Footwork

Great footwork in boxing is essential, it allows you to dart in and out of range to land punches and to avoid taking them. Imo the greatest footwork of all time belonged to Pernall Whitaker he created angles from nearly everywhere.

In the sport currently who do you think has the best footwork?, for me its Guillermo Rigondeaux moves from the edge of range to long range with ease. Mayweather Jr is right up their along with Hopkins, thoughts.

I was always a fan of Louis footwork, an economy of movement so that he was in perfect punching range but able to move back just enough to avoid a shot in return.

Louis 'good shout', his footwork was under rated but at same time he is often compared to Ali. If you look at both, it's clear that Ali's footwork would be Louis worst nightmare, who wouldn't be troubled by Ali's foot work? What other HW champion, before or since, ever fought like Ali. It's not even to say that Ali is the greatest, it's only to say that his foot work would greatly trouble Louis........or any other heavyweight and that no other heavyweight fought that way.

I don't see Louis having much trouble tracking down any other heavyweight. Who's foot work is closest to Ali's of those before Larry Holmes? Gene Tunney. There were other movers but Louis would have found ways to track them down. Walcott gave him hell but Louis was nearly finished by the time they met, Louis destroyed him in the rematch. This is why Louis' foot work was considered to be so poor, he's no dance master. However, he moves well enough to cut off the ring against any other heavyweight except Ali.

Leonard's was pretty spectacular. There wasn't anything Leonard was bad at, but footwork stood out as one of the things he was remarkable at.

Also Fury.

In terms of making the ring tiny Chavez Sr and Foreman were both pretty great and of today's lot Golovkin cuts it down well.

There have definitely been plenty of great footwork artists, for sure.

You mention Whitaker being the best (and I'd agree he's right up there), but the crazy thing about him was that, a lot of the time, he'd have his feet planted totally flat and take steps, rather than glides, backwards or forwards, and yet he still made opponents miss for fun and still stepped around them with ease to get his counters off.

Compare that to Robinson, on the other hand, who always set himself up with that back foot up on the ball part, as if he was about to pounce in. Felix Trinidad set himself up remarkably similarly to Robinson in that respect (take a look at Tito's back foot), the only difference being he wasn't anywhere near as naturally athletic and fleeting as Ray.

The way Whitaker was able to hold the centre of the ring, even if the other man was the aggressor, was superb. Compare the way he boxed a 24-year-old De la Hoya, when past his best, to the way Mayweather boxed a 34-year-old De la Hoya when at his very peak a decade later. Now Floyd actually spent a fair amount of time fighting off the ropes in that one, whereas Pea hardly so much as brushed against the ropes when he boxed Oscar throughout the entire fight.

For Heavyweights, Ali has to get the call ahead of Louis, I think. Louis was great up close, where he wasted very little movements and missed with very few punches, but he wasn't all that mobile if he needed to cover a lot of ring space. His footwork was still good, of course, but not in Ali's class. Even Louis himself couldn't believe some of the stuff Ali was able to pull; remember, Louis was commentating on Ali's first fight against Liston, and after seeing him outspeed Liston and lure him in to traps with his legs before darting back out of the way of any return fire for the first three minutes, Joe opined that he'd just watched "one of the greatest single rounds of all time."

Tunney, as we were discussing earlier today, was of course a master of boxing while on the move.

As for the current scene, we might just have seen the two best footwork artists in the sport sharing a ring just a few months back! Rigondeaux has an outrageous, almost surreal fluidity to the way he moves around the ring and controls distance. Donaire's movement is a bit more dynamic and obvious, but he's quick as a flash on his feet and makes fantastic, late adjustments with them when he's in close, such as his little shimmy to set up that stunning knockout left hook (well, a knockout hook for all intents and purposes, anyway!) against Montiel.

Rigos footwork won him his fight with Donaire and highlighted to me that fluidity will more often than not trump dynamism for the simple reason you're set better to attack and defend rather than one or the other. It's also the reason why Marquez has given Pacquiao so many problems and why Mayweather would have done, they're reactive as opposed to proactive.

At heavy Jersey Joe warrants a mention. Had a lovely way of looking like he was backing up to draw guys in before going on the offensive. Also, much like Louis had a great economy of movement.

HAHA! Tyson Fury. Brilliant little throw into your list there John!

my top three current fighters for footwork would be Rigo, Mayweather and Pacquiao. Also JMM.

Lara can move himself around very quickly, although he looks to use a lot of energy and isn't always able to throw on the move like some others. Basically let's include all Cubans.

John Bloody Wayne wrote:In terms of making the ring tiny Chavez Sr and Foreman were both pretty great and of today's lot Golovkin cuts it down well.

Chavez is an interesting one. He maybe gets slightly underrated in this department on the basis of the theory which says he always struggled with skilled boxers.

There is some truth in that, for sure, but the more you see of Chavez, the more you appreciate that it wasn't so much back-foot boxers who gave him fits. Rather, it was back-foot boxers who could also fight on the inside. The idea that he was left chasing shadows for twelve rounds isn't true. Yes, he was made to struggle, but against even the most fleet-footed men he faced, Chavez always managed to get in close to them and / or corner them eventually.

Guys like Lockridge, Uncle Roger (second fight) and Camacho showed that Chavez didn't like fighters who boxed going away, but also showed that there was no way you were going twelve / fifteen rounds against him without him getting to you and making you take shots inside. Once he had his hands on these kind of boxers, he usually demolished them. Uncle Roger was having a very good time of it for six or seven rounds, but once Julio had him tracked down his lack of an inside game (and chin!) meant the fight would always be effectively over from that point onwards.

Even guys like Taylor, Whitaker and Randall couldn't evade him for the full course, which shows how good his offensive footwork could be. But have a look at the difference when he finally did get inside. Rather than Chavez dominating them, it was Taylor, Whitaker and Randall (particularly the latter two) who pushed Julio back, who outworked him on the inside, who shut down his body hooking.

So in all, Chavez's footwork probably doesn't get the credit he deserves. It wasn't so much the 'running' that he struggled against, more just people who combined it with rough stuff on the inside. Not a knock against Julio, who was outstanding, but he was very much a single-plan fighter and if he couldn't push you about, he was always going to struggle.

John Bloody Wayne wrote:Lara can move himself around very quickly, although he looks to use a lot of energy and isn't always able to throw on the move like some others. Basically let's include all Cubans.

I do recall once watching Joel Casamayor and marvelling at the fluidity of his movement. As JBW says, it's a trait that many Cuban fighters almost seem born with and, when done well, is beautiful to watch.

Yeh agree there Dave, the likes of Rigindeux, Lara and Casamayor were/are fantastic boxers in terms of technical ability.

When Gamboa is (was) on full flow his coordination was just gorgeous.

The Terror of Tylorstown wrote:I was always a fan of Louis footwork...

Spence?

Me too. Flawless.

STC wrote:

The Terror of Tylorstown wrote:I was always a fan of Louis footwork...

Spence?

Me too. Flawless.

Thatsch not what Louis schayssssccchhhhhh

The Terror of Tylorstown wrote:I was always a fan of Louis footwork, an economy of movement so that he was in perfect punching range but able to move back just enough to avoid a shot in return.

Yep Louis footwork was exceptional.