Best I've faced

[A-Wolf]

Barry McGuigan - July 2017

BEST JAB
Charm Chiteule: The best jab was either Pedroza or Charm Chiteule. Chiteule was very good; he blackened my eye. He was very slick, tough durable. I hit him with a lot before I got him out of there.

BEST DEFENSE
Eusebio Pedroza: Lateral movement, spatial awareness, head movement, knew where you were, stepped back, stepped in, he could block. I think I caught him once with a good left hook to the body at the end of the fifth round. He was very hard to hit. He was brilliant on the inside, really good at riding a punch, blocking, slipping, rolling his head, pulling back, in and out. Very, very tasty on the inside, very sophisticated.

BEST CHIN
Juan Laporte: Laporte had an incredible chin, unbelievable chin. Nobody ever put him down. I had him out on his feet in the 10th round. He said he’s never been so badly hurt. He fought Julio Cesar Chavez; he fought so many world champions and I think he was stopped at the end of his career. His corner retired him. Nobody ever put him down. Nobody actually stopped him in the ring. He was definitely the toughest. A chin like granite.

FASTEST HANDS
Bernard Taylor: “The B.T. Express? incredibly talented, 440 amateur fights, lost six times, won the Pan-American games, won everything, amazing talent, very very quick. Without a doubt, he was the quickest.

FASTEST FEET
Taylor: Again, he was so quick, beautiful feet, into punching distance, fire off a volley of shots, get back out again and step to the side. Never went the same way, often guys that move are predictable. They had a preference. Often guys who are orthodox jab and push off the right foot and walk into a right hook or overhand right, whereas he would go this way or that way, equal fluidity, forward and back, in and out, side to side, brilliantly talented, just floated around the ring.

SMARTEST
Pedroza: Far better, just clever, smart, hold you, pull you back. I never stopped. I kept on coming. I put him under pressure. He was very smart, very clever, great spatial awareness. He was a master on the inside; he’d lean on you, shove you, just to create space. He was guilty of lots of misdemeanors. What he’d do is, he’d create enough space; he’d hook and hit you with his hook and forearm. He was clever and subtle. He’d put your head down and pull you into an uppercut. It’s a real skill. I’m not promoting it but his ability to fight on the inside was really tremendous. I couldn’t swallow properly for two or three days (after the fight). His boxing intelligence, that’s your DNA; it’s innate. He had that ability, miles better than anyone else I fought. Although I was young, I was a young hungry lion who put him under pressure. He didn’t start to fade until after the halfway stage. Taylor was more talented but not in the same league.

STRONGEST
Laporte: Laporte was the strongest, strong as a bull. Physical strength, naturally strong. He went up to 140 pounds; he fought Kostya Tszyu, Charles Murray, very strong guy. Physically, although he weighed 126, he was as strong as a welterweight. Really good fighter, a bit of a wasted talent.

BEST PUNCHER
Laporte: Laporte by a mile. He could punch, nearly took my head off. He hit me in the ninth round and, when I was a kid, I lived in the diamond in Clones. My mum and dad had a grocery business. My (now) wife’s family owned a hardware store, a beautiful little town of 3,000 people. There was also a toy shop owned by Mrs Keenan. He hit me and I’m coming forward and throwing the jab and, in the 10th, I stepped in and his head went back, so I thought, “I’ll try it again.?As I came forward I saw red. It was his right hand coming at me; he beat me to the punch. I didn’t know where I was. I thought I was in Mrs Keenan’s shop. That’s the God’s honest truth; I thought, “What am I doing in Mrs Keenan’s shop??That’s how much he hurt me. I grabbed a hold of him. I don’t know how I cleared my head. (Referee) Harry Gibbs was going, “Break, you’re holding.?I could hear this noise but I held on and then eventually he broke us up. He swung a few more shots and I managed to get myself together and got to the end of the round. That was the hardest I’ve been hit. It was the most bizarre feeling. It took me back to my childhood. I came back to my corner and Eddie Shaw used to do this anytime he thought I was hit with a good shot: He had a big sponge and put it in ice cold water and threw it and shocked you back into your senses.

BEST SKILLS
Pedroza: Back to Pedroza, you can go around in circles and talk about how brilliant Bernard Taylor was but skill is about winning consistently, 19 successful title defenses, seven years as champion of the world, one of the longest reigning featherweights. He was a phenomenal fighter. I was privileged to fight someone that good.

