who is the hardest puncher in boxing history?

[PHATV]

When you talk about just knock-dead power, a lot of these guys rank (every one in this thread), but as to the straight hardest puncher in boxing history my vote would have to be Foreman. Size matters. Also, he had the largest fist measurement in HW history---if memory serves, which often it doesn't. Is that right? Some of you guys are like boxing encyclopedias around here, so I'm sure I'll know one way or the other.

 

[The Adder]

Anyone that says Shavers is wrong.

 

[Sharkey]

Anyone that says Shavers is wrong.

Why?

 

[Stormtrooper85]

Wladimir also deserves a mention. He's not an effective KO artist but in terms of pure power he's up there with the best.

I'd figure Vitali would be over Wlad in this department.

Also figure Archie Moore deserves a mention.

 

[The Adder]

Why?

Because the idea that Shavers was the greatest punchers ever at HW comes largely from guys who beat him. Guys who took his best shots and were not KTFO such as ali and holmes. Those guys were actually knocked down and or hurt or KTFO and beaten by other fighters. Why does holmes not call Tyson who actually knocked him out the hardest punchers he ever fought? Because its it can be too painful, too wounding to a fighters pride to give the guy that beat you.

Fighters like to give credit to guys that gave them a hard time yet who the ultimately conquered. It's like an old war story they can use to pumped themselves up. Shavers is just a feel good war story.

 

[Sharkey]

Because the idea that Shavers was the greatest punchers ever at HW comes largely from guys who beat him. Guys who took his best shots and were not KTFO such as ali and holmes. Those guys were actually knocked down and or hurt or KTFO and beaten by other fighters. Why does holmes not call Tyson who actually knocked him out the hardest punchers he ever fought? Because its it can be too painful, too wounding to a fighters pride to give the guy that beat you.

Fighters like to give credit to guys that gave them a hard time yet who the ultimately conquered. It's like an old war story they can use to pumped themselves up. Shavers is just a feel good war story.

Yeah, that's simply not true.

"Shavers. No question. At least with Foreman I was able to get up. When Shavers hit me I went down and stayed down." - Ken Norton when asked who hit harder

"Lyle hit about the same as Foreman. Shavers hit harder than Lyle and Foreman put together." - Leroy Caldwell

"Oooh man, that man is always with me. He hit so hard, the hardest. I still feel his punches today." - Jimmy Young on Shavers

Each of these three guys fought both Shavers and Foreman and each of them were stopped early by Shavers as well, with two of those guys being stopped early by Foreman. Both Norton and Caldwell express a clear advantage for Shavers in the power department as well with their quotes. Guys like Jimmy Ellis, Joe Bugner, and some others who Shavers stopped are also on record saying he hit them the hardest out of all their opponents. James Tillis went the distance with both Shavers and Tyson while being knocked down by both, and he always maintained Shavers hit him harder of the two. Sure, there are fighters like Ali, Holmes, and Lyle who did beat Shavers and maintain he hit them the hardest out of anybody. But there's more than a few who will admit the same after having been knocked out by him

If you watch the Lyle-Shavers fight and watch the punch Shavers hit him with at the end of the 2nd round (or was it 3rd?), are you really going to disagree with this quote from Lyle?

"Shavers hit me so hard it felt like needles were jabbing the back of my head. Without hesitation, Shavers was the hardest puncher I met." - Ron Lyle on Shavers

Lyle may have came back to win that fight against Shavers while also having lost to Foreman. But sorry. There's no way Foreman hit him with a more powerful punch than the left hook that Shavers almost knocked Lyle dead with. There's no way.

 

[Sharkey]

If Shavers isn't the hardest punching heavyweight ever then it sure as shit isn't George Foreman.

- Norton was knocked out early by both. He says Shavers and with some emphasis on there being a differenece.

- Leroy Caldwell was knocked out early by both. He says Shavers and again, with some emphasis on there being a difference

- Jimmy Young was stopped early by Shavers and went the distance with both. He says Shavers.

- Ali has wins over both of them. He says Shavers.

