The Feather Fisted Greats

[marbleheadmaui]

Greatest pillow fisted of all time? One of the top 4 greatest fighter of all time. One name: Willie "The WIll O The Wisp" Pep. Fact.

Bzzzzzzzt. But thanks for playing!

Willie Pep KO'd 65 men. NOBODY can do that if they don't punch. In addition Pep is very unusual in one respect. His KO percentage in title fights is HIGHER than in non-title fights. Willie saved his hands in his stay busy fights, but when he had to in the big ones? Beware!

Great picture!

65 Ko's sounds great but when one have over 200 fights and that his KO ratio turns around 25%, can we really say that he had any KO power? I kind of think that 25% of KO ratio is quite poor. Sure, some like Paulie Malinaggi have even worst KO ratio but then again, if we talk about the "pillow fisted group", I think that Pep belongs to it otherwise, his KO ratio would be way higher than a mere "25"%.

I think the telling stat about Pep and his punching power is the KO percentage in title fights. Against the top guys he was 5/14 or 36% and he lost three of those fights to Saddler. Of his wins he went almost a 50% KO ratio in his title wins. That to me clearly indicates an attitude about punching rather than a capability. In other words he saved his hands for when he needed them. You gotta remember that he fought 230 fights in 19 years. In other words he averaged a fight every month for almost two decades.