The DEBUT of “The Willie Pep List” and the Overrating of the Power Puncher

By Travis Fleming

Brawlers, knockout punchers and warriors that are willing to eat monstrous punches in order to land big shots of their own are revered by fans everywhere for their courage in the squared circle. Casual fans love nothing more than seeing a man come back from a bloody beating to emerge victorious after taking unthinkable amounts of punishment. These fighters deserve all the credit in the world for their “never say die” warrior spirits and they certainly get it.

Due to the vast amount of “rock’em sock’em” styled fighters out there who lack the technical prowess required to climb the ranks of the pound for pound elite, Jim Lampley has dedicated a portion of his HBO boxing series “The Fight Game” to giving recognition to these fearless warriors on what he has titled “The Gatti List”. Each episode, Lampley makes a list of his current top ten blood and guts warriors in memory of the ultimate action fighter Arturo Gatti.

So admired are these brawlers, that fans, and the boxing media in general, have made a habit of overrating a fighter based on being in exciting fights. Look no further than the International Boxing Hall Of Fame where you will see such inductees as Arturo Gatti and, most recently, Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini while there are obvious omissions that had far greater careers and didn’t get outclassed by B level fighters. It is, after all, the Hall of FAME, not the hall of all time greats and Gatti and Mancini certainly were famous but there’s something wrong when the likes of Chris Eubank, SR., Genaro Hernandez and Esteban De Jesus have yet to receive Hall of Fame honors.

In this digital age where cage fighting and brutality are better serving to the shorter attention spans of modern day fight fans, the master technician goes underappreciated. Gone are the days when the average fan can understand and appreciate the subtle technical genius of a Wilfredo Benitez or Nicolino Locche. Nowadays, if a fighter excels in the art of hitting without getting hit back they are criticized for being boring. It’s a strange phenomenon, but fans of boxing habitually criticize fighters for boxing. This has always baffled me; the sport is called boxing, not “shot for shot”. If you understand what you are seeing, the genius of executing the defensive wizzardry of a Pernell Whitaker can be even more exciting and awe inspiring than watching the sheer brutality of a Ruslan Provodnikov.

It takes an incredible amount of training and ability to execute boxing in its purest form and it’s time that we, as fight fans, show appreciation to those who have mastered the craft of boxing. When a technical master uses his skill set and ring IQ to avoid punishment and nullify a fighter with greater physical gifts they need to be aplauded. There have been several examples of such fights in recent years.

Imagine going into a gun fight with nothing but a butter knife. Entering a battle with a man that you know can hurt you when you have little chance of returning the favor. There are fighters who display enough courage and confidence in their abilities to engage in such battles on a regular basis. They become experts with their harmless butter knives to the point that they are able to use them to beffudle and disarm their opponent’s guns. Take a look at Paulie Malignaggi, for instance, throughout his career he has never been physically superior to any of his opponents. He has consistently entered battles against dangerous punchers knowing that he cannot hurt them. It takes a lot of guts to be in the pain game when you are unable to inflict pain. Another great recent example is when light punching Richar Abril thoroughly outboxed action star Brandon Rios and got robbed by the judges in one of the worst decisions in recent memory. Abril used his excellent defense and counter punching abilities to make Rios look like an amateur, swinging at thin air. Instead of there being uproar over the blatant robbery, many fans were happy that Abril didn’t get his deserved win so they didn’t have to see him back on HBO. They were glad Rios got the decision because it meant more blood and guts fights from a man who remains vastly overrated today, to the point where he got an underserved payday against Manny Pacquiao.

Probably the best recent example of a fighter using his sublime skill set to beat far more physically gifted opponents would be the underappreciated Puerto Rican Ivan Calderon. At 5 ft 0 inches and barely heavy enough to fight at minimum weight, Calderon remained a champion for 8 years, made 11 defenses of his world minimum weight title and when he proved too good for everyone at minimum weight where he was already the smallest fighter, he moved up in weight to light flyweight against even bigger men, won the world championship there and defended it 6 times! This man was untouchable in his prime and if there’s any justice at all he will be inducted into the hall of fame within a couple of years.

There’s a common misconception that technicians lack warrior spirit but time, and time again, we have seen them dig deep at the end of their careers with their speed declining to try slug it out while being physically outmatched. Look at Calderon’s first loss in his thirtieth fight against the much bigger Giovani Segura. He was getting battered by the bigger man from post to post and when it became evident there was no hope in winning on points, Calderon started literally leaping into his punches and swinging for the fences until he got put down for good. Paulie Malignaggi dispelled the myth that technical fighters have no heart when he took a horrendous beating from power punching Miguel Cotto, fighting with broken bones in his face from round two onwards and never giving up.

Many of you have heard boxing being dubbed as “the sweet science”. This phrase was coined by the first renowned boxing writer Pierce Egan. In the early 1800’s, Pierce released a series of books titled “Boxiana” which detailed the biggest bareknuckle boxing fights of his day. The “sweet science of bruising” was used to describe the science behind the technical proficiency of the best fighters of his day. For many years the term remained dormant until legendary boxing writer AJ Libeling brought it back in the 1950’s after reading the legendary “Boxiana” series by Pierce Egan. Libeling used the term in his many articles and it was the name of his most famous boxing book “The Sweet Science” that is one of the greatest boxing books of all time and a must read for boxing fans everywhere.

In honor of those who enter into battle armed with expertise in the art of the sweet science to nullify greater physical threats, I present to you my new monthly list in memory of one of the greatest pure boxers who ever lived. “The Willie Pep List” will be used each month to recognize the top practicioners in the art of hitting without getting hit.

The “Willie Pep List” – March 2015

1. Floyd Mayweather, JR.
2. Guillermo Rigondeaux
3. Bernard Hopkins
4. Andre Ward
5. Terrance Crawford
6. Juan Manuel Marquez
7. Steve”USS” Cunningham
8. Andre Dirrell
9. Roman Gonzales
10. Erislandy Lara
11. Vasyl Lomachenko
12. Demetrius Andrade
13. Richar Abril
14. Kell Brook
15. Miguel Vazquez
16. Paulie Malignaggi
17. Martin Murray
18. Austin Trout
19. Adrien Broner
20. Felix Sturm