Pac, Hagler, and Saldivar are by leaps and bounds the three best aggressive southpaws. Watanabe is up there. Obviously not in the same caliber as the above ATGs, but def top 10. Khaosai is top 10 as well.
Don't lie George, did you start this thread so someone could mention Pops? Lol. If so, well played, cause Pops is up there among aggressive southpaws.
#10. Joe Calzaghe #09. Hiroyuki Ebihara #08. Vasyl Lomachenko #07. Khaosai Galaxy #06. Jiro Watanabe #05. Venice Borkhorsor #04. Pernell Whitaker #03. Marvin Hagler #02. Manny Pacquiao #01. Vicente Saldivar HMs: Wonjongkam, Nazarov & Pops Also, just because I think they warrant mention, I considered Bert Lytell and Lew Tendler, but they have too little footage to quantify.
You forgot about Yoko Gushiken. I think he deserves to be top 10. I'm a huge Whitaker fan, but I can't consider him a pressure fighter. He COULD pressure effectively, because he was versatile in every way, but he was essentially a counterpuncher. As a counterpuncher, there's no SP better than Whitaker, but I don't feel he belongs on a pressure list.
Nah, I didn't. I just don't think he's quite on the same level as those guys. Jiro always impressed me far more. Gushiken wasn't as good as the honourable mentions IMO. My criteria was essentially, how good was that southpaw at pressuring, so not necessarily a list of the best southpaws I'd consider pressure fighters. Even still, I think Whitaker has more high-end performances where he pressured his opponent than Hagler does. Or Calzaghe. The majority of Whitaker's best are on the front foot/pocket when you think about it; McGirt, Paez, Haugen, Pineda, Brazier, etc I don't consider him a pressure fighter either, but I think he was as good at it as anyone.
I disagree about Gushiken. Well, not about the Watanabe part - Jiro was better than Gushiken at every facet of boxing, but Gushiken was a superb fighter over his brief prime. P4P he was better than Nazarov.
