When you say 'Boxer-Puncher' to me i instantly think of Alexis Arguello, to me he is the epitome of the Boxer-Puncher style. He was the patient boxer who in his case looked to counter behind his long jab like the boxer but also looked to hurt his opponent and was relentless in finishing him like the puncher. But he was not the perfect Boxer-Puncher as it signifies a whole range of varieties on the style but Arguello was abit more puncher than boxer.
Others would say Thomas Hearns is the best boxer puncher but i feel he was either a boxer or a puncher. He seemed to either look to bomb a guy out or to box his head off he never really managed to combine the two aspects into one style. Others might say Carlos Ortiz or Jose Napoles, the debate is endless.
However, i think i have found THE boxer-puncher. His name is Yuri Arbachakov a long time WBC Flyweight champion in the 1990's. He was a brillaint Soviet amateur but moved to Asia to start his professional career a he felt it was a better area for lighter weight fighters.
His style is brillaint to watch an almost perfect textbook boxer. He keeps his hands high, his feet the sme distance apart etc... In other words he has excellant fundamentals. Besides from this he had brillaint movement and excellant technical skills in both offence and defence. He came forward just as good as he did as he boxed on his back foot. He combined this all well to be a brilliant boxer, but what he also had was genuine concussive 1 punch power, especially in his right, which is rare for such a little guy. It made him in my eyes the best Boxer-Puncher.
He wasnt too much of a boxer or a puncher he combined it well. He would box to suss out his opponent and measure him before boxing to try and set up his punching and combinations. When he did set up his shots he would come into life with a hard straight right that often finished off his opponents with one decisive blow. When he got his opponent hurt he went about his work with the clean, effective almost hitman like precision. He would slowly pick the helpless opponent apart with hard, vicious blows usually resulting in the end.
Now Arbackakov dosent usually get mentioned alot among fight fans, this is because a general lack of knowledge in him. He was an Asian-based Flyweight, and most fight fans are more in tune with the American based heavier weights which is a great shame as greats like Arbackakov and others like Yoko Gushiken, Myung Woo Yuh and Jung-Koo Chang are almsot forgotten about.
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