Who had the best straight right/cross ever in boxing?

Sunfish said:
Did I read that correctly? Andre Dirrell isn't in the same league as the guys mentioned here, my personal favorite was morales but it's probably hearns.
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I said Direll's was nice to watch and technically correct. Not that he's a virtuoso or a destroyer with it like some of the others.

Dirrell is good actor. Not boxer.
- Tom Hanks
 
tehmvp said:
Also, Randall Bailey had a nasty straight right that could starch anyone at random.
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I was going to mention Bailey. He had clinical-anesthetic for a right hand.
 
clashnat said:
  • Jersey Joe Walcott
  • Alexis Arguello
  • Ray Leonard - Hearns gets mentioned a lot, but Ray hurt him, Lalonde among others with his right hand
  • James Toney - great counter right hand
  • Muhammad Ali - take a look at round 1 vs. Foreman
  • Larry Holmes - his right hand gets overlooked due to his tremendous jab
  • Wladimir Klitschko - by the way, Joshua's right hand nor his left hook are close to Wlads, another reason (among various reasons) I'm surprised so many people pick AJ here
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Tommy is probably the right answer but Ray Leonard had a great straight right. Your right he did hurt Hearns and basically stopped him with the punch and the Laonde ko was an impressive right hand as well. good mention
 
Hearns was the first that popped in my head.
 
Bogotazo said:
Hearns is exactly who came to mind. Joe Louis had a great one though, I second him.
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Good call on Louis.

I love his short right cross.

Piston jab, piston jab...then BOOM! That disgusting right. So precise!
 
Not "best ever" but great.

I can objectively say Kovalev's is great. He has great technique, good speed, lots of power, good timing & precision with his straight right. He can also set it up beautifully with his jab or throw it by itself and hit the target, whether that's the head or body.

Observe

 
Kovalev's "Man Bag" said:
Not "best ever" but great.

I can objectively say Kovalev's is great. He has great technique, good speed, lots of power, good timing & precision with his straight right. He can also set it up beautifully with his jab or throw it by itself and hit the target, whether that's the head or body.

Observe

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Add the fact that he can put guys down with it while completely off balance, and it's up there with the best of them.
 
Kovalev's "Man Bag" said:
Not "best ever" but great.

I can objectively say Kovalev's is great. He has great technique, good speed, lots of power, good timing & precision with his straight right. He can also set it up beautifully with his jab or throw it by itself and hit the target, whether that's the head or body.

Observe

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He regularly hits guys with it when they don't even think it's an option. It's a feature of his footwork which doesn't get mentioned as much as it should. Honestly, if you had to think of a fighter in the sport and their ability to fight at mid to long distance, Kovalev would probably be the best. Maybe someone like Crawford is up there with him (but that's not even really his best range). Maybe a guy like Mikey Garcia. Kovalev's flaw is that he is a tad one dimensional in that sense (not one dimensional full stop, but he really thrives from a certain distance and has some trouble adjusting).
 
Randal Bailey had an H-BOMB in his straight right hand. One of the cleanest punches of his entire era. It never looked like he had to even try to throw it hard. It was just one of those unreal attributes that boggles the mind. He could lose every round of a fight and look utterly outclassed then land one clean normal looking shot and erase whoever it hit.

Obviously he wasn't a supreme talent overall and doesn't come close to others already mentioned as a fighter but that one punch was fucking beautiful.
 
JayE said:
He regularly hits guys with it when they don't even think it's an option. It's a feature of his footwork which doesn't get mentioned as much as it should. Honestly, if you had to think of a fighter in the sport and their ability to fight at mid to long distance, Kovalev would probably be the best. Maybe someone like Crawford is up there with him (but that's not even really his best range). Maybe a guy like Mikey Garcia. Kovalev's flaw is that he is a tad one dimensional in that sense (not one dimensional full stop, but he really thrives from a certain distance and has some trouble adjusting).
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I think Garcia can match Kovalev at long & mid range. Kovalev really doesn't like to concede his reach advantage that he has over most of his opponents because he likes to fire his long jab and straight right with full extension as often as possible. Naturally, that'd have him fighting much more frequently from the outside, where he prefers to keep it. His right uppercut is nice when he throws it from deep mid range to inside, we just don't see it as often as I'd like to. In his debut he finished his opponent with that shot. He's really built for fighting on the outside as a rangy, rather lanky guy, but we've seen so many fighters that don't fight at the range they're necessarily built for and have great success. Sergey definitely has his character flaws and technical flaws in his game but he's quite impressive as a pro for a guy that doesn't have an excellent amateur background.
 
Kovalev's "Man Bag" said:
Not "best ever" but great.

I can objectively say Kovalev's is great. He has great technique, good speed, lots of power, good timing & precision with his straight right. He can also set it up beautifully with his jab or throw it by itself and hit the target, whether that's the head or body.

Observe

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Love how solid his posture / core is when throwing that slip-cross. And nice extension on his arm.
 
4daLuLZ said:
Love how solid his posture / core is when throwing that slip-cross. And nice extension on his arm.
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Absolutely. I shared that pad work clip largely due to how good his posture was and the extension that he was getting. Posture & balance are both paramount in any physical sport and in everything that you do. Before I even check a punch's form & its respective mechanics I look at posture and balance. Without proper posture your balance can be affected and throwing with poor posture is a potential defensive liability. There's a list of criteria that I look for. Most of them you can grade but some of them are Pass or Fail in my book and posture & balance are Pass or Fail imo. Kovalev has failed these in some of his fights when he gets overaggressive, which is why I won't be offering those as technically sound examples.
 
randall-bailey_frankie-figueroa.gif
 
King Arthur, AA, had a pretty nasty one. There are better ones, but they were already mentioned. His KO of JT was brutal AF.

 
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