Which hard punchers is the best ? Skinny, Bodybuilder or Fat/Thick Type

Most of the time, when you see a guy with an absurdly high ko percentage, the real hero is the guy that picks his opponents.

 

I always found that any one given psychical trait is no sign of anything in boxing. I would say intelligence is the surest sign of anything in boxing the smart boxer picks the moment for the hardest shot to land.

 

Lots of elements to it:

Velocity.

Force.

Timing.

Accuracy.

Commitment to the punch: anyone can throw a harder punch than their ‘average’ punch if they put their whole body into it, but it comes with a tradeoff of leaving yourself more vulnerable and also expending more energy (if you throw and miss haymakers from the start, you’ll wear down faster than if you pick your spots).

But no particular body type has any advantage in developing power. Punchers come in all shapes and sizes.

 

There are many ways & body types that produce power.
But your thick/fat examples are faulty.
That describes Foreman in his second career. In his first he was more like the body builder type.
But Cooney was not really thick or fat. His waist was slightly thick, but he was not heavy for his height.
Liston & Shavers may qualify IF you mean it to include guys that are not at all fat, but not low body fat, have a good amount of muscle but less than the bodybuilder type (who tend to have lower BF).
Lyle was muscular, look at him against Foreman.

So all of them except 2nd career Foreman were really thick as in a good amount of muscle but not massively muscled, nor low or high body fat.
Tua also is a great example of thick, although at his heaviest he (& Tyson) was also a 'lil bit fat.
But there is OVERLAP: at what point does Tyson go from body builder to thick?
These things are often matters of degrees, or guys are hybrids.

But they should not be in the "fat" category. That would be the likes of Ruiz, Galento, & of course Butterbean.

 

Where would you include some of the hardest punchers ever like Joe Louis, Max Baer, Cuttis Sheppard? They are not lanky, but they are not super muscular or stocky either.

 

Or Jimmy Wilde, with his skinny, thin framed, child like build, was one of the P4P best knock out artists ever, and an excellent puncher, KOing much larger opponents. You get hard punchers (and not very impressive punchers), with ever build imaginable.

Raw power and being good KO artist are often conflated. The best KO artists are often the guys rated as the best punchers, but they often aren't.

 

The skinny type

 

Never been a fan of the bodybuilder when it comes to boxing. Heavily muscled bodies lose there snap at the elbow and there back muscles are too tight to allow for full follow through. I'll take the other 2 any day.

 

Foreman fits into two types here and he’s better when in shape. Not that many great fat thick types.

 

Considering just the physical aspects i think: The best punchers are the boxers who have moved the least away from their natural conditions. Did the 230-240 lbs Tyson 2000-2003 have had power in his hands? Yes! But at 220 lbs he could deliver it much better.

Basically I think in most cases "the intermediate body type" guys are the best punchers. But the key question of course would be: how do you define a puncher? What characteristics does he need to have? Does he need to have power in both hands and be able to hit his opponent during a real fight or are we talking about who can hit a bag the hardest with one insanly windmill style telegraphing haymaker punch?

So thats why i rank 72 Foreman and Joe Louis above Earnie Shavers. In my opinion both kinda intermediate body types. Athletic guys with decent muscles but no pumped up iron lifters. They haven't manipulated the development of their bodys, but have mainly left it to boxing training.
For example: Kenny Norton has never touched a weight.

 

There are two types of fat guys in sports: acrofatic, and sumo strength.

The first type would be fat guys who are surprisingly quick and explosive. They have a lot of fast twitch muscle underneath all that lard. This would be guys like Buster Mathis Sr, Andy Ruiz, Tyson Fury, James Toney, or possibly Adam Kownacki. In some cases they were lean and athletic when younger but got very lazy and pigged out on food. You can tell they're carrying too much weight because their wrists or ankles can barely support their huge frame and their bodies are often disproportionate and sloppy. They tend to lack one punch ko power, but can make up for it with hand speed, combinations, and ring IQ.

Sumo strength are guys who, at first glance, just look like big obese fat guys. But when you actually try wrestling them or getting hit by them, you're in for a rude awakening. 90's Foreman, David Tua, were two of the best examples of this. Also guys like Samuel Peter. Very stocky and strong with heavy hands and a robust bone structure. Like sumo wrestlers they may have done tons of strength training or are naturally bulky and what looks like just raw jiggly fat hides powerful red muscle. They tend to be very stiff with slow feet and thus are relatively easy to outbox, but if you get careless for one minute you will be in a world of hurt.

The body builder punchers get lots of leverage with their huge shoulders and triceps. This is why Joshua and Bruno and Carnera could be so devastating when they landed shots like uppercuts. However, such well developed muscle drains a lot of stamina and can make you very inflexible. Thus the best body builder types must have great technique and timing so they don't tire themselves out. Cleveland Williams was a rare example of a guy who was both very athletic while having an amazing physique. Wladmir and Vitali overdid it at times and could look very robotic, but often got away with it due to their superb technique, sheer size, and relatively weak opposition. Tim Bradley and Holyfield are two guys who had tremendous physical strength, but perhaps as a result of having such perfect muscle ended up not being particularly hard punchers. Generally speaking, this is an unreliable body type in boxing due to stiffness and stamina issues but in rare cases they can be quite effective nowadays.

Thick/stocky guys aren't the prettiest or the biggest, but they're the most well rounded. These were your old school boxers like Liston, Jefferies, Rocky, Bonavena, who had good power in either hand and didn't have to worry about stamina as much because they trained for endurance, not to show off and flex or win hot dog eating contests. They usually weren't always the biggest hitters but they had great functional strength, the type you get from repetitive motions, and doing calisthenics. This type of wiry muscle can help with punching power depending on the exercises you do.

Lean types like Wilder, hearns, Julian Jackson, all had the very thin waist and limbs, but often had broad shoulders and strong backs. This unusual set of traits allowed for them to deliver staggering power and get tons of leverage on their long jabs and straight right hands. Like the stocky guys, they could have tons of wiry strength from repetitive motion that confuses the untrained eye. They are best on the outside but relatively weak in a close range fight.

Finally you have the ultimate specimens who are mesomorphs that combine many of the above traits in one. Very rare genetic anomalies. Best examples would be Ike Ibeabuchi, Mike Tyson, Roy Jones, Shannon Briggs. They are stocky and a little thick, yet they have very aesthetic muscle while also having fast twitch fibers for explosive combinations.

 

IMHO, George Foreman, in his first career, was the hardest puncher I ever saw. Of the choices given, I would have placed him in Category 2. He still carried a lot of power in his second career, so Category 3 in that one. Everything in his body worked together to enable him to deliver that kind of power. I met him once (in his second career). He told me that his God given punching power started in the bottoms of his feet.

 

GenerallyThe lean skinny guys, easily

 

The tall skinny fighters like hearns because they can get the leverage from anywhere and its faster