Who punched harder at heavyweight, prime Holy or prime Ali?

This.

 

Great post, you made me rethink all my preconceptions. Dustin Nichols hit harder than ANY of them at 690LB! He IS the ATG puncher.

 

Also, if you are Boxed Ears trolling us, I will be so very, very mad

 

This looks familiar lol. I think Holy might have had an overall stronger left hook, but he wasn't a Frazier with it. Ali had a fine left hook that definitely was a factor at times in his stoppages. When it comes to the straight right and overhand, Ali all day over EH.

But, just as Mark intimates, Ali didn't come down that often, especially in the 60s. And he was often a little too-cautious (I'm thinking the Terrell fight, which imo Ali could have finished at more than one point...that could have been more of a humiliation thing of course).

 

I don't think Holy ever landed as

Absolutely.

However, do I think EH could have one-punch dropped Liston? Nope. Do I think Holyfield ever could have ko'd Foreman? Nope. We can be pretty sure Holy would have survived the power punching of Lyle...but do I think he could have turned it around like Ali with a minimum of shots? Nope.

 

Though his dancing and prancing and clowning belied this, Ali was a HEAVYWEIGHT PUNCHER. He wasn't ever Foreman or Frazier (though he wasn't horribly far away from Frazier power wise when completely planted and not backing up).

Holyfield was mostly an amazingly accurate puncher who threw with a lot of understanding of how his opponent came in. The shot that ruined Tyson (the right hand that knocked him across the ring) would have put Mike comatose had it been thrown by even a 1976 Ali. Holmes would have landed even harder.

 

I think They're pretty even. Neither were top 10 punchers obviously but they got your respect with accuract, volume, and could hit with bad intentions when they wanted to.

Ali has impressive stoppages over strong durable guys like Liston, foreman, lyle, Bonavena. Holyfield stopped Tyson, Stewart, and Qawi. He also dropped iron chinned mercer and the huge Bowe.

Both could surgically break a guy down and stop a man with vicious combinations. See Ali's classic vs Williams or his battering of London. Holyfield survived a scary war with the dangerous Cooper and landed very long and brutal 4, 5, 6+ punch combinations.

Id say Ali was more explosive and better at countering. He also was a little sharper and could cause major swelling and cuts with his snappy blows--which made the opponent even more susceptible to getting knocked down from impaired vision.

Holyfield had a wider variety of punches and went to the body more so he was a little more dangerous up close and could get more leverage and power than Ali who was often punching while moving away.

Id break it down like this. Rated X/10 for power

Jab: Ali 9, Holyfield 8
Right cross: Ali 7, Holyfield 7
Left hook: Ali 7, Holyfield 8
Uppercut: Ali 5, Holyfield 7

Pretty close.

 

I do.

 

No contest...Holyfield.

Oh hell yes....Foreman dropped in Zaire largely from fatigue, exhaustion and the Zaire heat.

 

If Ali was such a great puncher, then Joe Frazier is horribly underrated chin-wise both in this forum and elsewhere.