Best I've faced

[uppercut510]

Thanks for these stories!!!!!!!

[Chrismart]

Rocky Juarez - Dec 2017

BEST JAB
Jorge Linares: It would be between Linares and Barrera. Linares could throw two, three jabs at once. He had better movement than Barrera. He could throw the jab on a dime. Barrera’s jab was sneaky, a long jab. I was pretty good at knowing an opponent’s jab and Barrera just happened to have a longer reach than I expected. I’d have to say Linares. He had better speed with the jab. It was a range finder; a set up punch.

BEST DEFENSE
Linares: He just moved. He knew how to get out and get himself out of harm’s way. On the inside, he knew how to smother my shots and how to get out; knowing when to retreat at the perfect time.

FASTEST HANDS
Zahir Raheem: It would be between Zahir and Linares. That’s all (Raheem) had was his speed. Punching power wasn’t that effective. His jab was his strongest shot.

FASTEST FEET
Linares: He just knew how to keep distance. One of the reasons I’m picking Linares is because he’s probably the only guy that beat me where I knew I lost with no question. I just couldn’t catch him. I couldn’t find my distance. I just couldn’t land my shots flush like I wanted to.

BEST CHIN
Humberto Soto: That’s an easy one. It had to be Humberto Soto. Barrera, I caught clean and I knew he could feel (the punches). I’d have to say Soto. Mentally, he made me think. At the time, I was undefeated. Everybody I was hitting I was knocking out. I was very strong-willed and strong-minded. There was no way I thought I could lose. Soto kept coming, he had a good chin to the point I thought I broke my hand.

SMARTEST
Marco Antonio Barrera: That would have to be Barrera. In the second fight, he stayed with the game plan. He learned from the first fight and boxed. He stayed on the outside and didn’t engage.

STRONGEST
Andrew Cancio: He was a young fighter ?strong, hungry. I was always the one accustomed to pushing my opponents back and Cancio surprised me. He had good punching power.

BEST PUNCHER
Jorge Barrios: There’s punching power where (the punches) are sharp, like [Juan Manuel] Marquez, and there’s guys who hit hard to where you block the shot and you can still feel the punch. Barrios was one guy where I could feel his shots when he landed, but he was very slow. Even though I knew to expect a punch, he hurt me in the fight. Marquez never hurt me.

BOXING SKILLS
Linares: I think Linares being a bit taller than (Barrera and Marquez). He could throw the double jab, he had good feet, he was an overall rounded fighter: good speed, good movement, good power. He dropped me in the fifth round.

BEST OVERALL
Barrera: That would have to be between Marquez and Barrera. Barrera retired before Marquez but Marquez accomplished more. There’s always an argument in that question. Marquez, he had pop, he was very accurate. Barrera, he was smart, he showed it in the second fight. I’m going to say Barrera.

[Chrismart]

Marlon Starling - Dec 2017

BEST JAB
Mark Breland: The point about what was so good about Mark Breland’s jab, is that it hurt! You had to be careful. If you recall, he knocked (Lloyd) Honeyghan down with that jab. I really don’t know if his jab was a range-finder, I think he used his jab for power also. A lot of people looked at Breland, as his right hand was tremendous but, to me, it wasn’t…It was the jab.

BEST DEFENSE
Donald Curry: I think it depends on how you fight a guy. In my experience fighting Donald Curry, I think he was harder to hit than anyone else. No one I really had a difficult time hitting; it was just a matter of time.

FASTEST HANDS
Michael Nunn: Michael’s speed was faster than I thought. I wasn’t prepared for Michael Nunn. He should have got beat. I fought like I was sparring.

FASTEST FEET
Nunn: He moved pretty good. He was always looking to get out the way.

BEST CHIN
I really couldn’t answer that because anybody I hit right is going to go. Anybody who gets hit right is going to go. I don’t know who that fighter was. I can’t really pick out a guy who I hit clean and they stood there. I had a good chin. I’ve never been down. The only time I’ve been down was when I got hit after the bell (versus Molinares).

