Best I've faced

[gratz_the_king]

its amazing how many fighters pick mccallum as their best overall.

[SkillspayBills]

All this thread made me want to do is go through Mike McCallum's fight catalog lol.

[SkillspayBills]

I still remember that body shot Forrest decked Shane with (round 10?). Shane literally screamed out loud.

I remember Shane being asked about that. He said he had surgery in that exact spot and Forrest hit him right where the stitches were. Shane has some serious heart.

[STREET CLEANER]

There is a reason McCallum was avoided by Hearns, Leonard and Duran.

Hearns actually gave him the name "The Body Snatcher"

[BattlingNelson]

Great read thank you. I love the Toney and McCallum ones the most.

[PeasantCrusha]

Very good!

[PeasantCrusha]

keep em comin!

[Chrismart]

Reggie Johnson - July 2015

BEST SKILLS ?Roy Jones Jr.: It is a no-brainer for me, I started boxing at the age of 12 and I fought at the highest level as an amateur and pro. Therefore, when you do the math, that’s 36 years as a boxer. Roy Jones?skill-set presented the most problems by far but it would be unjust to mention the other champions that I fought whose skill-set was a supreme task, James Toney, Lamar Parks, John David Jackson and the huge light heavyweight, Antonio Tarver, who eventually found a way to break the code of the best fighter I’ve fought in my career and the best fighter of our era. Roy Jones had the best skill-set.

BEST JAB ?Lamar Parks: Lamar Parks had the best jab because it was hard and fast. His jab demanded respect right out the gate and inspired me to get out the way. Parks is the best fighter I fought who didn’t win a world title and me, being a 2-1 underdog in the Parks fight, adds credibility to what I just stated. I have major respect for my friend and former foe Lamar “Kid Fire?Parks.

BEST DEFENSE ?Jones Jr.: My first professional coach was the welterweight champion from the mid-?0s Curtis Cokes, who was Dallas, Texas?first world boxing champion and perhaps the state of Texas?first boxing world champion since the first African-American world champion, Jack Johnson from Galveston, Texas. Curtis explained to me and taught me that your defense and offense starts with your legs. Therefore, Roy Jones had the best defense. But I must say this: James Toney became the best defensive of fighter of our era without mainly using his legs as he parried punches and counter-punched.

BEST CHIN ?: Jorge Castro, who was 94-4-2 in our first fight in his backyard in Argentina. That’s 100 pro fights and he had not been stopped in his four losses. This speaks in volume of his concrete chin. Eddie Hall, who I fought and defended my USBA 160-pound title against, is another guy I fought who comes to mind.

BEST PUNCHER ?Lamar Parks: The best punchers I must acknowledge are the ones who knocked me down, Eric Williams, Victor Walker, Ismael Negron, Eddie Hall and Roy Jones. Speed generates power and the punch you don’t see is the one that knocks you down. Three other hard punchers I must mention that didn’t knock me down are Jorge Castro, William Guthrie and, my friend and former foe, the late Julio Gonzalez, Rest in peace, champ. We love and miss you.

[If I had to pick, it would be between] Lamar Parks and William Guthrie. Lamar hit me with a body shot that I should have won an acting award due to him not knowing how bad that punch affected me. Likewise Guthrie hit me on more than one occasion and he had no idea how I felt from the head and body punches he landed on me. I’d go with Lamar Parks.

FASTEST HANDS ?Jones Jr.: By far, Roy Jones Jr. When I think of my friend and former foe, Roy Jones Jr. and his fast hands, I think of [Muhammad] Ali turning the lights off and being in the bed before the room got dark. (laughs)

FASTEST FEET ?Jones Jr.: Because Roy was the only guy I couldn’t trap or get to due to his ability to get in and out so fast, due to his fast feet. Curtis Cokes preached to me that a man’s greatest defense is his legs/feet. Therefore, if a man gets in position to punch first, he can hit before being hit and if you’re doing the hitting, nine out of 10 times, you’re not getting hit. Also, Cokes preached that your offense and defense starts with your legs/feet. My late chief trainer, Manuel “Chato?Robles and future Hall-of-Famer trainer Jessie Reid, who has also dropped tons of knowledge to many champions over the years including myself, also taught the importance of having fast legs/feet and the benefits they brought to the ring table.

