Obviously Mayweather and Hopkins are #1 & #2. But who's after that? In all honesty, Marquez, Barrera and Pacquiao would have to make the list IMO. I'd have Penalosa in there as well, personally. Like, high high up.
Outside Mayweather, BHop, JMM, Barrera, and Pac I would say that Kostya Tszyu, Winky Wright, Vernon Forrest, Joel Casamayor were top technicians of the 2000s. Penalosa is a great shout. Also thought Chad Dawson and Joan Guzman were great technicians in the late 2000s.
Rigondeaux won 2 gold medals in that decade and would have easily been 3 if he didn't defect. If he'd have defected after his first gold we never would have even heard of pacquaio
why not? i saw no specification about amateur or pro he certainly could have easily made 118 at any point in the mid 2000s to lay an epic beating on penalosa
mario kindelan was also one of the best technicians of the 2000s although he never had the opportunity to prove it at the professional level as rigondeaux eventually did.
So, if Rigo had defected, turned pro five years earlier, cut down to a weight he didn't fight at as a pro until his late 30s - a full decade after the cut off point - he could've laid a beating on Penalosa? That's your argument? And Rigo never put a beating on any world class fighter, let alone one with a defence as good as Penalosa's. He doesn't count, and even if he did, he wasn't as good a technician as any of the guys I mentioned in the OP. He'd be top ten in the 2010s, though. Easily.
cut down. cut 1 pound? He should have defected after his first gold medal in 2000-2001. sticking around the cuban program just made him less aggressive. Im not advocating him cutting to bantamweight when he turned professional, although he EASILY could have. if there was a money fight at that weight im sure he would have. i see zero evidence he became any more skilled in 2010 than he was previously. if anything he was at the end of his peak and less sharp midway thru that decade.
Feel free to. I think by the time he fought Morales III, Hatton, Diaz, De La Hoya etc, he was an excellent technician.
And there's zero reason to include a guy who fought four times in the decade. Should win include Loma and GGG too for their amateur work? No.
Lomachenko would definitely deserve inclusion if he had dominated the first half of that particular decade as he did the latter half
Tszyu is a weird one, I never thought much of him in the pro ranks but he looked sensational in the amateurs, especially against Forrest.
I've said it a few times, I love watching Cotto in 'boxing mode', much moreso than I do his usual aggressive style.
I think "boxer" Cotto was unbelievably overrated, and not that fun to watch. He was better being aggressive. He really wasn't particularly special as a boxer. All his best performances (Pinto, Quintana, ect.) came in attack mode.
Agreed, very strong and good timing with the right hand, but never saw him as a great technician either.
Ricardo Lopez had textbook technic Edit: just saw he only fought twice in the 00' so don't really fit. Maybe Tarver then, though he could get sloppy
He mainly had a good run up to 2003 when he fought Holyfield, I wouldn't count him as a top technician of 2000s.
