Best I've faced

[Chrismart]

Mikkel Kessler July 2016

BEST SKILL
Joe Calzaghe: I think Calzaghe had a lot of skills. Froch had different skills. He’s slow but he’s strong and has long arms and he’s mentally strong. Ward was also very good. It’s difficult to just point out one. I had (Librado) Andrade for 12 rounds, he came [at you] all the time; you couldn’t keep him away. It was like a nightmare. I think when you get to the top we all have different skills but, If I had to pick, I would say Joe Calzaghe had the best skills.

BEST JAB
Anthony Mundine: I would say in my last fight it was Froch, he had a good jab. Joe Calzaghe had a good jab. But Anthony Mundine had the best jab. He was smart with how he used it.

BEST DEFENSE
Andre Ward: Ward had a defense where he threw one punch and he holds you. That’s his defense. That’s the best I’ve seen. But it ruins the fight. I would say Librado Andrade; he could slip the punches, I’d never seen anything like that before.

BEST CHIN
Librado Andrade: He had the best chin. I hit him so much … but he could take a punch. Of course, Froch, he can take a pretty good punch.

BEST PUNCHER
Carl Froch: Ward, he didn’t really hit hard. Froch hit hard. Joe didn’t hit hard. If I had to choose someone, I choose Froch. He is a hard puncher when he hits you with a punch but he’s slow.

FASTEST HANDS
Joe Calzaghe: Either Joe or Ward. There were too many years between fighting them but I would probably say Joe.

FASTEST FEET
Ward: Good question. I think Ward had the fastest feet. He kept out the way and made full use of the ring.

SMARTEST
Calzaghe: I would say Ward was clever. He stuck to his plan. So did Joe. [Calzaghe] was afraid of me. I remember that. But he got hit and he changed his plans against me [in the middle of the fight].

STRONGEST
Andrade: He came [at me] for 12 rounds. I never fought anyone like that. Even Froch is strong and he’s a strong finisher but Andrade … I’ll never forget that fight. I had to keep him away all the time. Very strong.

BEST OVERALL
Calzaghe: He’s gonna read it, that son of a *****! (Laughs.) I would say the best fighter and mentality, the build-up, the nice guy, is Joe. He inspired me. I came strong, I was young, I hadn’t lost a fight. Overall I would say he wasn’t the best puncher. He’s fast and he punched with the inside of his gloves but he was good at it.

[Chrismart]

Roberto Duran - August 2016

BEST SKILLS
Ken Buchanan: Buchanan was one of the great lightweights when it came to tactics and skill. His intelligence made him very difficult to beat even though he wasn’t a very strong opponent. Sugar Ray Leonard was faster and stronger but Buchanan had tremendous skills.

BEST JAB
Buchanan: He was tall, boxed well and his lateral movement was extremely good. Buchanan’s jab was difficult to deal with because he threw it on the move.

BEST DEFENSE
Buchanan: He was hard to hit cleanly. I was very young, lacked experience, and Buchanan had been world champion for a long time. A lot of people will expect me to say Wilfred Benitez or Leonard when it comes to defense but I wasn’t prepared properly for Benitez or the Leonard rematch. Davey Moore, who I beat easily, knocked Benitez out so there’s no comparison there. I was coming into my prime against Buchanan and he made me miss often.

BEST CHIN
Marvelous Marvin Hagler: I hit Hagler with a lot of punches and he just kept coming. I didn’t find him as skillful as some of the opponents I faced but he was the toughest.

BEST PUNCHER
Esteban De Jesus: De Jesus was the first opponent to knock me down and he had me down again in the second fight. When I lost to Thomas Hearns I was drained from losing weight too quickly, and that had a bad effect on me. Hearns got me with a great punch but I could have performed far better in a rematch. Marvin Hagler, who is a good friend of mine, told Hearns the only reason he knocked me out is because I wasn’t at my best.

FASTEST HANDS
Sugar Ray Leonard: He was the fastest fighter I ever fought but in the first fight I saw everything that was coming at me.

FASTEST FEET
Buchanan: At lightweight the opponents were much swifter on their feet and, back then, we were boxing in 15-round fights. Buchanan always kept on the move but I caught up with him eventually. That victory means a lot to me.

SMARTEST
Leonard: It’s hard to give you one name but Leonard stands out because he made adjustments during fights.