SMARTEST ?Jones Jr.: The smartest man in this business is the one who can hit and not get hit and make the most money. That man, to me, is Roy Jones Jr. and the promoters I did business with. They are so good they don’t get hit at all. (laughs)

STRONGEST ?Guthrie: William Guthrie, due to his size. At 160 pounds, Steve Collins was one physically strong, determined foe with a concrete chin.

BEST OVERALL ?Jones Jr.: Once again, Roy Jones Jr. is the best across the board. But I must mention the other elite fighters I fought, James Toney, Antonio Tarver, Lamar Parks and John David Jackson.

[Chrismart]

Carl Froch - September 2014

BEST SKILLS
Andre Dirrell and Andre Ward: Dirrell was good boxing at range, and Ward is intelligent up close. Those two are standout.

BEST JAB
Ward: That is a key weapon for him, and he hooks well off the jab as well. He caught me with a lot of jabs in our fight and works that shot well to the body and head. He's also careful not to leave himself open when he jabs to the body, like I do sometimes. He gets in and gets out.

BEST DEFENSE
Ward: He nullifies opponents and takes away your advantages. He beat me fair and square, and always finds a way to win, but I wasn't switched on when we met the first time. Look at what I've done since that fight, five wins and four knockouts against top opposition. People say Ward outclassed me, but two of the judges had the fight 115-113 for a reason. Hypothetically, if a rematch ever happened in England, then I'm confident I could give him a good pasting. He made our fight boring, but I know what has to be done to make it exciting. As I said, though, television isn't interested and neither are the fans.

BEST CHIN
Glen Johnson: He was never in trouble, and I hit him with some really heavy digs. I saw him coming, set my feet, hit him with combinations, reset myself and hammered him with more big shots. All of that and he was going nowhere. He was switched on that night, because the prize was a huge fight with Ward, so I had to be on form.

BEST PUNCHER
Robin Reid: He hurt me the most with a single shot. I can't say George Groves because he caught me square on in the first fight, when I left my feet behind me. That was a heavy knockdown made worse by my balance being off. Also, after his fast start dwindled, I came on strong, so I can't say Groves. I remember Reid hitting me and saying, 'F***ing hell, that hurt'. Jermain Taylor had me down, but that was more of a sharp shot. Robin Reid could really ****, and in my opinion he deserved the win over Joe Calzaghe in their fight. That said, Calzaghe had to be tough to walk through the right hands he took from Reid.

FASTEST HANDS
Dirrell: Dirrell was like lightning. He was fast, athletic, good on his feet and he could ****. Dirrell perhaps lacked the mindset for the game, and without that you're just a fancy sports car, running on empty. Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard.

FASTEST FEET
Dirrell: He fought scared, and I think I got into his head a bit during the buildup. It was close on the scoring because of his movement, but I just kept applying the pressure. Dirrell was never the same after that fight, although he was looking great against Arthur Abraham before being knocked out illegally. Andre Dirrell was a very good fighter; amateur and professional.

SMARTEST
Ward: He's good at what he does, very effective, and he knows how to beat you in a bore-fest. He's able to get off what works best for him, which is very clever. It's just unfortunate that nobody wants to watch Andre Ward fight. I could do far better against him in a rematch, but I don't have the motivation, and nobody is demanding it now.

STRONGEST
No one in particular: There's honestly not one name that sticks out here. Arthur Abraham was strong, but he couldn't hit me. Mikkel Kessler and Jean Pascal were strong. At that level, they're all f***ing strong, let's be honest.

BEST OVERALL
Mikkel Kessler: He's the best all-rounder. He can box, punch, fight up close, and his jab is excellent. The reason his jab is so effective is because he's left-handed but fights orthodox. Kessler has good defense, but he'll stand there and have a fight with you. He is one very tough man and took great shots from me in both our fights.

[Chrismart]

Howard Davis Jr - Jan 2012

Toughest fight: Larry Stanton/Norman Goins ?I was very nervous, it was my first 10 rounder (vs. Stanton). We fought in an arena that had no air conditioning and after the first round I had nothing. I don’t know how I went 10 rounds. I almost collapsed after the fight. I had nothing, and when I say I had nothing left, there’s no way I could go another round. I felt like I was dying. I tried to KO him in the first round and he just kept coming for ten rounds. It was the most brutal fight for me, mentally. On top of that I had Bell’s palsy. Only my father had known about it. That was painful in itself. I had to deal with that while fighting.

