Below are my top 5 fighters in terms of style.
#5: Guillermo Rigondeaux
This Cuban fighter's nicknamed "El Chacal" which is Spanish for "The Jackal", and it suits him. Rigondeaux's fighting style is slick and smooth. He's a technician with incredible defense. I like his evasive maneuvers more than Mayweather's because Rigondeaux is less frantic and more graceful (but let's be real here, objectively, Mayweather's defense is more foolproof). Unlike every other boxer, Rigondeaux very rarely throws jabs. He just positions himself right in front of you, waiting for you to miss. He's so close his enemies lose their cool and react aggressively. This makes their movements predictable, allowing Rigondeaux to calmly use his sophisticated footwork and head movement to evade the incoming punches.
With all that said, Rigondeaux also has some drawbacks. He's an aging professional but he's only had about a dozen fights. He's also on the short side, so he can't take too much hits. He evades a lot of punches, but if he messes up and one lands on one of his sweet spots, he's down. He was outmatched by Vasyl Lomachenko who I'll talk about later in this list.
#4: Gennady Golovkin
Golovkin is almost the opposite of Rigondeaux. If Rigondeaux just stays in front of you waiting for you to miss, Golovkin aggressively pushes onwards against you until you submit. Golovkin is like an immovable object; many of the fighters he's fought have thrown perfect shots trying to back him off, but Golovkin doesn't stagger much from the pain. He'll just keep throwing bombs to push his opponents into a corner, where he unleashes even more hell on them. The beauty of Golovkin's style is it's both brutal and simple. Incredible punching power, mixed with infallible endurance and unrelenting pressure. Make no mistake, Golovkin might be ranked on the lower side of this list, but he's proven time and time again that he could be the best boxer of this generation.
#3: Manny Pacquiao
I'm a Filipino, so Manny Pacquiao is definitely one of those Pinoy things that I'm totally proud of. He might be a lousy senator but he's a helluva boxer. When I think of Manny's style, I think of a ferocious, aggressive spark of fire. Anything and everything that comes into his radius won't be able to escape without getting hurt. His punches must feel like being hit by a machine gun, because he's a high volume puncher and he punches crazy hard for someone his size. He's always throwing numerous shots with blinding speed, and they're hitting his enemy everywhere! Manny's footwork was also great to see. He's always bouncing around in a way that make his opponents look like newbies.
With that said, I don't think Manny has a lot going for him defense wise. Manny doesn't use a lot of head movement to evade punches. His style usually involves just beating his opponent to the punch, and then using his bouncy footwork to get out of his opponent's line of fire either by pivoting his lead foot or taking a step back.
#2 Vasyl Lomachenko
The current superstar of boxing. He's been known under many nicknames like "Hi-Tech", "The Matrix" and "The Artist". These nicknames come as no surprise when you see him fight in the ring. He's incredibly entertaining to watch. His style makes the violent sport look graceful thanks to his footwork that gets him around the ring and all over his opponent as if he's levitating. His combinations are fast and fluid; he throws nearly as much punches as Pacquiao does. Lomachenko is very comfortable fighting on the inside. As Joe Rogan said, he sticks close to his enemies like glue, but Lomachenko can slip and dodge their punches with ease, while countering with a barrage of his own. It's an understatement to say, but it really is impressive to see a close-range fighter do the job without getting tangled up in clinches. It keeps the action fluid and exciting.
#1 Canelo Alvarez
This is where my opinion becomes controversial, because Canelo has a lot of haters. Regardless of that, this is my blog so I can say whatever the hell I want and what I want to say is this: Canelo Alvarez is the closest thing we have to a "Perfect Fighter" if there ever is one. Why do I say this? Because Canelo has shown us time and time again that he's an all-around superb fighter. Power, Technique, or Speed, you name it. He's powerful as an aggressor and he's slick when he's on the defensive. He throws snappy counter punches as if it's second nature to him. Put his power and his defense together along with those deadly counter punches and you have yourself a guy who can dish out brain damages while he avoids getting brain damage himself.
I was sold after he fought Golovkin for the second time. We've seen in this fight that Alvarez is powerful enough to make that beast stagger backwards, which is something we've never seen before.
That's my list of favorite boxers and their fighting styles summed up in a nutshell. I was thinking of including an honorable mentions list but I'll save that for another time because thinking about the styles of other fighters makes me want to write about their fighting styles too.
Who are your favorite boxers, and what do you think makes them unique? Let me know in the comments below :)
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