Interesting questions: Who was better defensively Willie Pep or Pernell Whitaker?

[Welsh Jon]

Personally I would say Whitaker 's defense looks so much better, you'd rather have a whitaker style defense because it just looks so damn cool to dodge punches like that.

I couldn't agree with this more. Whitaker probably wasn't the best defensive boxer ever, but no one made fighting defensively look more awesome than he did. He made dodging punches just look so freaking cool.

[IIIX JACK XIII]

Im going for pep, imo hes the best defensive fighter of all time, with locche a close second.

[IIIX JACK XIII]

I couldn't agree with this more. Whitaker probably wasn't the best defensive boxer ever, but no one made fighting defensively look more awesome than he did. He made dodging punches just look so freaking cool.

Locche 'el intocable' made dodging punches look better than whitaker.

[paulsinghnl]

One thing nobody has yet touched on is the number of bouts they had. Whitaker would be hard-pressed to duplicate Pep's success over the same sustained number of bouts his predecessor had. I think that's a factor in Pep's favour.

Additionally, the victory over Saddler. Yes, Pep lost three of four, but people badly, badly under-estimate how diminished Pep was. Defeating Saddler (a Feather who knocked out three LW Champs), himself arguably the greatest 126lber who ever drew breath (a case can certainly be made), after those injuries *****s any single effort in Whitaker's comparatively brief career.

Now, that all said, I prefer Whitaker as both a fan favourite & a defensive guru. Pep was all reflexes & agility, & it was a marvel, but I find Whitaker's defense more impressive in a direct comparison, because the lack of movement & escape, coupled with such a high work-rate, were as unique to defensive fighters as Whitaker's patented moves. Whitaker was more flat-footed in his defense, & made himself appear more available to rivals, before vanishing as though he were a vapour trail. An astounding, astounding boxer.

I have to give it to Pep, all told, but Whitaker challenges him on this issue. I just wonder, among other things, if Whitaker could really sustain Pep's career workload. Seems highly unlikely, given his predilections for certain outer-ring activities.

great post, if Whitaker was an awesome counter puncher, right in front of u without u hitting him, Pep was the elusive ring general, he controlled u while he was moving out of the way and he'd push you, spin you, grab you thereby controlling your movements in the ring (for instance, that round that he won without throwing a single punch, he controlled that guy). but it's really a small difference in the end like said before.. and i can't pick, all 3 fighters (Locche included) were awesome!

[Welsh Jon]

Locche 'el intocable' made dodging punches look better than whitaker.

It's kind of hard to pick between the two.

I usually don't like defensive fighters, I usually prefer to watch a wild, vicious brawl than a technical masterclass. But this isn't true of Whitaker and Locche. They were so good at what they did it was breathtaking.

I could watch those two in action all day. Defensive artistry at it's most entertaining.

[Heeb]

They were both great at what they did. Their styles of defense are different though, Whitaker using his upper body and Pep using his legs. Because they used different defensive styles and they were both so excellent at what they did, it's hard to compare IMO.