Can you tell a fighter's heavy-handed...

No.

Some fighters just have great technique and footwork, that the punches look so effortless and coordinated, and a lot of his weight and kinetic energy is transferred perfectly from his knuckles, to the other guy's face.

and BOOM! He goes down.

 

yes, sometimes.

Arturo Gatti, for example. I think Steward mentioned it in the Ward fight, he just had a puncher's flow...put his whole swing into every hook. They were usually wide as hell, but still.

Klitschko's right hand, at a live fight, sounds like a ****ing shotgun going off when it makes contact.

It's tough not to watch Julian Jackson or Felix Trinidad and not see the power. Trinidad especially...his hooks were just so fast and perfect.

 

I am not an expert on punching, but I think I can see the heavy handed punchers. I see a lot of punches with a lot of velocity on them at the time of impact and the force gets absorbed partially by their own body.

The heavy handed guys don't yeild to much energy from their feat up to their fist imo. Having real strong hands and wrists may be a big factor also.

 

Some fighters throw epic looking hooks and uppercuts, but their opponent's knees barely buckle on contact.

 

Hook punches, you ca tell by the swing whether or not it's going to be a lethal shot.
Straight punches, sometimes guys just shoot them out there in a sneaky and well timed way. Think Bernard Hopkins or even Wladimir Klitschko when that right hand just comes in behind a jab as easy as anything but has a massive impact.

Other fighters you wonder how they generate such power into their punches, forgetting his sheer size, Vitali throws arm punches that are amongst the heaviest handed punches in history.

 

I'm not sure if this is gonna help answer your question but Lamont Peterson (after the first fight with Khan) said in an interview that Khan's puches stung alot but he wasn't heavy handed. He also said that his punches weren't really connecting flush so he couldn't really comment about his power. He did say however that Khan was one of the fastest boxer's he'd faced in the pro ranks.

 

When you shake their hands or when they hit you in the face.

 

I've watched Khan train at Wildcard and if he's anything, he's ****ing fast. Faster than Manny easily.

Some guys you can tell by the commitment to the punch. Kelly Pavlik for example, his punches don't look that hard initially until you see that he's following through with that right hand, whether you're there or not. He commits to it which is where that power is from.

 

Bronco McKart in the post fight interview for the Pavlik fight said he just didn't see what all the fuss was about Pavlik until he started feeling the punches. In other words, Bronco couldn't tell Kelly had heavy hands from studying him pre-fight.

 

Not that much of an expert, but I've seen some Danny Little Red Lopez fights, and some shots look average power at best, but really mess up his opponents.

And I remember first time watching Pacquiao, back in the mid 1990's on Philippine TV, some of his shots looked sloppy and arm punches, but his opponents would always wilt and quit. I honestly thought there must be something odd about the little dude's gloves or wraps.

Skin and bones little kid with a cocky aura.

 

I think the first time people see Jhonny Gonzalez in action, they're quite surprised when he initially hurts someone with one of his thunderbolts.