SMARTEST
Curry: He was a fighter that hunted you down. He wasn’t an easy fighter to fight. His biggest enemy was himself; he lacked conditioning. He got up for Marlon Starling in the second fight. That particular day when he beat me for the IBF/WBA titles, nobody in the world would have beat me but Donald Curry.

STRONGEST
Jose Baret: He was 16-0, 15 knockouts, in ?3. He was strong. He threw punches from downtown; you had to keep your hands up. He was strong but I don’t think he had any condition.

BEST PUNCHER
Inocencio De La Rosa: To be honest with you, I couldn’t tell you the guy that really got my attention, when you talk about the name fighters. I fought a guy (Inocencio De la Rosa) who hit me with a shot and I thought I better hold on.

Tommy (Hearns) hit me with a good shot in training and broke my jaw. We were boxing and he was getting ready for (Sugar Ray) Leonard and I was getting the better of that sparring session and he hit me with a good shot and we carried on. That night, my nose was running a lot and I went to the emergency room in (Las) Vegas and they told me my jaw was broken.

BEST SKILLS
Curry: He reminded me so much of me. He did nothing great but he did everything good. I think he had the best skills of anyone I fought.

BEST OVERALL
Curry: He did nothing great but everything good. His eyes, when you’ve got good eyes, you can see everything and that’s what makes you react to another fighter.

[Chrismart]

Greg Haugen - Jan 2018

BEST JAB
Julio Cesar Chavez: It was pretty quick but it was also hard. I had a stiff jab. When you have a good jab that adds one more punch to your arsenal. Most guys just throw it out there to keep you away from them, whereas other guys will throw it with intentions of landing it and it becomes a weapon. If you have a good, stiff jab it’s gonna make guys a lot less brave coming in on you. I’d have to say Julio’s was the best cause it was hard.

BEST DEFENSE
Pernell Whitaker: Oh, Whitaker by far. He was the quickest fighter I fought. His defense was good. He didn’t like to get hit; he wasn’t one of those guys who’d trade punch for punch with you. He was too smart to do that. His thing was get in, get out and not get hit. When you’re fighting a good southpaw, it’s a nightmare. The jab doesn’t usually work; it’s more right hands and left hooks. And if you miss one of those right hands, you’re wide open for a counter.

FASTEST HANDS
Whitaker: Whitaker was the fastest by far. He had good handspeed. He didn’t hit very hard, but he was a pin-point puncher. Hector Camacho was always known for his fast hands. He didn’t really like to stand in front of you and get hit. You (could) hit Camacho with a good shot but two or three shots together? Not gonna happen. He was always moving. I think that I fought Pernell (when) he was coming up. He was earlier in his career, whereas I fought Camacho at 30. Whitaker was in his prime; he was a little quicker.

FASTEST FEET
Hector Camacho: That’s a tossup between Hector and Pernell. They both had good footwork. Like I said, when you fight a good smart, southpaw it’s a nightmare cause everything you’ve been taught as an amateur pretty much goes out the window. The jab really didn’t work as good on Pernell as it did on Hector. Hector was more of a target. He squared himself up a little more than Pernell did. Both had supreme footwork. If you do hit them, you only usually do it once and they’re moving. That’s a tough call. Flip a coin (laughs). It’s like splitting hairs. They were both world class. I’d probably give the call to Hector.

BEST CHIN
Chris Calvin: I wasn’t known as a one-punch knockout guy. I just went out and tried to tag ’em and tag ’em until they quit. I just tried to keep landing. If someone took my best shot, I never thought about it because I wasn’t a real big puncher. I’d say Calvin. I didn’t hit Chavez enough to test my power. I was tagging Calvin continuously and he wouldn’t move or go down. I hit him with a few big shots in the sixth, which I believe is the round I stopped him in. I knocked him through the ropes and he finally went down.

SMARTEST
Whitaker: If he got hurt, he’d tie you up and if he wasn’t hurt, he’d move and a moving target is a lot harder to hit than a stationary target. If you’re pulling away from a guy who’s punching, there’s a good chance you’re not going to land flush. He was the type of guy who never really got hurt. He’d get real low in front of you and he shrank the target.

