Best I've faced

[Chrismart]

Seen these posted on here before. But was just reading through a few and thought they were worth a re-post. They're from Ring magazine.


Mike McCallum July 2011

Best overall: James Toney He wasnt a complete fighter the first time we fought, and I still believe I won that fight. But he learned in that fight and he got better. He grew with each fight. By our third fight, he was a different fighter, a complete fighter. He was someone who could do it all, fight inside or outside, work offense and defense at the same time, just like me when I was younger. I like to think that I helped James mature as a fighter.

Best boxer: Herol Graham He was a pure boxer, a southpaw and very elusive. It wasnt easy to hit him. He was very smart, very skilled.

Best puncher: Julian Jackson He hit me so hard! Julian wasnt just powerful, he was also real quick. I got caught by a right hand in the first round of our fight and I remember thinking Whats wrong with my legs? I tried my best to hide it from him. I knew I had to take him out as soon as I could.

Best defense: Sumbu Kalambay I fought many good defensive fighters. Toney had a good defense. Graham was slippery. Jones was fast and slick, but Kalambay is No. 1. I cant forget about him. Hes the first fighter to beat me and its because of his good movement. He was always sliding side to side, very shifty. He was a dangerous boy.

Fastest hands: Jackson He was quick, man. Thats why he got so many knockouts. Everyone focused on his power and then hed get you with a punch you didnt see. They landed on you boom! from out of nowhere. Kalambay and Toney were also fast. So was Jones, obviously, but I fought him when I was older and had slowed down a bit.

Fastest feet: Roy Jones He had very quick feet. He was elusive just because of his footwork.

Best chin: Steve Collins I almost said Toney, but Collins had the best chin. I hit him right on his chin all night and he wouldnt budge. I couldnt hit Toney that much and when I did, he backed off. Collins walked through punches.

Best jab: Donald Curry I fought many fighters with good jabs. Kalambay could win fights with just his jab. McCrory had a good, hard jab. But Currys was the best. I see why they called him the Cobra because he didnt miss with it. He was a bad man with that jab.

Strongest: Michael Watson Oh my God, he was so strong. Thats why that fight was so hard. It was a gruesome fight, 11 rounds of back-and-forth hell.

Smartest: Roy Jones Jr. I fought quite a few smart boys in my time. Graham was a cunning S.O.B. I remember him sticking his tongue out at me whenever id miss a punch. Kalambay was smart and so was Toney, although he didnt have the experience to back it up when we first fought. But I think Roy may have been the smartest. He was very clever, which didnt surprise me. I knew he was sharp. It was like he was always one step ahead of me.

...............................
...............................

James Toney Sep 2009

Best fighter: Mike McCallum Thats an easy choice, right off the top of my head its the Body Snatcher. He was the best fighter I fought at middleweight, super middleweight and cruiserweight. Out of all the fighters I fought, I respect him the most because he made me think about everything I tried to do. Before McCallum I was just runnin in on everyone, but he made me slow down and think for the first time.

Best Boxer: McCallum Yup, its him again. Its between McCallum and Michael Nunn, but I gotta go with McCallum because he was a master boxer who wasnt afraid to stand his ground. Nunn was mostly fast. I admit that he outboxed me for about nine rounds, but my body shots slowed him down. I told him during the fight;Im gonna catch you! And I did.

Best puncher: Merqui Sosa Sam Peter is the hardest puncher Ive fought, but pound-for-pound its Sosa because he hurt me the most. Ill never forget that fight, we fought on an ESPN show in Atlantic City on a Sunday. I went at him like I did everyone back then and that mother f_____ hit me so hard in the third round I was seeing triple for the next three rounds. He knew how to hit and he was so awkward that I couldnt time him and he caught me high on the head.

Quickest hands: Roy Jones He was fast. Ill give him that, but thats all Ill give him. I would have knocked him out if I wasnt drained from losing 44 pounds in six weeks. I went in (that fight) like a fool and wasnt properly prepared.

Quickest feet: Nunn He had some fast-ass feet (laughing), didnt he? He was an escape artist for nine or 10 rounds, til I caught up to him.

