Smallest fighter in the last 40 years who hit like a heavyweight *puncher*?

PACMAN FOR 1

 

Hard to say - is that relative to the HWs of their own time frame? These days, the smallest guys would have to at least be in and around the threshold for a HW (201 lbs +) anyway, I would think - making them very small HWs by comparison. If Louis was around in the last 40 years he would be one of my picks.

Otherwise, Earnie Shavers at 210 lbs could still bring a relatively very powerful punch to the table. Michael Spinks a power hitter at LH brought a decent punch to HW (weighing 201 lb to 212 lb) but not especially powerful among the bigger hitters of his own day.

In even more years gone by, a number of smaller fighters were credited with possessing a HW punch - while the fighters in question punched very hard at their weight, I always felt that it was an exaggeration meant to simply highlight their extraordinary power at their natural weight.

Of course going right back to the early 1900s, it wasn’t so outlandish to suggest a MW punched as hard as a HW, since many HWs weren’t too far beyond the MW limit anyway. Much is made of little Joe Choynski knocking out Jack Johnson - ignoring that Johnson himself didn’t weigh much more than Joe - and whatever weight advantage Johnson did hold might’ve been misleading because being so much under your natural weight can put you at a net disadvantage.

 

Srisakit Sor Rungvisai:

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Merqui Sosa:

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Toney said he hit harder than Roy, Jirov and Peter. and Toney fought him in middleweight.

 

I'd wager Hearns at his best could bang on par with plenty of heavyweights.

 

Maybe John mugabi or Julian Jackson ? Michael Moorer when he was 175 ? Sergei kovalev was pretty brutal for a while too

 

Murray Sutherland said Michael Spinks hit harder

 

I’d say Canelo and Hearns hit pretty damn good for their size.

 

Hearns sparring with Ali - Tommy, as a MW, was fighting on the undercard to Ali v Berbick - this was an exhibition for the press - note the right hand Tommy lands on Ali’s head - didn’t look like Hearns was sparing any steam -

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You meant that Johnson was quite light for his fight with Choynki, not the ~ 207 her was later?
if so why, he did not need to make weight right?

Shavers not only pack a "relatively" powerful punch, he would be somewhere between among the hardest hitters of any size, & possibly could exceed any SHW. In past because there are diminishing returns above 200 or so...
Weaver sometimes weighed under 210, you are correct it is hard to get much lighter & still hit hard for any HW.

Maybe we need to look at "smallest" & determine if that should mean more than weight-so would we award the laurels to someone around 200 but shorter because that is in a sense more little?

It could well be a CW. But we would have to consider in ring weight, where they easily could be 210-at least 220.
So Gassiev before he moved up would be a candidate, but likely weighed over 210 in the ring.


Here is my single best candidate for someone who had at least some chance to hit as hard as a modern HW with good power.
He was profiled here regarding his time incarcerated & was incredibly tough.
Although not the greatest boxer at World Level, he like Julian Jackson hit waaaay beyond his size.
5'11" & I cannot find his weight now, but I think he was not far away from 180 anyway...

The Old Mongoose in ~ 220 fights & the KO king fought everyone For approaching 3o years as a professional.
We also discussed The hatchetman [url]here.[/url]
So you gotta sit up & take notice when this incredible ATG said this, from Wikipedia...

He dropped decisions to Walcott and Moore, but Moore would later claim that, of all of his opponents, which included Bob Satterfield, Ezzard Charles, Rocky Marciano, Floyd Patterson, and Muhammad Ali, it was Sheppard who hit him the hardest.

So the question is-& provide his weight if you can-could likely the hardest htter of this size possibly hit hard enough to hit hard compared to a hard hitter today, or around the hardest HW strikers of the olden days?

THEN if thre answer is yes we must triangulate; since this was in the 1930's & 1940's, can we find anyone of similar size since the early 1980's that likely hit as hard?