http://boxing.about.com/od/history/a/ring_punchers.htm now can someone who knows the old school can tell me y stanley ketchel is in front of dempsey, tyson, liston, marciano? now belatedly i realise its a personal opinion of Nat Fleischer most of the the time but opinions on that list?
While the list is a good list it is far from perfect. I would not even include Holyfield or Chavez. Nigel Benn lower than McCallum?
Ketchel made his name in punching power by fighting guys much larger than him and stopping them. Hard to say about the quality of opposition throughout his career given that it began over 100 years ago, but he still packed a wallop. Check out boxrec and you'll find that he stopped Joe Thomas in the 32nd of a scheduled 45 rounds. He also put Jack Johnson on the ground before being knocked out, despite being outweighed by roughly 30 lbs. I try not to get caught up in the nostalgia of older fighters being better just because they're older, but Ketchel could certainly crack with the best of them and shouldn't be discounted just because he's from a bygone era.
Jack Johnson and Stanley Ketchel were friends. Johnson was pretty much carrying the fight and essentially making it an exhibition. That's until Ketchel try to pull a quick one with his bomb. Jack Johnson didn't tolerate that shit... He stood up immediately, knocked his teeth out and call it a day.