STRONGEST
Hagler: It was an extremely close fight but he got me tired late. Even though I built myself up to middleweight, Hagler was much bigger and used his strength on the inside. After making weight, a fighter rehydrates and there was a big difference there. Still, even when I was tired, Hagler couldn’t get me down. There was no way I was going to get the decision but some fans and reporters thought I’d done enough. Hagler had big American fights pending with Leonard and Hearns so there was a lot of money at stake.

BEST OVERALL
Leonard: I have to say Sugar Ray Leonard because look at what he did in his career after he lost to me. It takes a lot to come back from defeat and Leonard did it.

[Chrismart]

Robert Guerrero August 2016

BEST JAB
Joel Casamayor: When we used to spar at Joe Goossen’s gym, Joel showed me how to use a stiff jab. When we fought, I had never hit the canvas in any fight, amateur or pro, until the final round of our bout, where Casamayor caught me with a flash knockdown using his jab. He’s a master with his jab.

BEST DEFENSE
Floyd Mayweather Jr.: His elusiveness is second to none. It seemed like every time I tried to land a big shot, he was already 10 steps ahead of me. By far the best defensive fighter I’ve faced.

BEST CHIN
Yoshihiro Kamegai: Man, I hit this guy with everything I got and he still kept coming. If you look at all his fights, he’s always taking shots from big punchers. Kamegai has an incredible chin.

FASTEST HANDS
Malcolm Klassen: At the lighter weights, you’ll see guys with fast hands and that was the case when I fought Klassen. We fought at junior lightweight and his hand speed was amazing. As you can see, he’s still going strong, winning another world title (Klassen won the IBO junior lightweight title against Jack Assis in early August). Floyd was more of a potshot puncher.

FASTEST FEET
Mayweather: His lateral movement, I’ve never seen anything like it. You don’t really know how good Floyd’s feet are until you fight him. He’s very fast on his feet, which makes him hard to hit.

SMARTEST
Mayweather: If you watch the first few rounds of our fight, you see that I was winning on the inside. Floyd thought I wasn’t going to have much power as I was coming up from 122 pounds at one point in my career. He was trying to stand his ground and fight me on the inside in the first two rounds but I caught him with a nice body blow and he made the adjustment. He certainly used his brain to win the fight.

STRONGEST
Keith Thurman: Physically he’s very strong and you can feel it when the fight gets on the inside. He’s actually a natural 154-pounder fighting at 147, so you can imagine how strong he is. He’s just got that natural strength. Some people are just born strong.

BEST PUNCHER
Thurman: Thurman really knows how to put all his power behind his punches. Even when he’s moving laterally, he finds a way to land a big shot from a weird angle. He has power in both hands.

BEST SKILLS
Mayweather: He put everything together and made the proper adjustments in all his fights. He’s not the biggest puncher but his skills are arguably the best ever.

BEST OVERALL
Mayweather: Floyd is the total package. His superior speed, ring IQ, fast feet make him very difficult to beat, hence the reason he retired undefeated. No one was ever able to figure him out.

[Chrismart]

Abel Sanchez (best i've trained) - Sep 2016

BEST JAB
Gennady Golovkin: I would say Golovkin. His timing and his preparation for the jab because of the use of his legs is better than anybody I’ve ever had. When you throw it as hard and pin-point as he does, if you miss you’re in danger, he’s got to be in perfect position the way he throws it. I’ve had faster jabs like Terry Norris. Paul Vaden had a very good jab but Golovkin sets up the jab so beautifully with his legs that I don’t think anybody in the past I’ve trained has had such a good jab.

BEST DEFENSE
Orlin Norris: I would say Orlin Norris was the best defensive fighter I’ve ever had. Like Golovkin and Miguel Angel Gonzalez, he’s very cerebral, very intelligent, he would make you do the things he wanted you to do. Make himself available, make you miss and then make you pay. Orlin Norris was exceptional at that, bigger guys couldn’t handle him, the bigger the guy the better it was for him because he had an easier time, he out-jabbed Tony Tucker, Tony Tubbs, Greg Page, Oliver McCall. He was smart at setting it up.

BEST CHIN
Jesus Salud: I’d have to say I’d have to see Golovkin in with some tougher opposition to test that. Of the other guys, I would say Jesus Salud had a great chin, Lupe Aquino had a great chin but of the two I would say Jesus Salud had the best chin.

