There is often a lot of debate and talk around the pound for pound best of all time, the best heavyweights of all time or in general the best fighters from a certain weight class ever, but I ask the question who are the fastest fighters that ever laced up? As the old saying goes in boxing "speed kills" and there's been many blistering speed merchants down through the years in the noble art. Speed in boxing is often thought of and spoken of as just hand speed, but I think when formulating a list like this it's important to consider speed of foot too.
After all, footwork is one of the most important fundamentals in this violent dance that we know as boxing. Well here we go, lets count this bad boy down!
5. Manny Pacquiao - A speed merchant if ever the was one. A guy who's hand and foot speed shot him to fame and moved him through the weight divisions like no other. In the words of a certain David Diaz who did a post fight presser after losing to Pacquiao "The mother f****r was just too fast!". Surely a deserving name on this list.
4. Floyd Mayweather - I'd probably just put "Money" ahead of "Pacman" in the speed ranks if you are comparing the two in their primes.
Granted, both are not exactly far removed from their prime, I just think when you look back at when Mayweather started out in the lower weight classes he was so quick it was almost untrue. The wins against Corrales, Augustus, Manfredy to name but a few early on when he used combinations were jaw dropping. He was so fast that the guys could barely lay a glove on him. .
3. Sugar Ray Leonard - One of my favorite all time fighters has to be the legendary Ray Leonard.
The thing I love watching back on some of his fights was those amazing combinations he used to rattle off. Those combinations are up there for some of the fastest of all time and he dazzled his opponents on many occasion in arguably the best boxing era of them all.
2. Roy Jones Jr - Pound for pound one of the very best of all time in my opinion and doesn't get the credit he really deserves. Don't get me wrong, I think he gets a lot of credit but I honestly think in his prime there was very few fighters who could live with him, if any. His success through the weights was often predicated on his amazing hand speed and ability to throw shots from angles that were almost cat like in their dynamism.
He once through four uppercuts in one second - if that's not speed I don't know what is.
1. Muhammad Ali - When talking about who is the fastest pound for pound of all time I can't help but think of Ali. For me he was the fastest fighter ever. A big man who had the speed of a fast middleweight. A manwho terrorized heavyweights with ridiculously fast combos and fast dancing feet to get in and out of trouble when needed. He trained under water from time to time to perfect that blistering hand speed so that when he threw punches above water he was lightning quick. Perhaps best summed up in his own words "I'm so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark!".
Thoughts?
After all, footwork is one of the most important fundamentals in this violent dance that we know as boxing. Well here we go, lets count this bad boy down!
5. Manny Pacquiao - A speed merchant if ever the was one. A guy who's hand and foot speed shot him to fame and moved him through the weight divisions like no other. In the words of a certain David Diaz who did a post fight presser after losing to Pacquiao "The mother f****r was just too fast!". Surely a deserving name on this list.
4. Floyd Mayweather - I'd probably just put "Money" ahead of "Pacman" in the speed ranks if you are comparing the two in their primes.
Granted, both are not exactly far removed from their prime, I just think when you look back at when Mayweather started out in the lower weight classes he was so quick it was almost untrue. The wins against Corrales, Augustus, Manfredy to name but a few early on when he used combinations were jaw dropping. He was so fast that the guys could barely lay a glove on him. .
3. Sugar Ray Leonard - One of my favorite all time fighters has to be the legendary Ray Leonard.
The thing I love watching back on some of his fights was those amazing combinations he used to rattle off. Those combinations are up there for some of the fastest of all time and he dazzled his opponents on many occasion in arguably the best boxing era of them all.
2. Roy Jones Jr - Pound for pound one of the very best of all time in my opinion and doesn't get the credit he really deserves. Don't get me wrong, I think he gets a lot of credit but I honestly think in his prime there was very few fighters who could live with him, if any. His success through the weights was often predicated on his amazing hand speed and ability to throw shots from angles that were almost cat like in their dynamism.
He once through four uppercuts in one second - if that's not speed I don't know what is.
1. Muhammad Ali - When talking about who is the fastest pound for pound of all time I can't help but think of Ali. For me he was the fastest fighter ever. A big man who had the speed of a fast middleweight. A manwho terrorized heavyweights with ridiculously fast combos and fast dancing feet to get in and out of trouble when needed. He trained under water from time to time to perfect that blistering hand speed so that when he threw punches above water he was lightning quick. Perhaps best summed up in his own words "I'm so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark!".
Thoughts?
