By Wil Patino: Defense is an art only few are willing and able to master. Its hard to appreciate in real time yet beautiful to watch in slow motion. Only then can you truly see step by step the essence of eluding an attack. There are a variety of ways to make your opponent miss and many techniques one can apply. I’m here to speak on an art that some may not appreciate or truly understand.
From casual fans to hardcore, pure defense can be hard to appreciate and can feel a bit lackluster in regards to the action in the ring. I myself love an offensive fighter and the art of the knockout (hence the term knock out artist). They entertain and present a magnificent display in the technique of attack and conquer. Today I will speak on the defensive wizards of yesteryear’s with some mention of present fighters. The way they brush off punches like they brush paint on a canvas we call the ring.
Head Movement
Willie ” Will O’ The Wisp” Pep: One of the first and earlier masters of defense. Willie Pep held many records in his time. Most impressively winning 229 bouts and having a streak of 62 wins before taking his first loss then quickly racking up 73 wins consecutively afterwards. (sigh) Aghh Willie Pep, an amazing fighter from the 40’s and 50’s. They don’t make them like him anymore. He used good head movement to avoid the attack of his opponents and was quick on his feet, circling and countering his opposition. The myth and wonderment of Willie Pep comes to light when considering He’s the only man to win a round with out throwing a punch, all though some would dispute he actually threw one punch in said round. That says it all. Bert Sugar the famous boxing historian and ex owner of “Ring Magazine” had Willie as 3rd in his greatest boxers of all time list. For those who do not know of Willie Pep I don’t blame you, he’s not spoken of much these days and his time was nearly 80 years ago. If you appreciate defensive technique look into him, you won’t find too much video of him in his prime but it is out there.
Nicolino “El Intocable” Locche: An Argentinian fighter based mostly in his homeland back in the 60’s. He was known as “the untouchable” with a good professional record. He had an incredible 117 wins with only 4 losses, but fought to a draw 14 times oddly enough. Some might credit him with being the first to use the shoulder roll as part of his defensive arsenal. I don’t really know if i would say he’s the first. Look him up and see some of his wonderful head movement
Shoulder Roll
James “lights out” Toney: He’s one of the more recent fighters on here. He may not have been the greatest defensive fighter, but did many things defensively well. including waist movement and the shoulder roll. James Toney sometimes is credited with having the best shoulder roll. Especially for a man his size. As you know with Mayweather basically making the shoulder roll a popular theme with defensive fighters in todays boxing. James would roll his shoulder and counter his opponents beautifully with a hard crushing right. He was able to use this movement effectively in nearly all his fights. It didn’t work with Roy Jones of course.
Floyd “Money” Mayweather: Didn’t want to talk about Floyd due to the massive love and hate he has on this site. Yet we all know he uses the shoulder roll masterfully too. He too uses head movement to great effect. Floyd like pretty much all the fighters I have mentioned on this article has other amazing defensive attributes, but this specific one is what he’s most famous for
Waist Movement
Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker: Pernell Whitaker did many things well defensively as I mentioned every fighter on here has too. Pernell had an incredible career with being truly the first man to beat the great Julio Cesar Chavez in outclassing him completely back when they both were top 5 pound for pound fighters. Whitaker used incredible waist movement to dip and dodge oncoming attacks. One example can be found in the Oscar De La Hoya fight. He dipped and dodged 8 punches from an aggressive attack by Oscar De La Hoya back in their championship fight. Its movements like these that came from the waist along with foot speed that allowed Whitaker to move out the way untouched. Its a beautiful thing to watch
Now I know there are a lot more defensive wizards to speak of, but of course there isn’t enough time to speak on all of them. I saw Wilfred Benitez pretty much dip and block over a dozen consecutive punches while standing in the corner with no punches landing cleanly. It is segments like those that remind me how beautiful of a thing defense can be. Rigondeaux displays a masterful craftsmanship in defense himself, like I said there are many fighters I could mention, but I thought I’d talk about some from back in the day and some a bit recent. Floyd being the only active fighter mentioned. Defense will equal a longer career and usually will leave you coming out healthy, but that’s not always the case as you know. Although defensive fighters can make a fight uneventful, and some may say boring. They deserve to be appreciated and remembered. I’ll leave with asking my readers who are your favorite defensive fighters and what did they do so well? I wanted to leave room for you to mention your own and some of their impressive moments. Like I mentioned Whitaker dodging 8 punches from Oscar De La Hoya. As I said before, pretty much all the fighters in this article do more than one thing great. They of course have mastered foot work and blocking punches, catching jabs and countering etc. With that being mentioned I leave you with videos that demonstrate exactly what i’m talking about when it comes to the art of defense.
For video on Willie Pep, Nicolino Locche, Wilfred Benitez and Pernell Whitaker check out – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ct2jCu7y9Y
For video on James Toney – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h227sP9Gc-I
For video on Mayweather – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQYeSXpC244
Thank you and enjoy… Please comment.
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