Top tier fighters who don't give a fuck about defense

Quite rare I would say.

Usually fighters who get hit that much don't get to the elite level, even if their offense is excellent.

I would have to say Morales. As skilled as he was offensively, with a good jab etc, he truly didn't give a fuck about getting hit. In fact in some fights he would seem to get a bit bored if he WASN'T getting hit much, and would become more wild.

Who else can you think of that have made pound for pound lists, but truly didn't care about getting hit and/or had awful defense?

 

Aaron Pryor. I've seen that guy take crushing punches to the chin that could have been avoided by simply being less wild. ::

 

PED's

 

Gerry Quarry abandoned a good defense for the Ellis and Frazier fights just trying to prove a point.

 

Yeah he even drank his PEDs in the ring kind of like Popeye used spinach. :stir:

 

Paul Williams

 

yep, and Carl Froch

 

Ricky Hatton

I don't consider him top tier precisely because of his defense (he largely makes up for his defensive liabilities by holding).

However, unlike Morales, whose temperment suited well his lack of defense (it may have been the reason he didn't bother with defense), Hatton gives the impression he'd like to defend better, he just doesn't know how (which again is why he holds).

Berto

He's top tier in terms of ranking, but besides being fast, he doesn't have much defense at all

It is hard to think of any.

Sam Peter and Chris Aereola, although neither are all-time, are among the top heavyweights today, whether you think they suck or not. And neither of them has much in the way of defense.

Come to think of it, Wlad has almost no "legal" defense. And of course, Ruiz too.

Come to think of it, Israel Vazquez, and R. Marquez for that matter, do not have much in the way of defense.

 

Mayweather

 

Terry Norris had such a great chin that he often went all offense fuck defense.

 

And not once did it ever backfire. ::

 

It was a miracle that Norris didn't lose an eye with all that shattering glass.

 

Shut up Hearns fan. :warning:

 

::

 

Norris chin was great, shut up.

He just didn't train well and his stamina failed him sometimes...

After half a round or so.

 

Adamek! His only defense is his face::

 

Paul Williams
Iran Barkley

 

Tall Paul is a good one for sure. I think it's more that he doesn't care about getting hit than has really crap defense.

Hatton sort of counts, he's certainly in the sub category, of fighters with awful defense rather than simply not caring about getting hit.

Like Double picked up on, Hatton does actually try not to get hit, he does focus on defense somewhat, but just has really shit defense, and ends up running into punches and getting hit flush anyway.

 

I said top tier fighters.

 

Julio Caesar Chavez
Evander Holyfield
George Foreman

 

Chavez's defense is actually very underrated.

 

Ta prove what point?.. That they're a lighter shade of pale?.. Anyway, as to the topic, .. Marciano would be a good pick. :crafty:

 

well he is a champ with a couple of good wins and a decorated amateur career so why not?

 

I admit he is better than I thought, and he has grown on me. Mainly because I admire his determination.

But can you see him cracking pound for pound lists anytime soon?

Having said that, I did include Tall Paul, and is Carl that much worse than Paul?

So ok, Carl's in :kidcool:

 

The late great Chico Coralles.
Margarito
Juan Diaz

 

Chavez' defence was outstanding for an offensive machine like that, silly example. Holyfields was actually very solid too. And Foreman's parrying was pretty damn good when he wasn't fatigued or going after a KO wildly....

In fact I'll go as far as to say 'top tier fighter who doesn't give a fuck about defence' is a total oxymoron.

Morales is the nearest thing to it in that bravado/impatience got the better of him more often than almost any other top fighters. But he had some deft moves defensively when he wanted/needed them. Mayorga would be the closest thing to fighter that got to 'top tier' status with basically no regard to defence.

 

Actually, I hear glass is insulted by the references to it and Norris' chin.

 

I would just like to once again point out the total fucking fallacy of this point of view.

 

Chavez is a terrible example... in his prime, every punchstat record would look like Chavez 63% of his powershots, opponent 24% ... he was excellent defensively, he slipped punches so well and had the rare ability to apply pressure and counterpunch simultaneously, much like Roberto Duran

a great example would be Carmen Basilio

Basilio had three traits that made him great:

1. A positively automatic left hook that he threw effortlessly and relentlessly
2. A ridiculous chin matched with a freak pain threshold
3. He was strong as fuck

but his defense was terrible, he simply wore fighters out and broke them

I dont think of him as being "great", but Danny Lopez was definitley successful and top tier despite having the worst defense Ive ever seen on a world champion, this was because he had absurd recuperative powers, a terrific chin and one of the hardest right hands in the history of the Featherweight Division

He started out as a bit of a counterpuncher and a cutie, but Matthew Saad Muhammad the champion never met a four punch combination he didnt like to eat, but he was a freak and just came back from the brink over and over and over with that heavy jab and the right hand behind it along with barrel loads of guts