STRONGEST
Chavez: He was pretty strong, plus he was coming down from 150-160 pounds to make 140. By fight time he was close to middleweight.

BEST PUNCHER
Calvin: The guy he fought before me, (Shawn Thomas, died from injuries sustained in the bout). He was a real hard puncher. He was 17-3-2 with 16 KOs. I remember he tagged me in the first round and it was the first time I blacked out. I was basically knocked out on my feet. I was conscious enough to know I got hit with a right hand and I had to **** into him and grab him because he was going to throw the left hook. Sure enough, on the tape of the fight, we just missed that left hook. That probably would have finished the fight. I grabbed him and shook it off and came back and hit him with my own hard one-two at the end of the first round. Over the next four or five rounds I just continued to tag him and he wouldn’t go down. Chavez hit pretty hard. but I wasn’t in any kind of shape for that fight. I wasn’t in a position to where I could take any shots.

BOXING SKILLS
Whitaker: He was just so hard to hit. He was such a good technician. He was quick and whenever you face a southpaw, it’s a whole different game.

BEST OVERALL
Whitaker: I fought a lot of good fighters. Hands down, Pernell was the best by far. He was fast. He was hard to hit. He had great defense. He didn’t square himself up. He was the smartest guy. He had fast hands and fast feet. He won the gold medal (at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984). He was a very polished southpaw.

[chrisJS]

I truly believe Whitaker is the best fighter since the Leonard-Hagler-Duran-Hearns era. Under 147 I could only really see Duran beating him of the last 50 years. Chavez and more so Carlos Ortiz at 135 perhaps would have a good chance too but he may have the slight edge.

[Chrismart]

Johnny Nelson - Jan 2017

BEST JAB
Ruediger May: Rudy May came from the old school. He had a really fast, sharp jab. The problem was he was predictable. If you’re consistent and orthodox with your movement, what you do is predictable. Unorthodox fighters are the ones who give you hell-fire, because you don’t know what they’ll do next. The way to beat Rudy May was to control his way of thinking. Of all the sparring partners I had, he was the only one who sent me home with marks on my face.

BEST DEFENSE
Marcelo Dominguez: I had to be smart and sharp. His defense was awkward. You’d hit the arms. You’d hit the elbows. He’d bob and weave and slip the shots. He was there to be hit, but you couldn’t get off the shots you needed.

BEST HANDSPEED
Peter Ohoh: I know this sounds ******, because I beat him and he was only a domestic fighter. I remember stopping him in the sixth, but he was lighter than I was and slinging shots. One time, he threw a shot I didn’t see and it landed on my chest. I thought, ?***! I didn’t see that coming. If that had landed on my chin I’d have been gone?

BEST FOOTWORK
Dominguez: Dominguez’s footwork wasn’t bad. His footwork wasn’t like mine, but he’d position himself well to defend and offend. Guillermo Jones was awkward and positioned himself right. His footwork was awkward enough to where he could make it hard for me to get a shot off. Between the two, I’d say Dominguez.

BEST CHIN
Corrie Sanders: I remember getting Corrie Sanders with one shot and it didn’t even make a difference. He just got pissed off [Laughs]. Dominguez could take a shot, ’cause I whacked him with some serious shots and this guy was going nowhere. I landed some beautiful uppercuts. He was tougher than I thought. (When I was) champion, I’d say Dominguez, otherwise I’d say Sanders.

SMARTEST
Dominguez: (As champion), I thought he was the most qualified of all the (challengers) I fought. He wasn’t a paper champion (Dominguez was a former WBC cruiserweight titleholder). His ring craft was very unassuming. You didn’t realize he was as good as he was unless you stood right in front of him.

STRONGEST
Vincenzo Canatore: He’d land those clubbing little shots to the back of the head. They seem like nothing when you look at them from the outside, but inside it was like getting hit by a block of wood. It’s a dirty trick but a clever trick, because it’s something the referee wouldn’t even realize was that bad. I tried to protect myself from that, but now and again he’d get a shot in and it hurt. Physically he was pretty strong. Up close he was solid.

