Best I've faced

[fish262]

There is a heap more of these. Recently Paul Williams did one actually. I know Nigel Benn has done them. There was an old thread that had them in it.

[Chrismart]

De La Hoya - August 2009

Best fighter: Julio Cesar Chavez He had it all. He could box, he could punch, he had an iron chin. And he had guts. He had the whole package. He wasn't 25 when he fought me but he was still an elite fighter.

Best boxer: Pernell Whitaker He was very elusive, very hard to hit. He was very slippery.

Best puncher: Arturo Gatti. This kid, may he rest in peace, didn't catch me flush on the chin but his punches were so heavy, heavier than Ike Quartey's. I dont know what he had in his hands.

Quickest hands: Manny Pacquiao His punches don't come from your basic boxing style; they come from all sorts of weird angles. That'ss what makes him difficult.

Quickest feet: Pernell Whitaker He was very elusive. He could spin you around and not exert much energy doing it. He did it with ease. It was so natural to him. Footwork starts everything.

Best defense: Pernell Whitaker Again, he was slippery, elusive. It was hard to crack that defense.

Best chin: Julio Cesar Chavez I hit him with some shots. In our second fight, I said to myself, My gosh. How can he not go down?

Best jab: Ike Quartey He had an incredible jab. The special thing about it was that he threw it from his chin or sometimes he would leave it loose in the air. You wouldnt notice him throwing it. His jab was very powerful, one of his best weapons. And when it landed, it really hurt. It didnt sting; it hurt. Like a hammer coming down on you.

Strongest: Fernando Vargas He just felt strong. It was so hard to handle him. I felt his weight. His punches were heavy and strong. He was solid. We all know what happened there, though: He had a little help.

Smartest: Bernard Hopkins He is the type of fighter who gets in your head. For our press tour, he was always polite, very nice. No trash talk, no nothing. After the fight, I realized: He did that because he didn;t want me to fight angry, to try to take his head off. At the time I fought him, he didnt like pressure from his opponent because he didnt like fighting the whole three minutes. He is one smart cookie.

[Chrismart]

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

Yeah mate, i think the dates were available, so il add them in. :ANYWORD:

[DLT]

thanks homie, and Ill send some green k for a great thread

[UTEP]

De La Hoya - August 2009

Best fighter: Julio Cesar Chavez He had it all. He could box, he could punch, he had an iron chin. And he had guts. He had the whole package. He wasn't 25 when he fought me but he was still an elite fighter.

Best boxer: Pernell Whitaker He was very elusive, very hard to hit. He was very slippery.

Best puncher: Arturo Gatti. This kid, may he rest in peace, didn't catch me flush on the chin but his punches were so heavy, heavier than Ike Quartey's. I dont know what he had in his hands.

Quickest hands: Manny Pacquiao His punches don't come from your basic boxing style; they come from all sorts of weird angles. That'ss what makes him difficult.

Quickest feet: Pernell Whitaker He was very elusive. He could spin you around and not exert much energy doing it. He did it with ease. It was so natural to him. Footwork starts everything.

Best defense: Pernell Whitaker Again, he was slippery, elusive. It was hard to crack that defense.

Best chin: Julio Cesar Chavez I hit him with some shots. In our second fight, I said to myself, My gosh. How can he not go down?

Best jab: Ike Quartey He had an incredible jab. The special thing about it was that he threw it from his chin or sometimes he would leave it loose in the air. You wouldnt notice him throwing it. His jab was very powerful, one of his best weapons. And when it landed, it really hurt. It didnt sting; it hurt. Like a hammer coming down on you.

Strongest: Fernando Vargas He just felt strong. It was so hard to handle him. I felt his weight. His punches were heavy and strong. He was solid. We all know what happened there, though: He had a little help.

Smartest: Bernard Hopkins He is the type of fighter who gets in your head. For our press tour, he was always polite, very nice. No trash talk, no nothing. After the fight, I realized: He did that because he didn;t want me to fight angry, to try to take his head off. At the time I fought him, he didnt like pressure from his opponent because he didnt like fighting the whole three minutes. He is one smart cookie.

Great thread.

