Boxers who beat every style?

[Eric Holder]

I know a popular saying in boxing is styles make fights (although the majority of the time there's a variety of factors that contribute to a victory/and most elite fighters are more well rounded than just one style; but play along)


name some fighters that hold notable victories over a variety of styles


Sugar Ray Leonard beat a a swarmer (Roberto Duran), a slick boxer (Wilfred Benitez), and a puncher (Thomas Hearns)

[BigStereotype]

Floyd Mayweather has. Jose Luis Castillo, Juan Manuel Marquez (as bull**** a fight as that was, JMM would never beat Floyd), Shane Mosley, Diego Corrales, Zab Judah...very eclectic mix of styles.

[bojangles1987]

Floyd Mayweather has. Jose Luis Castillo, Juan Manuel Marquez (as bull**** a fight as that was, JMM would never beat Floyd), Shane Mosley, Diego Corrales, Zab Judah...very eclectic mix of styles.

Yeah, Floyd at his best is smart and versatile enough to beat any style. Ali probably beat every style. Duran could beat anything.

[sonnyboyx2]

Manny Pacquiao

[BennyST]

Manny Pacquiao

That's his one resume problem. He hasn't beaten every style. I can't think of a single classic boxer he's fought and beaten. He's beaten aggressive counter punchers (Marquez, Morales) and come forward brawlers (Hatton, Marg, Cotto) and typical boxer/puncher types (Oscar etc....Guys who come to him, but he's never beaten a solid defensively skilled classic boxer/counter puncher.

It's the one style he's not fought. There are reasons for it. There was never a good one around his weights and when there has been, Mayweather, Raheem, Guzman etc, he was usually busy with bigger names but much easier fights.

For me, it's Pac's one major resume flaw. He hasn't fought and beaten guys of all styles.

[Suckmedry]

Manny Pacquiao

Not really. I have never seen him beat a really good slick fighter, I'm just saying.

[BennyST]

Yeah, Floyd at his best is smart and versatile enough to beat any style. Ali probably beat every style. Duran could beat anything.

The one style Floyd hasn't beaten is the classic boxer. A Ray Leonard, Vernon Forrest, Winky Wright, Roy Jones (for guys of today) type of guy. Judah was fast and slick but not very solid and focused. Oscar of old (ie the early 147 version) would have made me happy he could adjust to all styles and overcome someone fast with a solid, long jab and left hook.

It's one of the few styles that is really slowly dying in boxing today. You occasionally get a decent one but they are becoming fewer and fewer. The ones that do come up to be champion are also getting worse and worse. There are still a few decent ones around, but they are becoming a real rarity. The Ward's, Mayweathers, Jones', Leonard's, etc.

Does anyone else see boxing becoming more and more a one style sort of affair? Of course it never will be that, but each division is not nearly as eclectic and mixed with every imaginable style of great fighter as it used to be.

It's what the two great fighters of today are missing from their resumes. They are both missing a great classic boxer of skill and speed, though fighting each other would just about erase all that. Though Pac is still a pretty straight forward aggressive guy with holes in his defense, but his speed and offensive capabilities make up for it.

I think you have to show you can beat all styles, and the great fighters in all styles to really be among the best ever.

You know a guy who has beaten all styles? Fighting Harada. He beat your brilliant all around boxer/puncher in Jofre, your tall classic boxer in Pone Kingpetch, hard punching fast southpaw; Hiroyuki Ebihara, crafty skilled boxer/puncher in Jose medel, textbook boxer Alan Rudkin etc.

Roberto Duran is the most obvious guy though that has genuinely fought and beaten every single imaginable style of great fighter from your super slick fast counter puncher, your tall, fast, moving boxer, to straight ahead brawlers, slick jabbers, fast boxer punchers, southpaws, huge punchers, little fast guys, big fast guys, big brawlers, literally everything.

Julio Cesar Chavez is another guy that's fought every style.

[sonnyboyx2]

That's his one resume problem. He hasn't beaten every style. I can't think of a single classic boxer he's fought and beaten. He's beaten aggressive counter punchers (Marquez, Morales) and come forward brawlers (Hatton, Marg, Cotto) and typical boxer/puncher types (Oscar etc....Guys who come to him, but he's never beaten a solid defensively skilled classic boxer/counter puncher.

It's the one style he's not fought. There are reasons for it. There was never a good one around his weights and when there has been, Mayweather, Raheem, Guzman etc, he was usually busy with bigger names but much easier fights.

For me, it's Pac's one major resume flaw. He hasn't fought and beaten guys of all styles.

for Mayweather you say "Oscar of old was a Classic Boxer type" which would have made you happy... but the same Oscar vs Pacquiao was not a classic boxer but a "typical boxer/puncher?

[EMSLDB]

Carmen Basilio Beat Punchers like tony demarco and great boxers like SRR kid gavilan

[BennyST]

for Mayweather you say "Oscar of old was a Classic Boxer type" which would have made you happy... but the same Oscar vs Pacquiao was not a classic boxer but a "typical boxer/puncher?

Huh?

The guy that fought Mayweather and later Pac was not the same at all as the one that fought at 147 against Quartey/Whitaker/Chavez etc. That was a classic boxer, very fast hands, combo's, moved very well, good stamina and great jab, with a huge punch too, whereas the guy that fought Mayweather had really turned into a pretty straight forward boxer/puncher and the one that fought Pac was.....well.....pretty **** actually.

It would have been nice to see how Mayweather responded to the version of Oscar that fought Quartey, Whitaker. A guy with super fast hands, could throw multiple punch combo's, had a hard, fast, consistent jab, had good stamina....he was a great fighter at that stage.

By Mayweather he had become a good fighter and then by Pac he was little more than a contender with past name value. No jab, no combo's at all, no movement, no stamina, was slow as hell.

Do you think he was the same fighter or something or hadn't lost much?