BEST PUNCHER
Ezra Sellers: Ezra Sellers was taking everyone out. When he hit me, it wasn’t even a lucky shot (Nelson was down in Round 4). Ezra Sellers could either knock you out or be knocked out. He was one of those unassuming punchers where he had power in both hands. That was the worst kind of puncher; where you see it coming and he still puts you down.

BEST BOXING SKILLS
Sanders: Corrie Sanders was the most rounded fighter I’ve ever got in the ring with; the most skilled. You go to throw a jab, he slips and throws a southpaw left hand and you think, ‘Where the hell did that come from??Because I was fast and a defensive fighter, I didn’t really get hurt. He was hard to pin down as a heavyweight.

BEST OVERALL
Sanders: Dominguez was good. I thought Rudy May had a great jab. I thought Ezra Sellers had great punching power. Overall Sanders was very good. He was fast and he was sharp. Remember, I got in there with a heavyweight who was up-and-coming. You didn’t appreciate how fast he was for a heavyweight until you were there in front of him. He looked so easy to hit and that’s the mistake [Wladimir] Klitschko made.

[A-Wolf]

I truly believe Whitaker is the best fighter since the Leonard-Hagler-Duran-Hearns era. Under 147 I could only really see Duran beating him of the last 50 years. Chavez and more so Carlos Ortiz at 135 perhaps would have a good chance too but he may have the slight edge.

Agreed. .....

[Chrismart]

Chris Eubank - Feb 2018

BEST JAB
Dean Francis: It was a sparring partner, I never fought him in a fight. Dean Francis had a jab that you couldn’t see coming. You couldn’t see it, because he never turned his elbow up. He effectively turned his fist, so you never saw it, it was too quick. It was a beautiful thing to experience, even the pain of them. I wouldn’t put anybody’s jab in front of Dean Francis?jab.

BEST DEFENSE
Dan Schommer: He totally had me off my guard and proceeded to give me a boxing lesson. He took one of my teeth out and they gave me the decision for which I apologized, maybe eight years ago. He’s now a successful businessman up in Canada. I found him and apologized for the judges robbing him of that fight. It was in Sun City, South Africa in 1995. You couldn’t hit him. He was always slightly out of range, which is why he was able to pick me off like he did.

FASTEST HANDS
Joe Calzaghe: I was in a fight where I knew when he dropped me in the first round that I would not get a look in until the 11th or 12th rounds. Five seconds before the bell rang I caught him, and he held on, but I took a real beating. For every one shot I was landing, he was landing four. You can’t beat speed and he had it in abundance.

BEST FOOTWORK
Dan Sherry: I fought (Sherry) in my first world title defense in Brighton in 1991. He was trained by a fellow, one of the greatest, Sugar Ray Leonard, and his footwork, if I remember correctly, was effective.

BEST CHIN
Eduardo Domingo Contreras: He was from Argentina. Contreras, by far, had the hardest chin. If you watch that fight, you’ll see what I mean. I dread to think how he is today. He took everything. I was landing with emotion [Laughs].

SMARTEST
Schommer: His entire act; the way he stood at the press conference, the way he spoke to you. There was nothing about him, he had no cut of a fighter. He was completely disarming. When you watch the fight, you see I get completely outboxed. I got the decision and accepted the decision, at the time, because I was the aggressor. But when you’re being picked off because you’re missing shots, you should not win the fight. I wasn’t being effective.

STRONGEST
Nigel Benn: If someone was strong, it didn’t matter because strength isn’t what it was about. You can’t beat me with strength. You can only beat me with skill and device. You can’t bully me and beat me, because I was technically competent. Nigel Benn, for instance, in the second round of (fight one), lifted me up in the air. I thought, ‘This guy doesn’t know what he’s doing?because he doesn’t care about his charge. He’s burnt out a percentage of his charge. When someone’s over you, you always go limp, you never use your strength. That type of bravado is called ******ity. It’s always better to use technique. I’ve said many times before, I wasn’t that good, but I was intelligent.

