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Santos Laciar - March 2019
BEST JAB
GUSTAVO BALLAS: He had a very rough left hand; it came from everywhere. I had a tough time using my waist. His guard was always good and he was so accurate.
BEST DEFENSE
BETULIO GONZALEZ: A complete fighter. I fought him when he was 33 years old. He defended himself very well with his elbows, with a good guard. He used his right hand to dodge punches. I was able to defeat him but it was so difficult.
FASTEST HANDS
GILBERTO ROMAN: Juanito Herrera and Gilberto Roman had complicated left hands. They were very difficult men; they threw punches from all angles. Even without being well-positioned, they had heavy hands. If I had to pick, I would say Roman.
BEST FOOTWORK
HILARIO ZAPATA: I could not find him anywhere in the ring. He worked in zones and then he used the distance. You had to be very intelligent with Hilario; now he is a Hall-of-Famer.
BEST CHIN
ANTOINE MONTERO: The Frenchman, we fought 15 rounds. Evidently at the end of the fight, he had to go to the hospital but he blocked everything I threw at him. The fight was in his country; I managed to retain my title.
SMARTEST
ROMAN: He had guts; he was smart. He worked where he hurt you the most. First he cut you with a blow and then he was very intelligent to work and hit continuously on that cut.
STRONGEST
JOSE IBIRIS: Jos?Ibiris from Argentina, I fought three times with him; he was great. He knew how to take advantage of his power. Always with an amazing stance, he hit you with the best he had.
BEST PUNCHER
LUIS GEREZ: Gilberto Roman from Mexico and Luis Gerez from Argentina, both had very heavy hands. We had to stay close to them and take some risks. They were natural bantamweights and I was a flyweight, so I really felt their power. I would say Gerez was the best puncher.
BEST OVERALL SKILLS
CHARLIE MAGRI: It was one of the first fights outside my country. I was very much a rookie: he moved a lot. It was hard to get him into the corners; he constantly clinched. It was hard to fight him.
BEST OVERALL
ROMAN: Gilberto Roman was a very complete fighter. I learned a lot with him; I learned to jab a lot. I faced him already at the end of my career but he taught me many things. He was the best.Comment
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i feel like fighters needs to be hooked up to a lie detector test before giving this interview lol. you know damm well, half of them aint telling the whole truth.Comment
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Micky Ward - April 2019
BEST JAB
Zab Judah: Zab had a good, stiff jab and because he was a lefty it was awkward for me and tough to hit him. Charles Murray had a great jab too.
BEST DEFENSE
Charles Murray: I had trouble hitting him because he was tall, long and had a great defense. Harold Brazier was very good defensively and good offensively as well. He beat Roger Mayweather for the world title, but they robbed him.
FASTEST HANDS
Judah: Again, Zab Judah. He was always fast but at 19, when I fought him, he was exceptionally fast. Charles Murray a close second.
BEST FOOTWORK
Arturo Gatti: I wasn’t looking at their feet (laughs). Arturo Gatti, when he was moving, had the best footwork. He knew how to work the whole ring. A lot of times he stood and ******, but when he was on his toes and moving around, he had great footwork because his legs were so strong.
BEST CHIN
Gatti: Definitely Arturo Gatti. I put him down twice, once to the head. He was just so tough. Emanuel Augustus had a great chin too. He could hit hard and was the most awkward guy to fight.
SMARTEST
Brazier: I have to go back to when I was younger. Harold Brazier was a veteran, probably 35 (he was 34) when we fought, but it was like fighting a 25-year-old. He could really fight, and he was so smart in the ring. Arturo and Zab were smart too.
STRONGEST
Gatti: I fought a lot of guys who were strong but if I had to pick one ?Arturo. He had a good left hook. Arturo put everything into his punches, never worried about getting hit back. He didn’t care.
BEST PUNCHER
Gatti: Arturo could really punch. I did fight a lot of guys earlier in my career who could punch, but they never went anywhere.
BOXING SKILLS
Judah: As he got older, he stood and fought more. He moved (up) in weight, but between 19 and 21, his skills were very, very good. He had some pop too. Arturo had good skills when he boxed.