- Ron Lyle lost to Foreman and beat Shavers. He says Shavers, and if watching those two fights I don't see how anybody could possibly disagree with his assessment.


That might be all the common opponents both Shavers and Foreman have with each other. If so, they are unanimous with their selection between the two, and in 4 out of the 5 situations, Adder's little theory has no weight considering the similar results. With the 5th opponent, again, I see no reason at all to doubt his words if comparing the fights and the punches Lyle took in them.

 

[PivotPunch]

Because the idea that Shavers was the greatest punchers ever at HW comes largely from guys who beat him. Guys who took his best shots and were not KTFO such as ali and holmes. Those guys were actually knocked down and or hurt or KTFO and beaten by other fighters. Why does holmes not call Tyson who actually knocked him out the hardest punchers he ever fought? Because its it can be too painful, too wounding to a fighters pride to give the guy that beat you.

Fighters like to give credit to guys that gave them a hard time yet who the ultimately conquered. It's like an old war story they can use to pumped themselves up. Shavers is just a feel good war story.

Tyson according to someone who fought both didn't "even" hit as hard as Bonecrusher Smith. The reason Tyson beat Holme sis because he's a much better fighter than Shavers and because he fought a worse version of Holmes.

Travis Walker was one of the hardest hitting HWs of recent years and he didn't beat anyone of note because he simply wasn't a great fighter. Walker certainly hit harder than Ali or Holmes it doesn't mean he's a better fighter than them though and he probably wouldn't stop some of the guys Ali or Holmes would stop simply because he doesn't jave the skills.

The same reason is why ko% is worthless. According to ko % Vitali Klitschko is the hardest hitting HW champ ever

 

[clashnat]

The issue is that you can't generalize it due the variety of punches. Foreman's jab was possibly harder than Shavers, but Shavers straight right or overhand right was possibly harder than Foreman's.

For instance, the hardest left hook you'll ever hear, is right here at 16:35:

 

[DaveDave]

The same reason is why ko% is worthless. According to ko % Vitali Klitschko is the hardest hitting HW champ ever

Liked the whole post, but this bit needs reiterating. Anyone who saw both brothers fight & has two working eyes can see Lil' Wladdy hits much harder than big bro. Technique, technique, technique: pivot on the ball of your foot, drop your bodyweight into a shot & punch clean through your target.

I don't think Vitali was much of a hitter. A big brute with an excellent workrate, but an arm-puncher. Just, like, 18 stone of arm-puncher...

 

[PivotPunch]

Liked the whole post, but this bit needs reiterating. Anyone who saw both brothers fight & has two working eyes can see Lil' Wladdy hits much harder than big bro. Technique, technique, technique: pivot on the ball of your foot, drop your bodyweight into a shot & punch clean through your target.

I don't think Vitali was much of a hitter. A big brute with an excellent workrate, but an arm-puncher. Just, like, 18 stone of arm-puncher...

Tbf Vitali hit harder before his early retirement and comeback he started arm punching more especially when he returned. Yeah everyone who fought both agrees that Wlad hit clearly harder. Danny Williams also said Tyson hit harder than Vitali and Freddie Roach who briefly trained Wlad and Tyson says Wlad hits even harder than Tyson allthough Tyson's punches were more explosive and quick

 

[KillerIsBack V2]

Because the idea that Shavers was the greatest punchers ever at HW comes largely from guys who beat him. Guys who took his best shots and were not KTFO such as ali and holmes. Those guys were actually knocked down and or hurt or KTFO and beaten by other fighters. Why does holmes not call Tyson who actually knocked him out the hardest punchers he ever fought? Because its it can be too painful, too wounding to a fighters pride to give the guy that beat you.

Fighters like to give credit to guys that gave them a hard time yet who the ultimately conquered. It's like an old war story they can use to pumped themselves up. Shavers is just a feel good war story.

But Shaver's has shit skill and technique compared to some of these names u mentioned. His whole shtick was that he hits hard.
However, ur point reminds me that evertime Tim Bradly was asked in an interview which hit the hardest Pac or Prov. Everytime, he did not hesitate half a sec to say "Ruslan!" right away.

