The five hardest punching WORLD CHAMPION MIDDLEWEIGHTS. Whose on your list? SRR Steele Ketchel Fitzsimmons Golovkin Might be mine with : Valdez , Hostak ,and Hagler for consideration.
Fitz, Ketchel, Papke and Robinson would be my 1,2,3,4 I reckon. After that it gets a bit shady, doesn't it? I wouldn't include Golovkin personally as he's not had the proper title yet. Strapholders probably opens it up a good bit. Sam Langford is listed as black middleweight champ, you counting that belt? If so, give me Langford to round it off.
Fair point about GGG, I put him in because if I get more replies he is bound to be named. Was Papke that huge a puncher? Langford was black middleweight champ? I didn't know that. Just looked it up, you are right. So was Charley Burley when he stopped Holman Williams in 1942.
Yeah. He's the only guy apart from Johnson to stop Ketchel, blasted out Kelly in one (Even Ketchel took three, and he hadn't been ko'd since one of his very early fights, Kelly) knocked out the usual suspects (Carpantier, Moreau, Sullivan etc.) though there were a couple of guys he couldn't get to, and some of these KO's (like Ketchel) were accumulative. Then again, what middleweight would have been able to ko Ketchel with one punch? I guess the thread will stir up the right names if he's not to be considered top 5. How about Graziano?
I thought about him, but my perception is that he was mainly beating up ex welters , then again he wasn't too big himself. He is worthy of consideration as are any other champs that anyone likes.
Mcvey,although he wasn't a champion,how would you rate Jock McAvoy's power,would it be up there with the fighters mentioned? He could have been on this list if then champion Babe Risko's people hadn't decided to arrange their fight above the middleweight limit,probably wise as McAvoy demolished him inside a round.
Jock was a very good puncher, but he had 7lbs on Risko ,and he didn't stop many class men.He seemed to fall at the final hurdle when matched at world class.
I think Al Hostak could possibly make the cut of 5, by all accounts a vicious puncher. Zale was extremely impressed with his power.
Are the likes of Julian Jackson, McClellan & Benn not getting a mention because they were only titlists?