Willie Pep ..:: Ring Legend ::..

http://www.theboxinghistorian.com/RingLegends/willie-pep.html

Willie Pep

Undisputed Featherweight Champion
1947-1948 & 1949-1950

Pro Record:229-11-1 (65)

Nicknamed Will-o-the-Whisp for his elusiveness. He was the best defensive fighter of his generation, so good legend would tell us he once won a round without throwing a punch. In the annuls of boxing there are many "urban myths", tall tales, and outright lies told about the fighters of the past."" Did heavyweight William Harrison Dempsey really call himself "Jack" in honour of the great middleweight Jack "The Nonpareil" Dempsey? Did Dempsey have plaster-of-Paris on his hands the day he beat Jess Willard within an inch of his life? Did Joe Louis once give a shiny new half-dollar to a goggle-eyed young fan named Rocky Marciano? Did Ali once draw the smallest attendance for a world heavyweight title fight in the history of the sport? Was Harry Greb really blind in one eye the last 5 years of his career? And did Willie Pep, the Will o' the wisp, really win a round without landing a single punch?

Pep was likened to a tap dancer in boxing gloves. He was fast, he was agile and he was graceful. A Pep fight resembled a ballroom dance with one partner a masterful Fred Astaire and the other apparently lacking a single dance lesson. He was called the Will o' the Wisp because, like that illusive phenomenon, he was almost impossible to lay hands upon. By the age of 20 he had won 54 fights in a row without a loss before taking the featherweight title from future HOF fighter Chalky Wright in a bout in which he never once hurt Wright, but played him like a violin. More precisely, a Stradivarius. Willie would continue to win, losing only once in his next 49 fights (to future Hall of Famer Sammy Angot), before he would be matched against a Top Ten fighter with a 25-2 record named Jackie Graves on July 25th, 1945 in Minneapolis. Graves was a southpaw, and perhaps a sportswriter had hinted that it might cause Pep a problem. Or perhaps Willie was just in the mood to show them something they'd never seen before. Whatever his motivation, prior to the start of the bout, Pep would make a prediction to rival any later made by Muhammad Ali; he would win a round without throwing a single punch.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• willie
• pep
• boxing
• featherweight
• champion
• sugar
• ray
• robinson
• sport
• theboxinghistorian

[kervvood]

why is there barely any video of willie pep fights whats all his fights were newspaper fights or what

[primemoralesno1]

Pep was the best pure boxer of all time, I have him in my top 3 p4p boxers ever.

He is the best FW that ever lived as well as the best defensive fighter ever, his movement was awesome, the word slick was probably invented for him.

[supergunner07]

Willie Pep's footwork was ridiculously good. Pure Sweet Science

[hippiegirl25]

i have seen it its cool thanks wha a vid

[22IQ]

Actually, you can check out an exhibition match between Robinson when he was 45 y/o against Pep at 33 y/o on youtube.

Even though it was just an exhibition, it was still a work of art.

[hippiegirl25]

i love pep should b higher in d p4p list who else could win a rond witout landing a punch i love total class robinson never done that

[horvinn1]

yeah, also maybe the best book I ever read. All the great world champs are included in that book. When you read it, you get the feeling that the mob ruled boxing back then. LaMotta and Don Jordan say a lot about the mafia

[22IQ]

I think Floyd Mayweather Jr. has great skill but after hearing this, I'm now convinced Floyd is not the greatest defensive fighter of all time. I'm sorry... but God Bless.

[OZIASALLAH]

Is it true that Pep won a round without throwing a punch or was it a Myth??

[gerryboy101]

i remember watching a fight with pep and robinson and they were clinched and trying to trip each other! interesting fights, you can search for them