Miguel Angel Gonzalez had a sturdy chin, his biggest issue was that he always killed himself to make the weight. So when he got touched on the chin I could see more of an effect on him than I would Jesus Salud.

Yori Boy Campas is an honorable mention. I was with him for about 25 fights. The last fight I was with him was against Felix Trinidad. If you recall he dropped Trinidad in the second and then Trinidad would hit him with everything except the stool and couldn’t put him down, he was fine, he was just getting hit too much and the referee stopped it.

FASTEST HANDS
Paul Vaden: He wasn’t fast, he was quick, from the start of the punch to the delivery of the punch. The uppercut I taught him (and he credits me for why he was the success he was in boxing) was probably the fastest uppercut of any of the guys I’ve had. Terry Norris would take a second to that. What made the difference between the two of them was Terry was very athletic, Terry was fast because he was athletic, he just threw it out there, he didn’t really sit down to do the things that Paul did, he was fast from point-to-point.

FASTEST FEET
Terry Norris: Terry Norris just had unbelievable feet. He was just like a cat on a hot tin roof. He would move from point-to-point. Not necessarily in balance, but moved a lot, positioned himself a lot, sometimes more movement than I wanted but he did have the fastest feet.

SMARTEST
Golovkin: Golovkin and Orlin Norris. Golovkin, I think because of his extensive amateur experience, he’s [Golovkin] seen everything. There’s not a style he hasn’t seen, there’s not a set up he hasn’t seen, there’s not a trap he hasn’t seen. He’s fought the best in the amateurs and so far he’s doing very well in the pros because of that, because of his intelligence, because of his anticipation.

Orlin Norris, who also had about 300 amateur fights, was the same way. He was a small heavyweight, he was only 5-foot-10-and-a-half. But he beat all these guys that were 6-foot-4, 6-foot-5 and Orlin Norris was able to out-jab them and beat them because of his intelligence and seeing what was coming and anticipating what was coming because of his past experiences not only in the amateurs but as a pro.

I would say Golovkin is first and Orlin Norris is second only because Golovkin is still active and doing very well but Orlin was exceptional as well.

STRONGEST
Golovkin: Golovkin by far. I wouldn’t say at the beginning when I started working with him but now he’s just so physically imposing. His body is just a piece of rock, he keeps himself in such good shape that I don’t think I’ve ever felt him out-of-shape. His arms, you can knock on them like you do steel, he’s just a guy who has genetics maybe that we were able to bring out with strength work and now his body is chiselled, not only chiselled but hard chisel.

BEST PUNCHER
Golovkin: I would say there’s Golovkin and Lupe Aquino. Aquino had a tremendous right hand, a left hook to the body. I’m not going to say as hard as Golovkin because Golovkin is on a level by himself in that category but Lupe Aquino hits very hard also. God gave him [Golovkin] not only heavy-hands but the intelligence to know how to place his shots. If you talk to his opponents they all say, “He hits you where he wants to hit you.” He places a punch where he wants to place it and he places it with such force and such accuracy it’s even harder. It’s not a random punch, it’s always predictable in that if he tells you he’s going to put it on the shoulder he puts it on the shoulder, he just has that knack of doing that first and second he lands it with force.

Kovalev’s power was like George Foreman, thudding, in other words not a sharp power. It’s heavy hands. He’s extremely heavy-handed. It’s not the sharp piercing power like Golovkin but he hits very hard. If you were to have Kovalev and Golovkin spar with the same guy, say a heavyweight, Golovkin’s power would be more of a sharp power, Kovalev would be more a thudding power.

BEST SKILLS
Golovkin: Golovkin by far. Again I think it goes back to intelligence. All the way around, he has the best jab, footwork as far as positioning, not fastest, but he can get to where he wants to be in the shortest amount of time in steps, a great right hand that I think we only saw once against [Geale], obviously a great left hook. His only minus to me right now, sometimes he tends to lose focus because it’s so easy for him. For a coach that is frustrating because we’re getting paid the same if we take one punch or 10 punches, anything can happen in a fight. He is so in command physically and mentally he feels he can do that.