BEST OVERALL
Pedroza: Without a doubt, he was one of the greatest fighters of all time. I pail compared to Eusebio Pedroza. He was one of the greatest featherweights of all time. I’m proud to share a ring with him.

[Chrismart]

Duke McKenzie - August 2017

BEST JAB
Thierry Jacob: Thierry Jacob had the best jab. That was actually my best punch, I used to think I could do pretty much anything with it. He matched me in that department and then he ended up out-jabbing me in the fight so it was a real eye-opener for me personally because if I threw one, he threw two, if I threw three he threw four, he always answered me in every department. The jabs were particularly hard punches they were just repetition, one after another, after another.

BEST DEFENSE
Orlando Maestre: I boxed a guy called Orlando Maestre in about my 12th fight, over 8 rounds at the Royal Albert Hall, I don’t think I landed a clean punch on him, I never caught him on the chin, I was hitting shoulders. Best defense I’ve ever come across. He had a better defense than most world champions. I think he was a bit of a journeyman, in that he came over here and there was only ever going to be one winner but the amount of punches I threw in the fight, I was probably outpunching him four shots to one. Couldn’t hit him with a bag of sand. Typical Mexican, slipping shots, blocking shots, decent footwork, the way he moved his hips, shoulders and his head, I became very, very frustrated after about four rounds. I was quite fleet footed, I was very fit and young so I could maintain the workrate and pace. I couldn’t quite nail him and became more and more frustrated and Mickey kept saying, ‘Be calm, you’ll catch him in the end.?but I never did and the end of the fight although I got the victory, I think morally I was quite dejected, ’cause the fight didn’t happen the way I wanted it to work out.

FASTEST HANDS
Jesse Benavides: When I fought for my third world championship, he had really quick hands and he had great balance. Benavides was a Kronk fighter, Manny Steward fighter. He was very, very rounded. Very solid jab and speed behind the jab and a thinker like me. I think the difference between me and Benavides on the night was ?and what I think got me the victory was ?that I just wanted it more than he did. I think he’d seen my career and seen I’d lost the bantamweight championship and for him it was a formality, he was the next big thing in the Kronk. He thought it was going to be a walk in the park. On fight night, he was coasting for a few of the rounds and I could sense that made me up my game and I wasn’t out-jabbing him but I was outworking him. When I look back now and I reflect on that fight, there was a lot going my way.

FASTEST FEET
Jacob: Again, I’d have to go back to Thierry Jacob. That fight was fought at what I can only describe as a frenetic pace. That has to be a fight where really in terms of workrate and movement. He had really, really good feet to go with the hands to go with the stamina. A very, very rounded athlete at that time. He had good footwork, another southpaw, who was able to lose me, if I had him backed up in the corner he’d switch on me and go from left to right, as an evasive move not as a attacking move. It’s a hard move to counteract.

BEST CHIN
Cesar Soto: Soto was a young hungry fighter. He was starving when I boxed him for the championship. I caught him with some real clean, good solid right hands. I wasn’t a big puncher but I was a solid puncher and I hit him with some solid shots from both hands. Soto was easy to hit and when I look back at that fight had it not been for his chin I’d have probably had him out of there because I hit him quite often, quite cleanly in that fight. I was able to old man him out of the fight. I catch him with a lot of clean shots and he just keeps coming after me and he hounds me and chases me for 12-rounds but he didn’t have the skill factor to beat me. He went to be WBC featherweight champion and boxed Naseem Hamed. And went the distance with Hamed. Hamed was a big puncher and if Hamed couldn’t get him out of there, it’s no surprise I didn’t.

SMARTEST
Benavides: He trapped and kidded me. He’d feint with shots, he’d show you a straight right and hit you with a left hand or show you the left and hit you with a right hook, or show you an uppercut and hit you with a straight left. He was quite cute. Again, like I say he’d set traps for you, you had to be on your game all the time. Benavides was the kind of guy who was a good thinker, I could think quick on my feet ?which I did in that particular fight ?that fight became a battle of wits as well as a battle of attrition. He’d set traps, some I’d walk onto. He caught me with some good right hooks. From a southpaw perspective he’d show me the straight left and snap the right hand back over.