BEST OVERALL
Judah: So tough. I can’t pick between Arturo and Zab. Arturo was fast, punched hard and was good defensively when he wanted to be. Zab had crazy speed and he could punch. If I had to pick, I’d go Zab because of his speed. Arturo was fast but not as fast as Zab.Comment
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Thx again for doing this. These are so damn good.Comment
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Danny Romero - April 2019
BEST JAB
FRANCISCO TEJEDOR: I can still feel that jab right now. He was a lot taller than I was and he snapped out his very educated jab. I could see them coming and I was still getting hit in the nose. For the first four rounds, I couldn’t do anything against them.
BEST DEFENSE
VUYANI BUNGU: His defensive skills were extremely underrated as a world champion. Every time I hit him, it was rolling off and nothing was happening. I would see an opening ?his big liver. My hand would go in and go out ?nothing. He was such an inside defensive fighter. He was so slick that I couldn’t knock him out.
FASTEST HANDS
JOHNNY TAPIA: I’d known Johnny since we were kids when he trained with my father. I used to see what they were working on and I could see he was able to do very quick, fluent punches, snappy and very fast without losing his balance. They worked on that a lot and he had the talent.
BEST FOOTWORK
TAPIA: He had both together: Fast hands and feet. I threw a jab at Johnny and Johnny would be somewhere over there. He was so fast.
BEST CHIN
JOE MANZANO: I hit Joe Manzano clean and hard. I was watching my shots go right on him but he didn’t fall. His eyes always came back. I hit him hard; it buzzed him and he straightened up quickly. I didn’t go the distance very many times but he was one where I did.
SMARTEST
ENRIQUE JUPITER: He knew all the tricks. He was very smart. If the punch was coming, he would slide over, move the face. Whenever I hurt him, he would react. He would grab my arm, lay his weight on me, walk me back, push me into a wet corner to get me sliding and lose my footing.
STRONGEST
BUNGU: Vuyani Bungu was a beast (laughs). Especially as I moved up in weight, I bumped into him and I bounced right back. That was one strong man.
BEST PUNCHER
RICHARD DINKINS: As soon as the bell rang, he came out flying with both hands. He hit me with left and right hooks. Then everything went quiet. For a split-second, my legs weren’t doing the dance but I felt them doing it. I knew I was going to get knocked out, ‘OK,?I said, ‘now you take mine.?I hit him and put him out. To this day, I know he was the hardest puncher who ever hit me.
BEST BOXING SKILLS
RATANACHAI SOR VORAPIN: Johnny had great boxing skills but I didn’t really learn any new skills from him. I’m talking about those experiences that help you later on. For that I can credit world champion southpaw Ratanachai Sor Vorapin. He had a nice jab, could slip and was a good puncher. He boxed beautifully.
BEST OVERALL
HAROLD GREY: He was the best fighter, pound-for-pound, I ever fought. I think Harold Grey had the best total package of them all. Don’t get me wrong; Johnny was a tremendous fighter. Vuyani Bungu was another great fighter but coming into that fight with Harold Grey, where he had been in his career, it was something where it may have been a whole different outlook if he had got past the second round and I don’t know if I’d have been able to win that fight. He did a tremendous amount of damage in that weight class against great fighters and going sometimes to their backyards. He came over here to Albuquerque; he didn’t care. I was back and forth between him and Vuyani Bungu; he was the man. He beat Kennedy McKinney and he had tons of defenses against tough fighters. I still believe it was Harold Grey.Comment
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Paulie Ayala - April 2019
BEST JAB
ERIK MORALES: Morales and Barrera had excellent jabs; sometimes I couldn’t avoid them. They could both slug and box. I’m going to go with Morales. He threw a hard stiff jab, even if it was a check jab or solo jab, jab to the body, he knew how to use his leverage well and he threw from different angles. He showed a lot of consistent variations with his jab.
BEST DEFENSE
MARCO ANTONIO BARRERA: He knew how to slip well and he knew how to catch well. Sometimes when you would assume you caught him he would turn his cheek as you were landing so it was hard to land a solid shot unless you timed it when he was throwing. For the most part, when he’s on defense it made it difficult to land flush shots.