Other than, punching power, Orlin Norris, in his heyday, when he was cruiserweight champion and we were beating the heavyweights, Orlin Norris was a difficult to fight. I couldn’t get him a heavyweight title fight after he beat all those guys, I had to drop him down to cruiserweight, which at the time was 190, it was killing him to make cruiserweight, he was so defensive, so intelligent in the ring that he did what he wanted to do. He didn’t have the punching power, his technique in the right hand wasn’t the best but very good skills.

BEST OVERALL
Golovkin: Golovkin, hands down. If I could take a piece out of everybody, I would say Golovkin’s intelligence, Lupe Aquino’s left hook to the body, Jesus Salud sereneness in the ring along with Golovkin, but Golovkin is a little bit different from Jesus. Uppercut, I would say Paul Vaden combined with Golovkin’s power would be unbelievable. Terry Norris’ feet as far as speed, not necessarily positioning. If I had to build the perfect specimen it would be Kovalev’s height, arm length and Golovkin’s right hand and chin. Intelligence, a piece of Orlin Norris and Golovkin. I think that would make me a guy that was unbeatable. Sugar Ray 2.0 [laughs].

[Chrismart]

Hozumi Hasegawa - September 2016

BEST JAB
Veeraphol Sahaprom: In my bout against him on April 16, 2005, he utilized his straight punches with no motion as jabs, pulling the arm prior to punching, similar to the back-swinging in golf or ****ing the hand in baseball. Especially, as a southpaw boxer, those punches looked like jabs.

BEST DEFENSE
Fernando Montiel: It was very hard for me to land my punches on him, he prevented me from landing my punches.

BEST CHIN
Juan Carlos Burgos: As compared with the rivals I had fought in the bantamweight class, he was a featherweight boxer, was a tough opponent for me at that time.

FASTEST HANDS
Montiel: His so-called “punches with no motion?were difficult to defend. This means punching without pulling the arm prior to punching. That is to say that there is no prior approach to punching. He was very good at immediately giving me punches without motion.

FASTEST FEET
Simpiwe Vetyeka: He always moved very quickly. In addition, he was good at keeping a certain distance between us, where he could defend my punches and also land jabs against me.

SMARTEST
Sahaprom: He had (a lot of) experience with 12-round matches and also had a career of Muay Thai (kickboxing). In accordance with those experiences, he could land his right-hand punches on me with good timing. In other words, he knew of how to land his punches on an opponent. I can say that he knew boxing very well.

STRONGEST
Kiko Martinez: He was very powerful and always stepped forward to me. His pressure was very good, he stayed close to me throughout the fight.

BEST PUNCHER
Jhonny Gonzalez: He had very hard punches. His punches (weren’t very fast) compared with those of other rivals, but his left hooks came to the right side of my head suddenly. He set them up well. If I managed to keep away from one punch, I would have been knocked out by another punch.

BEST SKILLS
Montiel: His skills were the best I have seen ever. He could utilize his small but natural feint with his eyes, feet and body just like he was doing during his sparring. Without experience he couldn’t do those things.

BEST OVERALL
Sahaprom: I prevailed against him twice. He had great experiences against many boxers ranked by world sanctioning bodies. He could fight very well against both orthodox and southpaw. Sahaprom kept away from my punches very well in the fight. In addition, I have respected him as a person since he always lived in a dormitory house at his gym even though he was a world champion. He was always hungry and ready to fight with any opponent.

[Chrismart]

Ivan Calderon - Sep 2016

BEST JAB
Rodel Mayol: As for the best jabber that I fought, it was Rodel Mayol at 108 pounds. His jab was long and straight.

BEST DEFENSE
Alberto Rossel: The best defense boxer was Alberto Rossel (a former world titlist at 108 pounds). Albert Rossel’s defense was so good because he knew how to block himself and not give me the opportunity to outpunch him.

FASTEST HANDS
Gerardo Verde: Gerardo Verde was a boxer with the fastest hands. They were everywhere.

FASTEST FEET
Verde: When I think about who had the fastest feet, I must say that it was me. I moved around the ring from left to right, right to left, and my opponents could not catch me. I didn’t have the height, reach or punch my opponents had but, with my movements, I frustrated them. Hit without getting hit, that was my model. (But of my opponents, I would say) Mexican Gerardo Verde, in 2005. He was a difficult rival. He had very good movement.

BEST CHIN
Giovani Segura: The best chin was Giovani Segura. I hit him with everything and he did not budge.