STRONGEST
Soto: Head-and-shoulders above everybody else in terms of physical strength. Just never stopped coming. Even when you’d get into clinches, he’d grab hold off you, hold you with one hand and hit you with you with the other hand. Couldn’t push him back. Couldn’t keep him off me. People used to ask me why I run going backwards and I’d say, ‘eight out of 10 guys I ever boxed where physically stronger than me.?my forte was just being a good all-round boxer. I think what beat him in that fight was he was relatively inexperienced, so his brute strength where he thought he could physically out-muscle me, it wasn’t enough. Had he had eight or 10 more fights it might have been a different story.

BEST PUNCHER
Soto: No doubt, physically strong, hit hard, really good hooker but he was easy to read, if he hit you with one hook you knew there was another one coming. He’d always hit you with a double left hook, if he caught you with one to the head, he’d switch it to the body, so you knew it was coming. I learnt from Marvin Hagler, if you don’t want to be hit with bodyshots you wear a big protector. Hagler’s protector was up to his naval [Laughs]. I had a big protector on that night because he threw lots of bodyshots. He gained my respect in the fight and as the fight unfolded, I had to be on point everywhere I went ’cause he’s on me all the time. Some fights you can take a round off, I couldn’t do that in that fight. It was 12-rounds of competitive action.

BOXING SKILLS
Jacob: That guy, he punched me from pillar-to-post. It was the kind of fight where for six rounds I was in the fight, he just boxed with me, he wasn’t trying to beat me. We set a really quick pace, in the seventh round he switched tactics and in the seventh he started planting his feet more. He’d look busy doing nothing, he’d look busy all the time. When he went on the attack he’d always plant his feet and sink in two or three hard shots and put his head in, hit me with an elbow, he hit me so many times I know it’s a clich?but I thought I was surrounded. The tactics Jacob used to beat me in our fight, I used in every fight afterwards, setting a quick pace, keeping a tight defense, not trying to knock guys out but throwing lots of shots and just staying busy.

BEST OVERALL
Benavides: Was what I call the perfect pro, good handspeed, good footwork, good chin, good stamina, good record. Everything about that boy was good but again they underestimated me. My mindset was this is my last fight, there won’t be another one after this. My mindset was I’m going to leave it all in the ring. Benavides mindset was I’d come for the paycheck, meaning all he had to do was show up. I was prepared to leave everything in the ring. That was the difference in that fight.

[Teetotaler]

Duke McKenzie - August 2017

BEST JAB
Thierry Jacob: Thierry Jacob had the best jab. That was actually my best punch, I used to think I could do pretty much anything with it. He matched me in that department and then he ended up out-jabbing me in the fight so it was a real eye-opener for me personally because if I threw one, he threw two, if I threw three he threw four, he always answered me in every department. The jabs were particularly hard punches they were just repetition, one after another, after another.

BEST DEFENSE
Orlando Maestre: I boxed a guy called Orlando Maestre in about my 12th fight, over 8 rounds at the Royal Albert Hall, I don’t think I landed a clean punch on him, I never caught him on the chin, I was hitting shoulders. Best defense I’ve ever come across. He had a better defense than most world champions. I think he was a bit of a journeyman, in that he came over here and there was only ever going to be one winner but the amount of punches I threw in the fight, I was probably outpunching him four shots to one. Couldn’t hit him with a bag of sand. Typical Mexican, slipping shots, blocking shots, decent footwork, the way he moved his hips, shoulders and his head, I became very, very frustrated after about four rounds. I was quite fleet footed, I was very fit and young so I could maintain the workrate and pace. I couldn’t quite nail him and became more and more frustrated and Mickey kept saying, ‘Be calm, you’ll catch him in the end.?but I never did and the end of the fight although I got the victory, I think morally I was quite dejected, ’cause the fight didn’t happen the way I wanted it to work out.

FASTEST HANDS
Jesse Benavides: When I fought for my third world championship, he had really quick hands and he had great balance. Benavides was a Kronk fighter, Manny Steward fighter. He was very, very rounded. Very solid jab and speed behind the jab and a thinker like me. I think the difference between me and Benavides on the night was ?and what I think got me the victory was ?that I just wanted it more than he did. I think he’d seen my career and seen I’d lost the bantamweight championship and for him it was a formality, he was the next big thing in the Kronk. He thought it was going to be a walk in the park. On fight night, he was coasting for a few of the rounds and I could sense that made me up my game and I wasn’t out-jabbing him but I was outworking him. When I look back now and I reflect on that fight, there was a lot going my way.