[Holywarrior]

Friggen Toney You know it just kills him to give anyone credit

[Chrismart]

Nigel Benn - Aug 2013

Best overall: Gerald McClellan by far. He had an incredible knockout ratio and he was a prolific puncher. There was a mile between him and anyone else. I came out of that fight with a damaged nose, a damaged jaw and I was urinating blood. I was in bed for three days afterwards and I had a shadow on my brain. That shows you how powerful a champion that man was.

Best boxer: Sugar Boy Malinga springs to mind but he wasnt the classiest of fighters, he was just my bogeyman. Malinga was very difficult for me and even though I won the first fight I could easily have lost it. I think I got the decision because I was on home soil. In the rematch I trained so hard for him but I was knackered and just completely jaded. He is one of the only fighters to really hurt me and he did it with a punch to the mouth which split my tongue and my lip. I was over trained in the second fight but I cant really take anything away from him. Give me a guy who stands there and wants to fight and Ill be victorious but I knew this guy was slippery. I could see Malingas punches coming but I couldnt do anything about it. Even when I knocked him down I was shattered and I knew I was in for a long night. He deserved to win the rematch and he was a lovely man so I only have good things to say about him. He met up with Richie Woodhall after me and lost the title (WBC super middleweight) straight away.

Best puncher: Gerald McClellan. As I said the gap between him and the rest, in terms of power, was huge. He was in a league of his own but I had to win that fight because everyone thought I was going to lose. What happened was I was due to fight Michael Nunn and it got back to me that I would have to take £100,000 less and I said; Are you mad? Michael was a slippery southpaw, his name was Second to Nunn and Ive to take £100,000 less? That could have been my last fight because Michael was one of the best around at that time, so I said no chance. The answer I got was fight Nunn or we'll bring over a mini Mike Tyson (McClellan). Now, you have to understand I was in the army and had a ton of street fights, so Im not scared to take on anyone. Im not made that way but once my fight with Gerald was over I should have retired.

Best defense: Michael Watson. When we fought in 1989 I was like a bull in a china shop and my trainer at the time said; Nigel, just go out there and steam him. Ive read a lot of boxing books in my time but I have no idea what steam him means. Ive yet to find an explanation of that term anywhere but that was the type of corner I had at the time. Id thrown everything at Watson over the first five rounds and I couldnt damage him and I also found out later that Michael gave a wink to my corner as if to say Ive got your boy! Michael had Mickey Duff and a good team in his corner and they had a lot of experience. It was my first loss and I was devastated and all that was left in the changing room was me and my jockstrap. Everyone deserted me.

Fastest hands:I cant recall who excelled in that area to be honest. They probably beat me and Ive did my best to forget (laughs). I cant even say there was anyone in sparring because I didnt do a lot of fighting in the gym. I maybe did twenty or thirty rounds in training because I only wanted to establish my distance. A lot fighters like to have wars in the gym but that wasnt for me because I would just burn myself out. That changed when I went to the Fifth St. Gym in Miami and I was forced to do more sparring. I worked with a guy called Adolpho Washington who was a cruiserweight and the double of Mike Tyson when he put on the head gear. I found myself trying to be friends with him so he wouldnt want to spar with me anymore (laughs).

Fastest feet: Dan Sherry had good feet. He ran right into an awesome right hand but he had good feet (laughs). He could switch hit, chop and change and his hands were fast so he was able to keep me turning.

Best chin: Chris Eubank and you dont even need to ask me that (laughs). I could hit Chris chin with anything and it wouldnt even move. It was like hitting a lump of granite but to be honest I enjoyed pummeling that chin (laughs hysterically). Look, I love Chris and were old men now so I can laugh and joke about it. I needed him as much he needed me.

Best jab: Nicky Piper kept leaning back and picking me off with the left hand, until I caught up with him. Sugar Boy Malinga was very effective with the jab and another American by the name of Lindsay Morgan was tall and used that punch pretty well.

Strongest: Robbie Sims was good inside but I would say Juan Carlos Gimenez. He also fought Eubank and Calzaghe and only Joe managed to put a dent in him. He was always banging his hands together wanting more and he was so strong. Im talking as strong as an ox. As soon as I hit him I knew I wasnt stopping him he was going nowhere.