SMARTEST
Roberto Leyva: The smartest fighter I fought was myself. I was the smartest fighter! I think it was (Roberto) “Mako?Leyva. He came in good shape and fought a good fight. I had to use plan A, B, C, all the plans in that fight.

STRONGEST
Segura: As for the strongest boxer, it was Giovani Segura.

BEST PUNCHER
Hugo Cazares: Hugo Cazares was the best puncher I faced. His punches really rocked me.

BEST SKILLS
Leyva: What was so impressive about Leyva’s boxing skills was that he knew how to cut the ring and he knew how to block my punches.

BEST OVERALL
Leyva: The best overall and best boxer I faced was Roberto Carlos Leyva. I fought him at 105 pounds. This was my fourth title defense. He had everything a boxer should have. He had punch, speed, skills and malice. In the fifth round, I thought I died. But I survived and won unanimously!

[Chrismart]

Aaron Pryor - April 2013

BEST BOXER
Alexis Arguello: He boxed and he punched with me in (the first) fight and a lot of people didn’t see what he was doing. It was a great fight; it went 14 rounds and he got stopped in the 14th, but up until then it was anyone’s fight. Alexis Arguello was all class.

BEST JAB
Akio Kameda: I would like to say Akio Kameda from Japan. He was a good puncher and boxer, he was left-handed, he was 6-feet (tall) and he had a lot of heart. I wasn’t expecting to get hit by no left hand jab; he did a good job with his jab. I liked the way he boxed. I out-punched him but he was a good boxer.

BEST DEFENSE
Norman Goins: A guy I always remember is Norman Goins from Indianapolis. He was the one who was consistent. He was an international boxer as an amateur. We fought in 1973 in Denver at the Golden Gloves. He was one of the only guys who hit me and hurt me, and they stopped the fight. I was only 16; he was 20. He hurt me with a body shot. So when I was 20 and he was 24 we fought again in Cincinnati and I knocked him out in the ninth round.

BEST CHIN
Arguello: Well, you know who had the best chin. I had 40 fights and 35 were knockouts. I think Alexis Arguello; I can never take anything away from him. If you look at that fight, Alexis took punches nobody else had before. He got hit time and time again on the chin and he shook it off and kept coming. A lot of guys I hit, they went down. Alexis in the first fight went 14 rounds and then the second fight 10 rounds. Fourteen rounds taking all the punches. He took a lot of punishment. I respect that.

BEST PUNCHER
Antonio Cervantes: Antonio Cervantes from Colombia was the best I ever took.

FASTEST HANDS
Al Ford: Before I became a light welterweight, I had about 11 fights (at lightweight). There was a guy named Al Ford. I was thinking about what he had achieved in boxing. He already had an international name, in the amateurs and as a professional. He had lightweight hands.

FASTEST FEET
Arguello: The person to me was Alexis Arguello; he had the quickest feet I ever saw.

SMARTEST
Arguello: I think Alexis Arguello was the smartest fighter I fought. He was fighting for his fourth world title; he had won three already. I take nothing away from him.

STRONGEST
Arguello: I always said if I’m going to die, I’m going to die right here in the ring cause this is what I know how to do. This is what I love. I think (Arguello) thought the same way. The longer the fight went, the harder it got. I was shocked. I had a lot of energy throwing punches but Alexis Arguello, he stayed in there. It was a real hard fight for 14 rounds.

BEST OVERALL
Cervantes: Looking back on my career, I would like to say a guy by the name of Antonio Cervantes. Cervantes had 100 fights, held the championship for about 10 years (in two separate reigns) until he fought me. He knocked me down in the first round, I got back up and knocked him out. I think Cervantes was one of the greatest I ever fought.

[Chrismart]

Ricardo Lopez - Oct 2016

BEST JAB
Hideyuki Ohashi: He had a good jab, it was strong.

BEST DEFENSE
Andy Tabanas: He was moving a lot, all the time.

FASTEST HANDS
Kermin Guardia: He was a southpaw and very fast.

FASTEST FEET
Will Grigsby: I won the junior flyweight title (from him), but he didn’t want to exchange punches, he was moving a lot.

SMARTEST
Nobody: Me. I didn’t respect anyone. I didn’t look at them like that. Nobody stood out.