FASTEST FEET
Jacob: Again, I’d have to go back to Thierry Jacob. That fight was fought at what I can only describe as a frenetic pace. That has to be a fight where really in terms of workrate and movement. He had really, really good feet to go with the hands to go with the stamina. A very, very rounded athlete at that time. He had good footwork, another southpaw, who was able to lose me, if I had him backed up in the corner he’d switch on me and go from left to right, as an evasive move not as a attacking move. It’s a hard move to counteract.

BEST CHIN
Cesar Soto: Soto was a young hungry fighter. He was starving when I boxed him for the championship. I caught him with some real clean, good solid right hands. I wasn’t a big puncher but I was a solid puncher and I hit him with some solid shots from both hands. Soto was easy to hit and when I look back at that fight had it not been for his chin I’d have probably had him out of there because I hit him quite often, quite cleanly in that fight. I was able to old man him out of the fight. I catch him with a lot of clean shots and he just keeps coming after me and he hounds me and chases me for 12-rounds but he didn’t have the skill factor to beat me. He went to be WBC featherweight champion and boxed Naseem Hamed. And went the distance with Hamed. Hamed was a big puncher and if Hamed couldn’t get him out of there, it’s no surprise I didn’t.

SMARTEST
Benavides: He trapped and kidded me. He’d feint with shots, he’d show you a straight right and hit you with a left hand or show you the left and hit you with a right hook, or show you an uppercut and hit you with a straight left. He was quite cute. Again, like I say he’d set traps for you, you had to be on your game all the time. Benavides was the kind of guy who was a good thinker, I could think quick on my feet ?which I did in that particular fight ?that fight became a battle of wits as well as a battle of attrition. He’d set traps, some I’d walk onto. He caught me with some good right hooks. From a southpaw perspective he’d show me the straight left and snap the right hand back over.

STRONGEST
Soto: Head-and-shoulders above everybody else in terms of physical strength. Just never stopped coming. Even when you’d get into clinches, he’d grab hold off you, hold you with one hand and hit you with you with the other hand. Couldn’t push him back. Couldn’t keep him off me. People used to ask me why I run going backwards and I’d say, ‘eight out of 10 guys I ever boxed where physically stronger than me.?my forte was just being a good all-round boxer. I think what beat him in that fight was he was relatively inexperienced, so his brute strength where he thought he could physically out-muscle me, it wasn’t enough. Had he had eight or 10 more fights it might have been a different story.

BEST PUNCHER
Soto: No doubt, physically strong, hit hard, really good hooker but he was easy to read, if he hit you with one hook you knew there was another one coming. He’d always hit you with a double left hook, if he caught you with one to the head, he’d switch it to the body, so you knew it was coming. I learnt from Marvin Hagler, if you don’t want to be hit with bodyshots you wear a big protector. Hagler’s protector was up to his naval [Laughs]. I had a big protector on that night because he threw lots of bodyshots. He gained my respect in the fight and as the fight unfolded, I had to be on point everywhere I went ’cause he’s on me all the time. Some fights you can take a round off, I couldn’t do that in that fight. It was 12-rounds of competitive action.

BOXING SKILLS
Jacob: That guy, he punched me from pillar-to-post. It was the kind of fight where for six rounds I was in the fight, he just boxed with me, he wasn’t trying to beat me. We set a really quick pace, in the seventh round he switched tactics and in the seventh he started planting his feet more. He’d look busy doing nothing, he’d look busy all the time. When he went on the attack he’d always plant his feet and sink in two or three hard shots and put his head in, hit me with an elbow, he hit me so many times I know it’s a clich?but I thought I was surrounded. The tactics Jacob used to beat me in our fight, I used in every fight afterwards, setting a quick pace, keeping a tight defense, not trying to knock guys out but throwing lots of shots and just staying busy.

