level, they think everything Manny does is just the best of everything.

Manny is great because of his individuality and making it work for him, much of his fundamentals is technically wrong as with many greats that owned a style, this is why greats cant be copied or taught.

[HeadBodyBodyBody]

That's cute. No "good footwork" means CONTROLLING DISTANCE, kids. It means getting into position to land your shots and getting out of harm's way when your opponent is trying to land theirs.

I agree with you to an extent. Tyson Fury put it quite well in a recent interview: "Your legs will get into trouble, and your legs will get you out of trouble." However, all else being equal I'd favour a fighter with smooth footwork over a fighter with choppy footwork (if that makes any sense!?). And yeah, Floyd definitely had great footwork; I like his foot feints, he used them to great effect. You watch Floyd's body, his trunk seems to stay relatively static, with his feet moving under him, sliding him around the ring

I'd suggest that you seem to be working backwards by conflating good footwork with the ability to control distance. That cannot be the whole story. Surely good footwork involves good balance and potential to move off in any direction, amongst other things. That is, someone could theoretically have great footwork but not be able to control distance very well. Indeed, that is what you see with beginners sometimes, if they have prior experience with dance or something like this. The way I am thinking about it is that good footwork confers advantages by allowing easier control of the distance, rather than assuming that good control of distance implies good footwork. It's a moot point for the most part, since these two things are practically synonymous in well-developed fighters, but I just thought I'd explain why it might seem like we disagree here when we probably agree more than you might've realised.

[Mister Wolf]

Mayweather.......