BEST PUNCHER
Benn: I’ve never been knocked out, but I came near a couple of times. Johnny Melfah hit me with a shot in the third round at the Albert Hall and I sensed white light. But when Benn hit you, you stayed hit. The impact of the hit stayed with you for at least two-and-a-half seconds. Everybody else, when they hit you, that hit starts dissipating straight away. With Benn, it stayed for like two-and-a-half seconds and obviously, within a split-second, another (punch) would come because he punched in bunches. If you couldn’t hold one, there was no way you were going to hold two, and then it would be three or four. Benn, by far, hit the hardest.

BOXING SKILLS
Schommer: You couldn’t hit him; he was just slightly out of range. You’ve got to remember, it’s not just boxing skill, it’s also the intellect. Here’s a man who has disarmed you beforehand because he made you think he wasn’t anything special. I have to read another fighter and he’s the only fighter I read wrong. OK, and Joe Calzaghe, obviously. His boxing skill was exemplary. He was able to make me miss and pay. Michael Watson, the performance in the second fight, was comprehensively brilliant. He had taken the advice of the great Mike McCallum who said, ‘The only way to beat Eubank is to stay on him for three minutes of every round?which I thought was impossible. That’s exactly what (Watson) did.

BEST OVERALL
Benn/Michael Watson: It’s not fair, it’s not a question I can answer. If I tell you Nigel Benn, Michael Watson did far more to me than Nigel Benn did. Nigel Benn never put me down, but Watson put me down (sic: Benn was credited with a knockdown in fight one, which Eubank contests was a slip). Michael Watson gave me a boxing masterclass for 10-and-a-half rounds, so it’s not fair to ask that question. A man peaks in his life and, that night, September 21, 1991, Michael Watson peaked.

[Citizen Koba]

Chris Eubank - Feb 2018

BEST JAB
Dean Francis: It was a sparring partner, I never fought him in a fight. Dean Francis had a jab that you couldn’t see coming. You couldn’t see it, because he never turned his elbow up. He effectively turned his fist, so you never saw it, it was too quick. It was a beautiful thing to experience, even the pain of them. I wouldn’t put anybody’s jab in front of Dean Francis?jab.

BEST DEFENSE
Dan Schommer: He totally had me off my guard and proceeded to give me a boxing lesson. He took one of my teeth out and they gave me the decision for which I apologized, maybe eight years ago. He’s now a successful businessman up in Canada. I found him and apologized for the judges robbing him of that fight. It was in Sun City, South Africa in 1995. You couldn’t hit him. He was always slightly out of range, which is why he was able to pick me off like he did.

FASTEST HANDS
Joe Calzaghe: I was in a fight where I knew when he dropped me in the first round that I would not get a look in until the 11th or 12th rounds. Five seconds before the bell rang I caught him, and he held on, but I took a real beating. For every one shot I was landing, he was landing four. You can’t beat speed and he had it in abundance.

BEST FOOTWORK
Dan Sherry: I fought (Sherry) in my first world title defense in Brighton in 1991. He was trained by a fellow, one of the greatest, Sugar Ray Leonard, and his footwork, if I remember correctly, was effective.

BEST CHIN
Eduardo Domingo Contreras: He was from Argentina. Contreras, by far, had the hardest chin. If you watch that fight, you’ll see what I mean. I dread to think how he is today. He took everything. I was landing with emotion [Laughs].

SMARTEST
Schommer: His entire act; the way he stood at the press conference, the way he spoke to you. There was nothing about him, he had no cut of a fighter. He was completely disarming. When you watch the fight, you see I get completely outboxed. I got the decision and accepted the decision, at the time, because I was the aggressor. But when you’re being picked off because you’re missing shots, you should not win the fight. I wasn’t being effective.