BEST OVERALL
Benavides: Was what I call the perfect pro, good handspeed, good footwork, good chin, good stamina, good record. Everything about that boy was good but again they underestimated me. My mindset was this is my last fight, there won’t be another one after this. My mindset was I’m going to leave it all in the ring. Benavides mindset was I’d come for the paycheck, meaning all he had to do was show up. I was prepared to leave everything in the ring. That was the difference in that fight.

So benavides who according to him only showed up for the check was his best overall? Idk what to make of that

[hugh grant]

War Dinamita

I agree, Pacquiao's definitely the best he's faced.

Of course PAC is. He's got 3 wins over him. Best of era

[ussy]

Juan Manuel Marquez - Originally posted in August 2016

BEST JAB
Marco Antonio Barrera: When you want to dodge a jab using speed, you must calculate it. That is what I did with him. I tried to guess where his punches were going and then counterpunch and decrease their accuracy.

BEST CHIN
Manny Pacquiao: He took a good shot and he always returned stronger.

FASTEST HANDS
Pacquiao: He has a lot of power and speed.

FASTEST FEET
Pacquiao: He is always everywhere. He is a tough fighter.

SMARTEST
Sergey Fedchenko: The Ukrainian fighter, no one knew him. He had a great counterpunching (style), speed and a great jab. He was very intelligent also. Manuel “Mantecas?Medina was also very smart.

STRONGEST
Pacquiao: When he fought, he moved his hips a lot. Then I analyzed that all his power came from there, in the hips. I understood that he couldn’t do his power moves and he would have problems if I used speed so I started fighting different.

BEST PUNCHER
Pacquiao: In all the fights I had, nobody hit me harder than him.

BEST DEFENSE
Pacquiao: He is great at closing his defense, he has a good guard and it is very hard to land (a clean punch). After four fights with him, I was able to know him better. I also learned his mistakes. Fedchenko also had great defense.

BEST SKILLS
Juan Diaz: Juan has a lot of speed. He was aggressive and elusive. On the other hand, Joel (Casamayor) was great with the distance and he was a brilliant fighter.

BEST OVERALL
Pacquiao: Without doubt, the best pound-for-pound of his time and I faced him at his best.

"And I faced him at his best" you know what he's saying there haha.

[Chrismart]

Shane Mosley - 2012

There's a Shane Mosley 'Best I've faced' on the first page of the thread', but that one is from 2010 if i'm not mistaken. So this one is a little more updated.

BEST JAB
Vernon Forrest and Oscar De La Hoya: Oscar had a terrific jab, but when I fought Vernon, Vernon had a tremendous jab as well. It was hard for me to get past Vernon’s jab, but at the same time, Oscar had a really fast, snapping jab along with a good left hook.
So I had problems with both guys. Vernon had the height to go with it as well.

BEST DEFENSE
Winky Wright: Winky had, I think, the best defense back then. Floyd had good defense, but Winky caught me earlier in my career. I think that Winky was really good at catching and countering. He kept his hands up really high and I think that back then, he would have had the best defense. He was very, very good at catching and then touching you.

FASTEST HANDS
Floyd Mayweather Jr.: I would again have to say that’s Floyd. Floyd’s timing and his speed were very, very quick. He was able to get off the gun really quick. I felt like I was competing with him, but I would have to say that Floyd had the fastest hands of anyone that I’ve fought.

FASTEST FEET
Sergio Mora: That would have to be Sergio Mora. I was surprised at how well he moved. He got around the ring very well. Very fast feet. Moved good. He was a junior middleweight who was fighting me at that time, but I was still surprised at his footspeed.

BEST CHIN
Antonio Margarito: I would have to say that Margarito had the best chin. Even though I knocked him out, it took a long time of me hitting him on the button. Round after round, he stood up against some solid shots.
Even when I hit Floyd with one solid shot, he wobbled when I got the opportunity. Floyd had a good chin, but I would have to say that the guy with the best chin was Margarito. He stood up to Pacquiao’s punches as well as mine until I was able to break him down.

SMARTEST
Mayweather: He knows how to change up the fight and the tempo in the middle of the fight. He can go from one thing and one strategy to another very well. If you get one thing working, he can change up and make you have to do something else. He was probably the smartest.

STRONGEST
Fernando Vargas: The strongest guy that I fought, physically, was Fernando Vargas. He hit pretty hard but he was also very strong, physically. Winky Wright was strong, but Vargas was very, very physical in both fights.