FASTEST HANDS
JOHNNY TAPIA: I would give that to Tapia. He threw a lot of straight combos. I’m not saying they were landing, but he would throw an array of combos consistently. He was pretty quick.
BEST FOOTWORK
TAPIA: Tapia came up with some pretty good footwork. When we fought his game plan was to stick and move and box. That was giving me a lot of problems. With his emotions, he got caught up in the fight a little more and that’s what caused him to stop moving as much.
BEST CHIN
TAPIA: Barrera, Morales and Tapia ?they all had great chins. Let’s put Johnny; he was moving up from 115, then 118, coming from a lower weight class. He had a great chin. I hit him more consistently than Morales or Barrera.
SMARTEST
BARRERA: I got caught by Barrera to the body ?he fractured my rib ?and was taking his time to do it again. I fought the wrong game plan. I was trying to do too much boxing. I was showing too much respect and not attacking and fighting the way I normally do. I was trying to play chess with a master.
STRONGEST
SAOHIN SRITHAI CONDO: Strength-wise, he was pretty strong. He was a former champion in Muay Thai. Physically, when I tried to move him around, he was more resistant than the other guys.
BEST PUNCHER
MORALES: He hit me more than I ever have been hit in a fight, including the Barrera fight. In the second round he caught me with an uppercut and it swelled my eye shut, so I wasn’t able to see his right hand for at least 10 rounds of the fight. Barrera caught me to the body, he fractured my rib and it was hard to breath. Morales was heavy-handed, even when you would block I could feel he had power.
BEST BOXING SKILLS
BARRERA: He outboxed me and was able to checkmate with the body shot.
BEST OVERALL
MORALES: I would say the best fighter was Morales. He could box, he could slug, but as a warrior, he wanted knockouts and would go for it. He wouldn’t beat about the bush. He knew how to dodge, block, counter, he came from all different angles.Comment
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Marcos Villasana - May 2019
BEST JAB
Antonio Esparragoza: Well executed, with the arm straight and gave a twist with the fist before hitting.
BEST DEFENSE
Azumah Nelson: Dodged many blows; he had movement.
FASTEST HANDS
Paul Hodkinson: It overwhelmed you, he did not hit hard, but it was very fast. Mario Miranda was ranked No. 1 [in the world] and in the first three rounds I did not see his punches. The good thing is, the more he hit me, the more I liked it. Miranda had enormous qualities.
BEST FOOTWORK
Esparragoza: With his lateral steps, he was not a fixed target.
SMARTEST
Nelson: He was not the toughest, doesn’t have the hardest punch, but he’s the most intelligent. He was so clever inside the ring; he knew how to box and how to avoid problems. Every time I got him, he clinched or pushed me. Nelson had a lot of unusual resources to get out of problems and compromising situations.
STRONGEST
Nelson: I landed my best punches on him and it seemed as if I didn’t. He had the strength to assimilate all my hard shots. It really seemed as if I couldn’t hit hard.
BEST CHIN
Nelson: I connected some very strong hooks and I did not move him or Marcos Villasana. They never knocked me out (either). They knocked me down, I think only twice, and I got up to fight. I fell almost by slipping, but they never hurt me. I was always very well-prepared. Nelson was a 100 percent professional.
BEST PUNCHER
Jaime Garza: He made me dance, but he did not drop me. Without any doubt, he was the best puncher of all rivals I ever faced. He had a lot of power, more than Nelson. However, the difference is he was not able to resist [my power]. He could hit, but he could not stand up to my power shots. Azumah was able to throw and receive.
BEST BOXING SKILLS
Jeff Fenech: He had great footwork and moved a lot. He was very hard to hit and knew all the tricks when he got to the ropes. The thing with Fenech is that I did not have a clear fight with him; he was street smart, he was tricky, he had a lot of resources. He did not punch hard, but his greatness was in other characteristics; he knew how to stay away from problems.
BEST OVERALL
Nelson: He can punch really hard and take any punch. He was really the most complete fighter I ever faced.Comment
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