There is speed, then there is quickness, and they are two very different qualities. Speed is how fast your punch can get to the target, quickness is not being there when your opponents punch heads for your jaw. Hand speed and foot speed are physical attributes that each fighter possesses to varying degrees, but they are not the same thing as dexterity. That ability to slip punches, or bob and weave your way around shots during an exchange is a very different thing than getting on your bicycle and making a puncher chase you around the ring. Fighters like Ray Leonard and Floyd Mayweather were runners, they forced opponents to chase them instead of standing and slugging. Fighters like Pernell Whitaker could stand flat footed and exchange with an opponent and still make that opponent miss. The difference should be obvious to any student of boxing.

The quickest and fastest fighter I have ever seen was a peak Roy Jones Jr., Sugar Ray Leonard told me after the Jones/Toney fight that Roy was the fastest he had ever seen, and Ray knew more about speed and quickness than most of us. Roy Jones was one of a kind, it was like everyone else was moving in slow motion, Roy had reflexes like no one I have ever seen. At his peak, I honestly don't believe anyone in history could have beat him, no one peaked at a higher level of performance with the possible exception of Bruce Lee, and Lee was 30 lbs lighter than Roy.

Speed can be categorized in a few different ways. Generally, Hand Speed and Foot Speed are not one and the same.

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I can tell you, with near certainty, that Meldrick Taylor is the fastest boxer in terms of hand speed.

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Sugar Ray Leonard is known for his speed. You could argue that he ushered in the new era of combination punching. Robinson and ALI were well known for their Hand and Foot Speed long before the days of Leonard. However, while Robinson is a better combination puncher with more power, Leonard is slightly faster.

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ALI is clearly the fastest of Foot Speed, of all heavyweights. No one else comes close and many have been Poll-Axed in their attempts to mimic his style. However, in terms of Hand Speed, Floyd Patterson throws faster power combinations than does ALI. The difference is in their styles.

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Again, there is a huge difference between Hand Speed and Foot Speed. Both Joe Louis and Mike Tyson are known for their hand speed. However, Louis was dreadfully slow of foot and the tales of Tyson's ring movement are highly exaggerated.

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Patterson is also not very nimble of foot. ALI possesses both hand and foot speed. However, in terms of Hand Speed, there is one more difference between ALI and Patterson. Patterson needs to be up close in order to land multi-punch combinations. ALI does the same from the outside. ALI does not land fast punches effectively on the inside and Patterson cannot do likewise on the outside. So there you have yet another difference in hand speed by definition.

Meldrick Taylor is clearly the fastest in in terms of Hand Speed. Hector Camacho is a close second, followed by Roy Jones Jr. All three are faster than Ray Leonard. I once never thought it possible for anyone to be clearly faster than Leonard but these three clearly are. Look at the tapes of their prime fights. Leonard has a horrible habit of saying what people want to hear, which is not necessarily his opinion, however, he spoke true when he said that Taylor was faster.

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He was lying (or just being politically correct) when he said that Shane Mosley is faster. Shane is fast. Just ask Oscar de la Hoya. However, all of the above fighters leave him in the dust.

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Hand Speed can be broken down even further. You'd be hard pressed to find many, if any, boxers faster than Taylor, Camacho and Jones Jr. However, their methods differ. While Taylor is faster overall, Camacho throws jabs faster. No one throws a 5-jab combination like he does. Taylor's speed is primarily in inside combinations or flurries. Jones' speed is all together different. He throws power shots from the outside but in combinations. It's about as far from fundamental boxing as one could be.

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All time: Sugar Ray Leonard

Current: Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

Roy Jones jr or Sugar Ray Leonard. for Heavyweights it is Ali for Footspeed and Patterson for Hand Speed. Tyson and Louis also had Very Quick Hands and Johnson too.

Muhammad Ali - 216 Lbs danced around the ring for he full 15 rounds against the best Heavyweights in the world.

Camacho, leonard, Taylor, hassem Ahmed, mayweather, Ali, Judah, pacquiao, Robinson, jones jr, whitiker. Some faster than others

Meldrick Taylor

Sugar Ray Robinson greased lightning personified.

Manny Pacquiao

I've seen my neighbor's boxer chasing a rabbit. I think he might be the fastest.

That would be Sugar Ray Leonard.

roy jones jr in his prime

badr hari !!