Non-elites with great handspeed

Most of history's handspeed bests were elite fighters: Jones, Pac, Leonard, Camacho, Ali, Taylor, Mosley, ect.

Who were some merely "good" fighters with amazingly fast hands?

The first four who come to mind are:

Howard Davis
Judah
Khan
David Reid

 

Herbie Hide.

I think David Haye applies but only with the straight right, which was rapid in the early rounds. I always found the rest of his arsenal to be quite overrated in terms of speed.

 

Gary Russell

 

Great shout.

 

Herbie Hide is a good one. He had very fast hands for a heavy.

 

Taylor looks extremely out of place on that list. Not saying he was elite, just that he looks like he doesn't belong in that quality.

Anyway, Russell was my pick. Khan would've been my second pick.

Carlos Cuadras has very fast hands IMO.

 

I mean, relatively yeah. Mel was hardly in the class of Jones and Leonard, but I would consider Taylor an elite and rightfully, he should be in the Hall.

Khan, Judah, and Russell don't have a claim for the Hall.

 

Sharmba Mitchell in his prime was very fast.

 

Andre Berto...

 

Good one!

 

Ivan Robinson is probably the best example I can think of

 

Another good one.

I've always said, Ivan was a very poor man's Taylor.

 

Sadam Ali had nice handspeed.

 

Good topic. There aren't many who fit the criteria it has to be said. Elite level handspeed is such an important tool to have available. If you could give a fighter any particular attribute my first pick would always be handspeed.

 

To be honest, I just rewatched highlights of Gatti II and he was quite a bit slower than I remembered

 

I have to say Wilder has quick hands, he obviously hit like a motherfucker but his speed of hand was a big part of the element of surprise that led to so many knockouts.

 

Wilder I've always felt is one of those guys who could have been so good if he'd actually been taught how to box properly from an early age. He had all the tools athletically, and that rare gift of natural power.

 

He's also always been a tough muthafucker deep down. He doesn't have any quit it in. Had he been with a Futch or Steward from when he was like seven or eight, he'd have been a great fighter IMO. Not that it matters like, we all know he was poor because he refused to listen to anybody.

 

Yep, perhaps his ego would have always been his downfall but I agree, the tools for a great fighter were always there in the physical and athletic sense.

 

That last part is key. No one could have saved Wilder. He's an arrogant idiot - a bad combination.

Lewis was arrogant, but had the brains to know he had to improve.

 

1980 Olympian, Bernard Taylor, was One of the FASTER, More ATHLETIC Fighters That Never Amounted to Shit...

Taylor was ALL Speed, But Used it to DISENGAGE From Action More Times Than Not...

FAST AF Though...




REED

 

Vinny Pazienza
Michael Dokes
Nino LaRocca

 

Tommy Morrison

 

Good one! I swear, I almost forgot about The Duke . We rarely mention him anymore.

 

Andre Dirrell.

 

Another guy I forgot about .

To be fair, I still feel to this day that Dirrell won the Froch fight.

That performance gets swept under the rug by Froch fans.

How can they claim Carl would beat Calz when truthfully, he didn't even beat Dirrell? Lol

 

Yep agreed. I had Dirrell winning that fight too. I rarely gamble but I had money on him in that one, so was pissed off when the decision went against him. It was close though, and in all honesty it shouldn't have been, Dirrell had the tools to win it going away.

Totally agree that fight is a bad look for Froch when weighing up his chances in a fight with Calzaghe.

 

Aoki and Shibata, though they were world class fighters in their day, Shibata especially having great skill and ability in many respects. A better fighter easily than the likes of Khan, Dirrell etc.

Guzman maybe. Always found him to be hideously overrated by his supporters but he was fast.

LaRocca was a good shout by Flo.

 

Broner and Malignaggi

 

AB had really fast hands at 130-135. Shame he ate himself out of both divisions.