STRONGEST
Nigel Benn: If someone was strong, it didn’t matter because strength isn’t what it was about. You can’t beat me with strength. You can only beat me with skill and device. You can’t bully me and beat me, because I was technically competent. Nigel Benn, for instance, in the second round of (fight one), lifted me up in the air. I thought, ‘This guy doesn’t know what he’s doing?because he doesn’t care about his charge. He’s burnt out a percentage of his charge. When someone’s over you, you always go limp, you never use your strength. That type of bravado is called ******ity. It’s always better to use technique. I’ve said many times before, I wasn’t that good, but I was intelligent.

BEST PUNCHER
Benn: I’ve never been knocked out, but I came near a couple of times. Johnny Melfah hit me with a shot in the third round at the Albert Hall and I sensed white light. But when Benn hit you, you stayed hit. The impact of the hit stayed with you for at least two-and-a-half seconds. Everybody else, when they hit you, that hit starts dissipating straight away. With Benn, it stayed for like two-and-a-half seconds and obviously, within a split-second, another (punch) would come because he punched in bunches. If you couldn’t hold one, there was no way you were going to hold two, and then it would be three or four. Benn, by far, hit the hardest.

BOXING SKILLS
Schommer: You couldn’t hit him; he was just slightly out of range. You’ve got to remember, it’s not just boxing skill, it’s also the intellect. Here’s a man who has disarmed you beforehand because he made you think he wasn’t anything special. I have to read another fighter and he’s the only fighter I read wrong. OK, and Joe Calzaghe, obviously. His boxing skill was exemplary. He was able to make me miss and pay. Michael Watson, the performance in the second fight, was comprehensively brilliant. He had taken the advice of the great Mike McCallum who said, ‘The only way to beat Eubank is to stay on him for three minutes of every round?which I thought was impossible. That’s exactly what (Watson) did.

BEST OVERALL
Benn/Michael Watson: It’s not fair, it’s not a question I can answer. If I tell you Nigel Benn, Michael Watson did far more to me than Nigel Benn did. Nigel Benn never put me down, but Watson put me down (sic: Benn was credited with a knockdown in fight one, which Eubank contests was a slip). Michael Watson gave me a boxing masterclass for 10-and-a-half rounds, so it’s not fair to ask that question. A man peaks in his life and, that night, September 21, 1991, Michael Watson peaked.

Mmmm. This isn't a fight I'd seen for whatever reason, but I can definitely see how you'd edge it to Schommer. I was never particularly a fan of Eubank back in the day, Benn was my guy, but Chris really didn't look good in this one.

[Chrismart]

Sven Ottke - Feb 2017

BEST JAB
ANTHONY MUNDINE: He was giving me the hardest time in the ring. We were very surprised by Mundine’s jab. We only had two or three fights of him and you couldn’t really tell that he had such a great jab. I had to find that out in the ring. He was much better than we thought.

BEST DEFENSE
MUNDINE: It’s difficult to say because I was the defensive guy; everybody had to run after me [Laughs]. Mundine was unpredictable and fast. Until the KO it was a close fight. It was tough to hit him like I wanted to.

FASTEST HANDS
MUNDINE: It was a very difficult fight for me. Until the knockout it was an even fight.

BEST FOOTWORK
MUNDINE: Nobody was as fast as me. I fought lots of Americans and they aren’t that fast on their feet. Robin Reid told me in the ring to fight because he could not hit me. There was no special footwork with my opponents besides, again, Mundine.

BEST CHIN
CHARLES BREWER: It’s a very difficult question, because I’m not a hard puncher. I’m a technical boxer. I hit Brewer with all my power and he didn’t even flinch. It wasn’t my point to hit hard. My point was to move around and be fast.

SMARTEST
MUNDINE: He was a very smart boxer. It was like a chess match when we fought. It was close until the last punch.

STRONGEST
BREWER: Brewer was a naturally strong guy. You could tell from his physique.

BEST PUNCHER
THOMAS TATE: He was a strong boxer with power in his hands. I felt a lot of his punches, especially in our first fight. The second one was different.

BOXING SKILLS
MUNDINE: Mundine had great tactics; he was very fluid. He had a strong mind and a good fighting attitude.

BEST OVERALL
MUNDINE: It was my toughest fight in my whole career, until the knockout.