Steele I know about, but I'm not terribly familiar with the other two gents. I'll check them out, thanks. :good
Superb call, and thanks for the Hagler quote. I knew he had said, ironically, an Ali-Shavers type 'He shook my kin folk in Africa' quote about Hart, but I could not think of it exactly and spin it like you did into the thread.
Manny Steward commented on G Man having an amazing chin. That he even took his headgear off and walked through Tommy Hearns's shots. It's hard to gauge who hit harder outta McLellan and Jackson, but the way Jackson cleanly knocked fighters out in one punch just cannot be denied.
So did Mike McCallum. The thread isn't about the ability to take punches ( Jackson lost 6 and was stopped in all of them ) rather its about the hardest hitting Middleweight. So basically it comes down to who did McClellan KO, compared to who did Jackson KO? For my money Jackson has the better resume. For the simple reason he took his power up from 154, McClellan tried to take his up from 160, and got proper fvcked at the first attempt.
But the thread is not about Middleweights moving up, or smaller fighters moving to Middleweight. As you suggest it is 'purely' about Middleweight punchers. McClellan had Jackson on his resume, Jackson had Graham. Although I preferred watching The Hawk fight, McClellan was the better puncher at 160lbs.
Doesn't alter the fact that McClellan couldn't take his power up with him, whereas Jackson did. Both operated in the Middleweight divisions. 154 - 160, or 160 - 168 is irrelevant, particularly when you take into account the guy McClellan fought at 168 was himself a former Middleweight, and Benn wasn't exactly known as having a particularly good chin.