Compared to his timers probably Jack Johnson. Ali is up there of course Then it comes to definitions. Like who has the better defense, Tyson or Wlad? Wlad got hit way less, but he accomplished that by shutting his offense down completely. Tyson rarely got hit considering how aggressive he was. So you can't separate defensive skills from tactical choices, which makes it tricky
Vitali had a good way of keeping his own offense going, not clinching, and not getting hit too much either.
I'd give it to Byrd rather than Young as I think Young had a defensive mentality rather than outright defensive skills. There's this impression that Byrd was always going to get blown out by Ibeabuchi but I don't buy that. I really think another few rounds of swinging and missing and Ike might have pulled a Golota. I don't say Ike was lucky, just fortunate he found the right shot at the right moment. It's not like he'd been all over Byrd from day 1.
Are you being serious? Turd was gonna get himself killed. He had NOTHING to hold Ike off with, and Ike wasn't gonna stop.
I never said he wasn't.....it's just I wonder why guys like Ike didn't blast El Turdo in the opening round. Great clip has the fight and hours of shit including El Bullshito Burt Sugar.
Byrd fought very ‘defensive-mindedly’, but he got caught too many times to be considered up with the greatest defensive heavyweights IMO. Roy Jones at heavyweight, just for example, was well ahead of Byrd.
Roy had 1 fight versus a ploddish Ruiz. Not saying it wasn't impressive but Roy's "Defense" seemed a bit lacking when his reflexes went. It wasn't real defense it was speed-oriented slick stuff and once he slowed down, he didn't seem capable of avoiding a shot at all save against guys like Tito or Lacy who were themselves shot to bits too. Tyrd actually trained old-school with one foot in a tyre in the gym and not having any more movement that that allowed. He made Ibeabuchi miss a good bit. I was just wondering how it would have looked if Tyrd went say 6, 7 rounds and Ike still hadn't landed the big one. Tyrd genuinely knew how to avoid shots. In 2000 Wlad was letting his hands go a lot and Chris was defensively sound in that fight till his eyes started to swell and he couldn't really see the shots any more.
I'm not sure about the Jones comparison but i hear what D MAN is saying about being defensive minded. When you train and focus on not getting hit as your primary goal it's only natural that you're going to get hit less on average than somebody that doesn't take the same approach. It's a bit like parking the bus in football. Is that truly "great" defense or simply a tactic?
Agreed. Wlad had a great defence. He'd hold guys and when he couldn't he'd hit them hard in the head so they were preoccupied. Insane defence!!! It's like a massive wall around your house versus making everyone think you've got nothing worth stealing. They both kind of work, but the guy who wears bling in plain sight and never gets robbed cos everyone thinks its fake.........he's the magician, not the guy with the 20 foot wall. Mike Tyson probably had the best defence, when you get right down to it. Nobody, for that brief period of about 3 years, ever stayed so offensively-minded while being so hard to hit. You wanna know why? You wanna know WHY? DO YOU WANNA KNOW WHY? I'LL TELL YA. I'LL TELL YA!! COS IT'S HA! AND HUH!!! AND NAH UH NUH HUH!! {Teddying Intensifies at the 2:58 mark}
Atlas is an overly aggressive Douche but he knows things. There's a whole era of know-how in there. And he can explain it.......when he's not NAH!!! AND NUH!! AND HAH!!! AND MENNALLY!! BAM!! BAM BAMM!! etc
A bit funny that hes not really doing the peekaboo in that video. His arms are not nearly straight enough