Best defense: McCallum: He was right there in front of me, but I had a hard time hitting him with clean punches. I basically came into my own by fighting him. I learned how to be elusive without running around the ring by fighting Mike McCallum three times.

Best chin: Tony Thornton: The punching postman from Philly! (laughs) I thought I was gonna knock him out easy. He was squared up with his chin right there for me to hit but I hit him with every punch I had and he wouldnt budge. I hit him with my best left hook and he didnt blink.

Best jab: McCallum: Mikes jab was like a piston. There were other guys I fought who had good jabs, like Nunn and Jones, but they just had speed and they just flicked it. Mike popped that jab with authority. He was an old-school fighter.

Strongest: Samuel Peter: He was just a big-ass African with brute African strength.

Smartest: McCallum: Come on, who do you think it is? Whos the one fighter I truly respect? You got it, the Body Snatcher, Mike McCallum. I fought my share of boxers who thought they were clever like Roy Jones, Michael Nunn, Montell Griffin, and Reggie Johnson, but they were all scared to really fight. McCallum boxed, he fought, he defended, and he didnt run all over the ring. He could do all that because he was smart.

[Chrismart]

Erik Morales - September 2010

Best puncher: Jones I really felt it when he connected. I remember freezing for a second in the second round of our fight when he caught me with a right hand.

Quickest hands: Pacquiao Pacquiao had the quickest hands. Jones was faster with single punches from the outside, but Pacquiao could deliver four or five quick, short punches in combination in the blink of an eye. Both guys had the kind of speed that you couldnt see.

Quickest feet: Hector Acero-Sanchez He kept running or walking around the ring the entire fight. I never knew where he was going or what he was going to do. I just wanted to fight. It was a frustrating night.

Best defense: Acero-Sanchez I had a hard time finding him. He kept his gloves up and he never stopped moving in and out and around me.

Best chin: In-Jin Chi That was one very tough guy. I should have knocked him out with the number of hard punches I landed to his chin, but he just kept coming forward all night. He was strong and he had great conditioning.

Best jab: Zahir Raheem - Everything he did was off his jab. That was his key punch. He was all about the jab, and that jab gave me trouble.

Strongest: Pacquiao Often guys who are as muscular looking as he is aren't that strong in the ring, but he is strong. Very strong. Chi was physically strong, too. He had the strength to push me around and wrestle with me on the inside, but Pacquiao was more explosive. He is a very powerful man in the ring.

Smartest: Raheem I never liked the way he fought and I didn't like that fight for me. I knew it would be difficult. I didn't have the best camp for Raheem, but even if I had had a great camp, he would have been frustrating because he's so cagey.

..................................
..................................


Ricky Hatton - March 2011

Best overall: I would say Manny Pacquiao. Just his speed. Southpaw. Obviously he hits very hard. Floyd Mayweather also was very good but the more and more I see Manny Pacquiao, maybe I'm shifting to him. And Kostya Tszyu, he was a deadly, deadly puncher.

Best boxer: Oh, Floyd Mayweather. Technically, he was very, very good. Defense. Boxing. Choosing his moments to step on the gas. Defenseively, he is a genius, really.

Best puncher: Quite obviously I would have to say Manny Pacquiao. He just seems to be getting stronger as he moves up in weight.

Best defense: Floyd Mayweather.

Fastest hands: I thought Floyd was very, very quick. Pacquiao was very, very quick too but the fight was over before I could really know. I would say Floyd.

Fastest feet: Floyd was fast on his feet. But he planted his feet; that's his natural defensive stance. Probably Pacquiao had the fastest feet.

Best chin: Tszyu. I would say probably Tszyu. I hit him with some good shots and he stayed in there. In the end, I had to put out quite an effort to take him down.

Strongest: Kostya Tszyu. Juan Urango was physically very strong but he didn't have the speed, really. He was just strong.

Smartest: Floyd Mayweather. No doubt.

