Willie Pep, a defensive wizard who was arguably the best pound-for-pound pugilist in boxing history (ranked #5 on ESPN’s 50 Greatest Fighters), could bob, slip and weave past hundreds of punches per match, giving him the edge he needed to win 229 out of 241 fights from 1940-66.

Pep, aka Guglielmo Papaleo — a two-time world featherweight champion, won his first 63 bouts before losing to Sammy Angott, and then went 72-0-1 before his next loss to Sandy Saddler.

No one, before or since, was that dominant — not even Pep’s modern day counterpart, the elusive Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Pep danced with a broken rhythm, switched from southpaw to orthodox in an instant and deployed dizzying head movements to confuse and confound even the most skilled opponents.

Watch his genius play out, here:

But it wasn’t all ducking and dodging, Pep could unleash savage bursts of punches and jabs that would blow over his opponents.

After his death at age 84 on Nov. 23, 2006, The New York Times wrote:

“Although he knocked out 65 opponents, Pep was known primarily for his supreme craftsmanship in the ring. The broadcaster Don Dunphy, called the Voice of Boxing, cited Pep as the best boxer he ever saw, remarking once, ‘He was so clever, he could come up to an opponent from behind.’

Pep, usually fighting at about 125 pounds, was so quick, so hard to hit, that he once won a round in which he deliberately did not land a single punch to see if he could impress the judges solely with his ring smarts. It happened on July 25, 1946, in Minneapolis, in the third round of a nontitle bout against Jackie Graves that Pep won by knockout in the eighth.”

Pep boxed a total of 1,956 rounds in the 241 bouts during his 26-year career. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame as part of its inaugural class in 1990.

 

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