Which Boxers have the Best Jab in the Business?
The most fundamental punch in boxing is the jab, a fact aptly reflected in how punch stats are computed. While power punches get all the glory, the hooks, uppercuts, overhands and cross are lumped together. Jabs stand alone. A punch with offensive, defensive and utility capabilities, the jab is the cornerstone for the successful application for most styles of boxing. Therefore it follows that a list of the top 5 jabbers in the sport today would also be a list of some of the top players in the game.
Also See: The top 5 jabs in boxing history
5. Miquel Vazquez: The #1 lightweight in the world in a division without a clear champion, Vazquez owes his status to his jab. His sharp, accurate rapier is the foundation of his methodical style of boxing, and while some call it boring, that skillful approach looks set to rule the 135-pound weight class.
4. Floyd Mayweather: Mayweather is better known as a defensive wizard, and in terms of punching it’s his counter-punching prowess that gets the attention, but Pretty Boy also has a masterful jab. In fact, the only reason his jab doesn’t rate higher is that it’s the somewhat more limited body jab. Leveling out and pumping the jab to the chest is a signature move in Mayweather’s ring generalship, using hand speed and a good solid thump to control spacing in a fight with impunity. Only a few fighters, such as Marcos Maidana and Jose Luis Castillo, have ever barreled past Mayweather’s body jab.
3. Guillermo Rigondeaux: The best right jab in the game today is wielded by this Cuban Olympic gold medalist. The southpaw jab tends to flummox opponents in general, and when that jab achieves the kind of utilitarian perfection of Rigondeaux, is flummoxes the best of them. His right jab was good enough to score again and again against Nonito Donaire, paving the way to victory, and it looks set to keep him undefeated for some time to come.
2. Andre Ward: Ward is often described as a masterful ring general, who takes away the best tools of whatever opponent in front of him. Part of Ward’s own tool kit for doing so is his jab. “SOG” can do anything with his jab, defensively and offensively, and it’s got some snap for a guy known for having merely average power. Even more amazing is that, as a switch-hitter, Ward has almost as superb a right jab as he does a left jab.
1. Wladimir Klitschko: Wladimir Klitschko’s dominance of the heavyweight division is built on his jab. His height, reach, and strength combine to produce a jackhammer that steadily pounds his victims. Behind that skillful, powerful jab, Big Wlad controls the pace and distance of his fights, ensuring events rarely, if ever, leave his comfort zone. It is no exaggeration to say that Klitschko’s mastery of the jab led directly to his neigh-unassailable position as the World Heavyweight Champion.
