Boxing’s Greats of the States | Connecticut: Willie Pep

Boxers come from every corner of the globe. Sometimes, fighters are products of their environment, favoring styles prevalent in the country or state from which they hail. Various regions of the United States are considered factories for great fighters, though that certainly is not the case with each state. In this weekly Sherdog.com series, the spotlight will shine on the best boxer of all-time from each of the 50 states. Fighters do not necessarily need to be born in a given state to represent it; they simply need to be associated with it. For example, all-time great heavyweight legend Joe Louis was born in Alabama, but he is identified almost universally with Detroit.

***
Before the defensive wizardry of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Pernell Whitaker, the master of not getting hit was Willie Pep. Considered the greatest featherweight of the 20th Century by the Associated Press and inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990, “Will O’ the Wisp” was simply amazing.

The first true defensive genius in the history of the Sweet Science, Pep would perplex and frustrate virtually everybody he fought. Though the Middletown, Connecticut, native was not known as a ferocious puncher, his skill and accurate punching were enough for him to bag an impressive 65 knockouts throughout his illustrious career.

Pep captured the world featherweight title on two occasions and conquered some of the best fighters in boxing history: Jack Leslie, Sandy Sadler, Joey Archibald, Chalky Wright, Billy Lima and countless others. His rivalry with Sadler remains one of the greatest on record, and the two shared “Fight of the Year” honors in 1949. Pep -- who famously won a round without throwing a punch against Jackie Graves in 1946 -- miraculously survived a plane crash later that year.

Pep, who died in 2006 at the age of 84, finished his magnificent career with an astonishing record of 229-11-1 with 65 KOs, a testament to the old adage that the fine art of boxing revolves around hitting and not getting hit. Nobody was better at it than Pep for almost 50 years, until Whitaker came along and re-defined what defensive mastery was all about.

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Chad Dawson, Maxie Rosenbloom, Tarvis Simms, Travis Simms, Kid Caplan