 

[makedansure]

When you talk about just knock-dead power, a lot of these guys rank (every one in this thread), but as to the straight hardest puncher in boxing history my vote would have to be Foreman. Size matters. Also, he had the largest fist measurement in HW history---if memory serves, which often it doesn't. Is that right? Some of you guys are like boxing encyclopedias around here, so I'm sure I'll know one way or the other.

Actually Liston has the largest recorded I believe at 15 inches. Cool thing that Foreman actually trained and sparred with him. Liston's punch power isn't mentioned in this thread (I don't think) but I bet it was tremendous.

 

[The Adder]

But Shaver's has shit skill and technique compared to some of these names u mentioned. His whole shtick was that he hits hard.
However, ur point reminds me that evertime Tim Bradly was asked in an interview which hit the hardest Pac or Prov. Everytime, he did not hesitate half a sec to say "Ruslan!" right away.

Yes, the Bradley example you give shows what I'm talking about. I've also been trying to look up an old Hagler interview in which he praises many of the major challengers to his title except ray Leonard. Ray later responded by saying something about haglers opinion that was very similar to what I said about shavers.
Basically that Hagler could respect those guys and give them their credit because he beat those guys. He lost to ray and was too eternally butt hurt about it to ever give him credit.

 

[The Adder]

But Shaver's has shit skill and technique compared to some of these names u mentioned. His whole shtick was that he hits hard.
However, ur point reminds me that evertime Tim Bradly was asked in an interview which hit the hardest Pac or Prov. Everytime, he did not hesitate half a sec to say "Ruslan!" right away.

Yes, the Bradley example you give shows what I'm talking about. I've also been trying to look up an old Hagler interview in which he praises many of the major challengers to his title except ray Leonard. Ray later responded by saying something about haglers opinion that was very similar to what I said about shavers.
Basically that Hagler could respect those guys and give them their credit because he beat those guys. He lost to ray and was too eternally butt hurt about it to ever give him credit.

 

[DannyNL]

Overall: Foreman or Shavers

P4P: Julian Jackson

 

[mozfonky]

i could see holmes saying shavers instead of tyson out of spite, i really could, i am old enough to remember how jealous Holmes was when Tyson came along. He never had a good word to say about him, said he'd end up in san quentin and so on. He seems to have mended fences with him in the last decade or so. Anyway, I still think Shavers was the biggest puncher that I've seen, all due respect to the rest. watching ali shavers was actually sickening watching him eat those right hands. He beat the remaining, wouldn't even call it greatness, the leftovers of greatness out of Ali in that fight. As for foreman, foreman was a totally different type of puncher, really ponderous, clubbing and not even correct with most of his technique, at least in the first incarnation. Any trainer would call what he did "arm punching" but because he was so big and strong it didn't matter. He could really move the heavy bag and opponents but thats not the same type of punch as an explosive type like Shavers. Liston and Cleveland Williams might also be up there with anyone. In fact, foreman has spoken highly of both mens power. Cleve was a hard luck case, shot, beaten by liston after supposedly having the same liniment rubbed in his eye that ali had rubbed in his and beaten by him before that. Both times not embarrassing himself.

 

[LEWIS540]

I remember watching one of those dodgy science shows a few years back and they claimed that they somehow measured the force of some famous boxing KOs. Dubious.

#1 was Lennox KOing Tyson.

 

[PivotPunch]

Actually Liston has the largest recorded I believe at 15 inches. Cool thing that Foreman actually trained and sparred with him. Liston's punch power isn't mentioned in this thread (I don't think) but I bet it was tremendous.

Foreman said that the only 2 men who ever made him "box" (as opposed to slug it out) were Liston and Lyle so i assume he hit very hard

 

[PivotPunch]

Speaking of guys who have more power than skill: David Price.

He is arguably the hardest puncher at HW today. Audley Harrison for example has been knocked out several times. Haye wailed on him until it got stopped and Wilder knocked him down and put him ina position unable to continue. Both hit very very hard. Price was still the only one who put him out cold. Harrison looked like he got shot.