[Chrismart]

Shane Mosley September 2010

Best overall fighter: Four-way tie Mosley knew he was expected to say Mayweather when he was asked this question but shook his head and refused to name a single fighter. Everybody had different strengths. Vernon Forrest had his strengths. Mayweather had his strengths. Oscar had his strengths. Winky had his strengths. I'd say they were all on the same level at the time I fought them.

Best boxer: Mayweather No hesitation here. Mosley was unable to cope with Mayweather's skills for almost the entire 12 rounds. His technique, his movement. He was just a very good boxer

Best puncher: Forrest: Forrest was the first to seriously hurt Mosley, who went down twice in the second round but survived to lose a one-sided decision in their first meeting. Mosley has never been knocked out in 53 fights. I'm not sure why; maybe it was just natural. He just hit the hardest.

Quickest hands: De La Hoya Mosley was smiling when he responded to this question because, again, he knew the expected response was Mayweather. However, he was firm with his answer. It wasn't Mayweather. Actually, it was Oscar back then. Not now but back then.

Quickest feet: Mayweather Again, no hesitation. Mayweather. Very fast.

Best chin: Zack Padilla Mosley cheated here because he didn't face Padilla in an official bout but the two sparred well over 1,000 rounds over many years. His response in this category was probably his most enthusiastic. He had the best chin. I hit him with sledge hammers and it didn';t hurt him. Ask anyone who has fought him and they'll say the same thing. Sadly, Mosley did hurt Padilla. He suffered a brain injury after a brutal session in 1994 and had to retire.

Best jab: De La Hoya and Wright Mosley thought about this for a few minutes but couldn't make his mind. They both had a really good jab.

Strongest: Wright This isn't a surprise because Mosley was still a natural welterweight and Wright was a mature junior middleweight when they met twice in 2004, Wright winning a one-sided decision in the first fight but barely gaining the nod in the second. Winky didn't have punching power but he was physically very strong. He was the strongest I faced.

Smartest: Mayweather One aspect of Mayweather's game might be his ring savvy. Mosley didn't hesitate before provided this response. He's just smart. He knows when to go in and when not to. He won't take any chances. He won't listen to the crowd or anything to get himself riled up. He stuck with his game plan.

Best defense: Tie, Wright and Mayweather Mosley at first gave Wright as his response to this question. On second thought, though, he wondered out loud whether Mayweather was the better choice. I think Winky was the best defensive fighter I faced. Mayweather is more a slick counter puncher. Well, I did hit Winky a lot. Maybe it's Mayweather. Winky had more a smothering defense. He gets you tired, drains you. With Mayweather, you just can't hit him really. Its close. They have different types of defenses.

[DLT]

keepem coming. I love reading these. Ive read alot of them but never those 3 you just posted. It gives you a whole new perspective and respect for these guys

[Dr Rumack]

Crazy inverse relationship between the respect McCallum gets from fighters and trainers and the wider public's awareness of him. He's basically unknown outside of the core boxing fanbase, yet the likes of Toney and Jones think he's one of the greatest ever.

The thing that always jumps out to me when I watch McCallum is how rarely he misses. It's ridiculous. You watch some of his fights and it's like he doesn't miss with a single shot for rounds at a time. Great, great fighter.

[Showtime..]

Let's see them! You highlighted 2 on Hatton's responses to Floyd that sounded like he was favoring Pacquiao, but they were about equal on those 2.

[Beercules]

I love reading these

[DLT]

Let's see them! You highlighted 2 on Hatton's responses to Floyd that sounded like he was favoring Pacquiao, but they were about equal on those 2.

yeah but the difference is that guys like Toney, McCallum, & EM were either way after there career or late in there career. You can tell that some of Hatton's stuff had to do with what was happening at the time. I believe that Hatton did his when Pac was running through guys which was making him lean towards Pac. After that and when Floyd started looking like the clear #1, he started leaning more towards Floyd during interviews. I believe some of that is swaying his opinion instead of actually just talking about his own fights itself

[DLT]

chrissmart83, IDK if you can tell but it would also be cool if you can post the date that they did these interviews

[DLT]

the Mosley one seems a lil difference. Seems like Shane just answered with names but gave no input like the other guys. The interviewer or whoever just put there own spin on why Shane answered that way