Then my second ten rounder, (was against) Norman Goins. He had a lot of knockouts and he had lost his last 7 fights but for some reason when he found out he was fighting me, he hired a new trainer, went to train in Florida and got in terrific shape. He knocked me down in the first and in the fifth. I knocked him down in the ninth and it should have been a knockout. The referee Jay Edson let it go 13 seconds. I came to him afterwards and said, “You let the fight go a little longer.?He admitted it, he said, “Yeah, but you had the fight.?I guess he wanted to see it through. I didn’t realize it at the time but when I looked at the films, he stopped at (the count of) ??when the guy got to his knees.

Best boxer: Vilomar Fernandez ?One of the most technical fighters I ever fought. He was a consummate boxer, just came off a win over Alexis Arguello. It was an elimination fight to fight for the title. When you think of a slick, high intelligence boxer, that’s what he was about. He was one of those guys who was very smart, very difficult to hit at times. He just had a very high IQ for boxing and I admire that. I fought his brother Jose Fernandez, too. I think it was my second or third fight.?br />
Best Puncher: Tony Baltazar ?I didn’t know anything about him, not even his record. They just told me, “Today you’re fighting this guy.?I usually make it easy for myself by not getting hit but at times I got hit by him and they were pretty powerful punches. If I wasn’t sick, he wouldn’t have hit me at all. I was so weak and ill, I don’t know how I went ten rounds because two days before that I couldn’t go two.?br />
Best Defense: Edwin Rosario ?He was very difficult to hit the first three rounds. One of the things I had going for me was speed and once I find the range for my jab, it’s over for them. I could not hit him with my jab in the beginning. When I started feinting, I started hitting him with it. Even with all the movements, he was still difficult to hit for me.

Smartest: Edwin Rosario ?You could tell he studied me. He had all my moves. I had to go into my bag of tricks for him. Boxing is a game of chess. I would make a certain move that would be setting something up down the line. He knew I was setting him up for something later so when I made a move, he made a move to counteract it. I had to make 2-3 moves so I could get him into position.

For that fight, a lot people don’t know that this was a short notice fight. I only trained I think two and a half three weeks. At the time I was contemplating retirement. I weighed 155 and I told my wife the same day that I found out that I think I’m going to retire and she was happy. As soon as I made that decision, my trainer pulled up at my house and said, “You got a title fight.?I said “No, I’m retired.?He said, “Well, here’s the money.?So I said “OK we’re out.?br />
Fastest hands: Hector Camacho ?I think he had great timing and was great counter puncher. Not a hard puncher at all and I don’t think he cared about punching hard. I caught him a couple of times, I bloodied his nose in the fourth and fifth rounds. He was very tricky but he couldn’t do the things he wanted to do to me because I wouldn’t let him hit me. But he won the fight, no doubt about it. He didn’t shut me out. All the rounds were close in my opinion.

Best chin: Larry Stanton ?I hit him with the kitchen sink. I’m not known to be a hard puncher, but I can punch hard when I set down and don’t move so much. I never cared about knocking somebody out, my thing was being a mad scientist, taking it to the bunson burners and beakers.

Fastest feet: Hector Camacho ?He knows how to avoid with his feet. He’s not a guy who moves his head a lot, he avoids with his legs.

Strongest: Norman Goins ?I was either 20 or 21, he was 27 or 28 and had his man strength. One of the strongest fighters I ever fought. I would have to say Baltazar also. I was sick but I could tell he was strong. He was very difficult to clinch.

Best jab: Edwin Rosario ?I think the most I got hit by anyone’s jab happened to be Edwin Rosario. It wasn’t much, but I would say he hit me the most with the jab. If somebody hit me with a lot of jabs, it’d be very difficult for me to get my jab off. There were two reasons: he saw my jab, good fighters can figure out when you’re going to throw a punch because they study your movements. You could tell he had studied my jab because every time I would throw it, he would either slip it or block it. He’s a short guy and usually short guys don’t jab, but his timing was good. Mike Tyson was another short guy who had a great jab, his timing was impeccable. Edwin Rosario’s timing was very, very good.