BEST PUNCHER
Forrest and Manny Pacquiao: I think that the best puncher would have to be Vernon Forrest because back then I had a pretty good chin and I had never been dropped, and he was the first guy to drop me. His power is a little different than Pacquiao had. But those are the two guys who knocked me down, so those are the two guys that I would have to give it to.
I’m leaning more toward Vernon, because he had the heavier punches, whereas Pacquiao’s was more of a flash knockdown where I was dizzy.I don’t know if it was the injury that I had or the punching power that Pacquiao possesses. But I was never buzzed by anybody else like I was by those two guys.

BEST BOXER
Mayweather: That would probably have to be Floyd. It’s how he evades punches with a blend of his defense and his offense. He’s always on his toes and he’s always slipping and sliding.

BEST OVERALL:
Mayweather: That would have to be Floyd. He had everything. He had about three different categories where he was the best at. Floyd was the best overall fighter. The most speed, best defense and a good jab and good offense. I think that it’s also what he does with his movement and his angles.
To be fair, he caught me later in my career. But he puts everything together, offensively and defensively, and he has the movement.

[Jimmy 23]

[U]Juan Manuel Marquez

LMAO No Mayweather

[messenger]

Luv this stuff!!!

[Ungawa]

Ungawa approcves

[Chrismart]

Sumbu Kalambay - August 2017

BEST JAB
Mike McCallum: I would say Barkley, McCallum, DeWitt. All of them had a pretty good jab, perhaps McCallum had the most educated jab among them. Although I faced particularly aggressive punchers which highlighted my technical skills, so normally I had the best jab.

BEST DEFENSE
Steve Collins: Irish Steve Collins was tough to box actually, we made a good fight together. He kept coming forward and was physically very strong. Chris Pyatt blocked and clinched often, so I could not hit him very clean, but Collins was tougher.

FASTEST HANDS
Francesco Dell’Aquila: I think it’s Dell’Aquila, he was quick and had good timing with his hands. He put me down in the very first round with a right cross. The referee scored another knockdown against me in round two which surprised me because I didn’t go or touch down on that occasion. Then I started to put pressure and stalk him with combinations and body work until he was not able to continue.

FASTEST FEET
Robbie Sims: As I said, I fought a lot of punchers, sluggers and brawlers although they were really good fighters all in all. So it’s not easy to answer such a question. Maybe it was Robbie Simms, he was good at cutting the ring off in order to stop me escaping. We had a fantastic match, the pace was very high in that one.

BEST CHIN
Jimmie Sykes: All in all I thing that was Jimmy Sykes, I fought him in Rome in an eight-rounder, few months before my first national title match. He was unbelievable, I floored him in the first round, he got up and took dozens of clean wallops from me, mostly hooks and uppercuts. I almost hurt my hands in that fight but could not take him out inside the distance.

SMARTEST
Iran Barkley: All my opponents were very good fighters and world champions, they know how to move and box. I would say the smartest of them all was Iran Barkley.

STRONGEST
Collins: Steve Collins, a true warrior, durable and strong. When I faced [Herol] Graham, I felt he was a strong guy and his fists were heavy. However, I managed to keep him off balance all night circulating around to slip punches and anticipating him with my fast jab. So basically I just had the perception of his power because he could not land flush on me during that bout.

BEST PUNCHER
Barkley: Iran Barkley was the hardest hitter I faced. He could hurt you in every way he landed, and he was a lefty that boxed out of a orthodox stance, so he could punch with either hands. I can’t really talk much about Nunn as fighter because that’s the kind of defeat that do not allow you to study your opponent well and truly confront him. That’s also why I’m not going to name him in your specific categories. Anyway, I can say he appeared an awkward, rangy southpaw who was able to box very relaxed. We had thought he was a very good boxer yet we did not consider him a very hard hitter, but all in all that’s the beauty and the unpredictability of our sport.

BEST SKILLS
McCallum: Mike McCallum was the most complete of my opponents, he got the most complete package of them all.

BEST OVERALL
Barkley: That’s very tough, because every fight presented different complications. My choice goes to McCallum and Barkley, although I’d choose the latter because that fight has been my hardest one. It has been one of the last 15-rounds championship fight too.