Shavers ko'd 68 of the 74 men he beat for a 76.4% ko percentage he is obviously a monster puncher ,the hardest who knows?
Of course he's a big puncher but those who are trying to discredit Wilder's punching power are just trolling.
Oh please. Earnie Shavers hit very hard. But if I said one of Wilder's best KOs came against a boxer who had a record of 7-3 and weighed 199 pounds, which Jimmy Young was, I'd be banned. Shavers fought Young a year later, when Young had 13 wins, and only drew with him. You think 10-fight pro Jimmy Young, with a 7-3 record, weighing 199 pounds, BEATS Wilder? Bull. Also, a number of people knocked out Jimmy Ellis, Ken Norton and Jimmy Young. They were stopped a total of 10 times. And Jimmy Ellis spent the first four years of his career as a middleweight (when middleweights were actually middleweights, not cruiserweights who dried out and rehydrated to 185 pounds before the bell rang. And Jose Luis Garcia knocked out Ken Norton first. And Garcia couldn't punch. Yet this green 199 pound heavyweight with a 7-3 record and a former middleweight are two of Shavers' best KOs? If Earnie Shavers knocked out the undefeated Luis Ortiz (TWICE), Ortiz would be the best KO on Shavers' record. Especially since Shavers couldn't even survive against guys like Ron Stander, Tex Cobb and Bernardo Mercado. Wilder hits harder than Shavers. Guys like Stan Johnson, Vicente Rondon, Ron Stander, Bob Stallings, Ali Haakem, Walter Santemore, Quick Tillis and Leroy Boone wouldn't have survived against Wilder, but Earnie couldn't do much with them.
Wilder's knocked out everyone he's faced but Fury, who he had down twice and arguably could've gotten a stoppage win over if the ref wasn't so eager to let Fury walk around for 10 seconds after he got up to "prove" he was okay. Quite a few bad fighters went the distance with Shavers, or outright beat him. And they weren't undefeated, 6'9" boxer-punchers.
Wilder has not knocked out too many quality guys. Wilder is quicker than Shavers but I am not sure he hits harder than him. Both are in my TOP 5.
Shavers didn't knock out too many quality guys, either. Both guys fought a number of Walter Santemore and Ron Stander types coming up. The difference is, Wilder knocked out all of his. And Shavers not only didn't knock out all of his, he lost to a handful of them, too. I watched them both. Shavers from 1977 on. Wilder as an amateur and since he turned pro. IMO, Wilder is a much harder puncher. Yes, MUCH. I lost count of the number of times I saw Earnie drop a guy, and then the guy got up and stopped Shavers or won a decision over him.
Vital never floored; Briggs Johnson Arreola Chisora Saunders Peter Purrity Sosnowski Charr was stopped on a cut eye On Donald's knockdowns , for 2 of them he was thrown to the floor.
I admit that I am hard put to find somebody who was more naturally dangerous with a single punch. Most of the great finishers of history relied upon combinations, or accumulation of punches, or a single counter punch set up very very carefully. The best comparison that I can think of is Max Baer.
On 29 occasions, boxers stepped in the ring with Baer and either didn't get stopped or beat him. A light heavyweight champion would never beat Wilder. A man who lost a decision in a light heavyweight title fight would never beat Deontay Wilder. They both beat Baer. Willie Davies beat Baer. Les Kennedy beat Baer. Benny Hill went the distance with Baer (twice). Natie Brown went the distance with Baer. Again, Wilder has knocked out everyone except for Fury, who was the undefeated 6'9", 256-pound boxer-puncher. And he floored Fury twice and could've had a 12th round stoppage if not for the ref dragging things out after Fury got up. Deontay Wilder didn't go the distance or lose to someone like Willie Davies. Wilder didn't go the distance with Less Kennedy and Benny Hill. We get into these discussions, and it's easy to sound like you're saying someone doesn't punch hard. Baer could punch. But he didn't knock out a lot of the underdogs he faced. And he lost to light heavyweights and also-rans. Dimitry Bivol isn't beating Wilder and guys who lost decisions to BIvol, like Joe Smith, aren't beating Wilder, either. Wilder is destroying fighters who weigh 20, 30 or 40 pounds more than him. Baer weighed about as much as Wilder and was losing to and going the distance with 175-pounders.
Wilder never dropped a non glass jaw fighter. In fact the only fighter with a decent chin that he fought is Dupuah
I was comparing them more in terms of a given attribute, but never mind. Baer was thrown to the wolves early, and matched much harder than Wilder throughout his career. This I am not so sure about. Wilder has on,y fought four men ranked in the top ten, and two of them took him the distance. I am not down playing Wilder's power, because all my instincts back it up. What I am saying is that he still have a limited data sample.