Smartest: (Long Pause) Reggie Miller. He was the first fighter to almost take me the distance but I finally stopped him. It was my twelfth fight and I was on my last legs just prior to the knockout. He was a really good fighter and an effective switch hitter. He was cute defensively but he thought he had me and left himself open.

[Chrismart]

Paul Williams April 2014

Best Overall - Sergio Martinez – I’d say (Sergio) Martinez because he was the only one who could knock me out! Basically, it wasn’t anything special what he did in the ring. He was more an elusive fighter, a fighter that’s on the run all the time, jumping in and jumping out.

Best Boxer - Terrence Cauthen – I would say probably Terrence Cauthen. That was like my first time fighting a boxer that was ranked. It was an experience. A lot of fighters don’t know how to deal with a fighter who’s ranked if it’s your first fight (at that level). He’s doing a lot of slick boxing stuff.

Best Jab - Winky Wright – That night it was like he was trying to prove something. His punches were a lot stiffer and like he was trying to throw hard shots. He was always defense, defense, defense but that night he was trying to be more than defense.

Best Defense - Really I can’t say nobody ‘cause I’m getting through their defense. I’m gonna keep throwing! I really can’t say.

Best Chin - Antonio Margarito – He had a solid chin that night.

Best Puncher - Walter Matthysse – That was the first time when I got hit, my whole body felt numb. The crowd went real low (to me). I was like “Wow.” I moved around and could hear the crowd getting loud(er) and my body getting back (to) regular.

With Martinez, he was a fighter who I take my hat off to. He was the only one who beat me (like that). I respect him. The first fight was a war. The first couple of rounds I was losing but I had to adapt. It was a straight dog fight. I tried to make the second fight the same way but it didn’t happen that way.

Fastest Hands - I never really caught on to it like that, who had the fastest hands. I fought a couple of guys who had faster hands than Martinez. Martinez was a mover, he’d jump in jump out but I fought fighters who stood in front of you and they’d punch with you, like (Erislandy) Lara, he had fast hands. With that fight I want to get that stuff straight. I allowed that stuff to happen, for me coming back from getting knocked out. I wanted to see whether I was gonna be a gunshy fighter or would I be able to still go out and get hit like I did before. That was my mindset, I’m gonna go and fight like I always did. He hit me with the punches, and people said “You got hit with punches you shouldn’t of,” but in my eyes nothing happened.

Fastest Feet - Erislandy Lara and Sergio Martinez – They both in the same boat, it’s a tie with the fastest feet. I don’t like those runners.

Smartest - Verno Phillips – He knew when to get out, he knew he had no more in the tank left so why go out there and push the issue and fight this younger guy. He knew it was a dangerous move. Some punches he would throw and stuff, and some of the stuff he was saying, I was catching on to. I could see it was like basically he was trying to coach you while fighting you.

Strongest - Antonio Margarito – His punches, they were like a solid thump. Every punch he hit you with was a solid thump, you’re gonna feel it.

[Chrismart]

Manny Pacquiao April 2014

Best Overall – I cannot specify one. Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto, Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Marquez and Erik Morales all had tremendous skills. They commanded respect because they were all multi-dimensional. I had to be on my toes and give them my 100 percent concentration because they were so dangerous in the ring.

Best Boxer – Juan Manuel Marquez – He is the only fighter who really could figure me out and anticipate my moves. He is a brilliant counterpuncher and a tremendous warrior.

Best Jab – Oscar De La Hoya – His jab is a tactical weapon. It can set up a punch or act as a weapon.

Best Defense – Joshua Clottey – and not for a good reason, at least for the fans.

Best Chin – Antonio Margarito – That fight was a war. It was brutal. I threw everything at him and he not only took it but came back for more. Incredible.

Best Puncher – Miguel Cotto – I can still feel some of those punches he threw at me. Staying on the ropes is not the best place to be when you are fighting him. He's also accurate. He's incredible.

Fastest Hands – Lehlo Ledwaba – His hands were blazing.

Fastest Feet – Oscar De La Hoya – He moves so quickly and effortlessly. He is a complete athlete.

Smartest – Miguel Cotto – It was hard to bait him. He has seen it all. I really had to out-hustle him. He made me work.

Strongest – Antonio Margarito – Big and strong is an understatement. His body shots hurt me several times throughout our fight

[Joshua Child]

Amazing thread thank you thank you!