STRONGEST
Rosendo Alvarez: I received all his punches and I stood up to them, he was very strong.

BEST CHIN
Alvarez: He had a good chin; he was very strong and difficult.

BEST PUNCHER
Saman Sorjaturong: He had a very strong punch. When he hit me it hurt. I won in two rounds; he retired Humberto “Chiquita” Gonzalez.

BEST SKILLS
Pretty Boy Lucas: He was the most skilful, his technique (was good).

BEST OVERALL
Alvarez/Kwang-Soo Oh and Toto Pongsawang: I fought 11 world champions, I respected everyone. It’s difficult but it’s between those three.

[yngwie]

Ricardo Lopez - Oct 2016

BEST JAB
Hideyuki Ohashi: He had a good jab, it was strong.

BEST DEFENSE
Andy Tabanas: He was moving a lot, all the time.

FASTEST HANDS
Kermin Guardia: He was a southpaw and very fast.

FASTEST FEET
Will Grigsby: I won the junior flyweight title (from him), but he didn’t want to exchange punches, he was moving a lot.

SMARTEST
Nobody: Me. I didn’t respect anyone. I didn’t look at them like that. Nobody stood out.

STRONGEST
Rosendo Alvarez: I received all his punches and I stood up to them, he was very strong.

BEST CHIN
Alvarez: He had a good chin; he was very strong and difficult.

BEST PUNCHER
Saman Sorjaturong: He had a very strong punch. When he hit me it hurt. I won in two rounds; he retired Humberto “Chiquita?Gonzalez.

BEST SKILLS
Pretty Boy Lucas: He was the most skilful, his technique (was good).

BEST OVERALL
Alvarez/Kwang-Soo Oh and Toto Pongsawang: I fought 11 world champions, I respected everyone. It’s difficult but it’s between those three.

I read it in the morning, is good to read about a fighter who picks someone different in all the categories, but also shows that Finito never faced an elite fighter.

[Chrismart]

Richie Woodhall - Oct 2016

BEST SKILLS
Joe Calzaghe: He had an answer for everything I did. Calzaghe, as I said, could handle any style and that, I’m telling you, is such a rare gift.

BEST JAB
Keith Holmes: He was as tall as me and he was the first southpaw I’d boxed with that height. Holmes was underrated, he was a very good fighter indeed and had a great jab.

BEST DEFENSE
Markus Beyer: He was a very short southpaw who kept making me overreach. Any mistake I made, he punished me for it. Beyer was a well-schooled amateur and I remember missing him with loads of shots early on. It was so deceiving because he was a short fella and I thought I’d just pick him off ?Bloody hell, you try catching him.

BEST CHIN
Calzaghe: He was a tough geezer. I wasn’t a devastating puncher; I was more of a worker, and that showed against Calzaghe. I hit him many times but nothing affected him.

BEST PUNCHER
Holmes: I could feel his power throughout that fight. There were problems in the build-up with my elbow and training that I’d missed but I felt more power from him than any other fighter.

FASTEST HANDS
Roy Jones Jr.: The attacks were hard to detect because sometimes he would be throwing shots from the waist. The punches were outside your line of vision and some of the hooks he threw, you just couldn’t see them coming. He whipped them in really quick.

FASTEST FEET
Jones Jr.: His footwork was brilliant. He won the first round and I did well in the second but when I tried to get him in the third, he just slipped away. I couldn’t believe it.

SMARTEST
Silvio Branco: It was a European title fight and he was a clever boxer. Branco matched me for height and reach and was actually very similar to myself. He could fight coming forward and he could fight going backwards. It was never going 12 rounds; one of us was always going to go and I managed to stop him in the ninth. That was the hardest fight I ever had and we were both busted up to hell afterwards.

STRONGEST
Sugar Boy Malinga: I hit him with a lot of shots downstairs, as well as to the head and, apart from that one knockdown I scored in the second round, he just coming. Malinga was a tough guy and he was in his late-30s then. I remember asking myself, ‘What would this guy have been like at his peak??You don’t get a win over Nigel Benn if you’re not strong and Malinga was a very tough man.

BEST OVERALL
Calzaghe: As I said, he had an answer for everything. It’s a hard question because Roy Jones was fantastic over three rounds and his speed was just too much for me. If I have to go one way, though, I’d say Calzaghe.