Cleveland Williams hit harder than Sonny Liston

Did Razor Ruddock hit harder than Buster Douglas??

 

He cleaned out the heavyweight division and did it in devastating fashion.

 

No

 

Are we sure ETM?

 

It's really not a rap on Liston, it's just a criticism for people who simultaneously hate Williams but love Liston.

 

Yea.
They both hit Mike Tyson with their best uppercuts and Tyson took Razor's for 19 rounds. Douglas stretched him.

 

Perfectly put William.

Sure, as far as Liston’s resume goes, we know Williams is part of a rich mosaic overall. However, the 2 x Williams fights are often presented as marquee wins in their own right - and they play no small part in the view that Liston had an exceptional chin given the shots landed by Cleve and the general perception of The Big Cat’s elite power. The Williams bouts are the ones that stand Sonny in very good stead against fellow power punchers when considered in fantasy fights.

 

Douglas hit him far more often due to setting up his punches with a superb jab, angles, good timing, and often threw the uppercut at the end of a combination. Douglas landed far more in general and put on a world class ass whooping with plenty of good sweet science on display.

Ruddocks strategy was to simply load up for one big, wide, telegraphed swing. Tyson saw the majority of them coming and often blocked or decreased the damage by ducking into it or protecting his chin at the last second. He rarely ate flush smashes. When he wasn't throwing uppercuts like he had just chugged a beer before stepping to lane 7 at the bowling alley, he simply brawled with Tyson. It was an ugly, sloppy, but entertaining fight. Unlike Douglas who set up many shots, Ruddock didn't set anything up except for his own knockdowns with his wide swings and leaky defense.

Ruddock knocked out the huge, iron chinned Smith with one shot. Stopped the durable Page as well. Damn near killed Dokes. He has a highlight reel of one punch KOs. What world class fighter did Douglas ever KO besides an unmotivated Tyson? The answer is none, and he faced plenty of them.

 

Can't remember who it was but a common opponent once stated Marciano hit harder than Williams

 

Liston, Machen, Satterfield, and O' Halloran all raved about Williams power quite highly.

 

I like Ruddock's style but his power is a tad bit overrated. Dokes was shot as hell and was never known for his durability and Ruddock's gets way too much praise for knocking him out. He did not knock James Smith out with one punch, it was accumulative till he hit him with a terrific shot. Page even though past his prime, he was somewhat pretty durable so that's a good one.

Overall, he never consistently showed power. Couldn't knock Mike Weaver out nor make it to his list of hardest punchers (Mercado, Smith, Coetzee, Lewis). He couldn't knock heavyweight journeymen Conroy Nelson, a guy who would get knocked out over any big punchers he met including Tyson, Sims, De Witt, Stewart, Cooper, Mercado, Hide and Bowe. What about Anthony Wade? He's a very durable fighter who was only knocked out once in 7 loses. Wade faced Ibeabuchi, Sanders and Cooper.. Did Ruddock knocked him out? No, Cooper did.

Overall he's still a terrific puncher, having repeatedly wobble Tyson with a single shot but his power is a bit overrated IMHO...

 

It's a bit like the Tyson Fury resume debate. Fury fans want to have their cake and eat it too. They think he's this amazing h2h monster and has a great resume, but Wilder is his best win. The same Wilder who many people want to call trash and claim has a trash resume. How do we know Fury can take a punch and win a difficult fight? Of that's right, because of the Wilder fights. Circular logic.

Similarly, you can't praise Liston and then act as if Williams was overrated.

 

Smith had an iron chin. He took bombs from Page, Sims, Weaver, Bruno, Tyson, Holmes, Witherspoon, etc. Ruddock was the ONLY guy to knock him out clean for the 10 count, all his other stoppage losses were due to cuts and he was on his feet. Ruddock KOd him with a single left uppercut. That's what a 1 punch KO is.

Dokes was ranked #3 in the world. He was only stopped twice before the Ruddock bout. He was definitely not washed up or fragile. A shot fighter doesn't get a #3 ranking in a stacked division and he was on a win streak.

The point wasn't to claim Ruddock is one of the hardest hitters ever, it was to point out that he certainly hit harder than Douglas and has far more impressive displays of power. Douglas only noteworthy KO is an unmotivated Tyson who was banging Japanese hotel cleaners.

 

Right, I mean how many feet of his intestines was Cleveland missing after being shot with a .357 magnum?

 

I'm also not pointing out that Ruddock is the hardest hitter ever. He's power is simply a bit overrated to my eyes. Dokes was never known for his chin is and clearly already washed up by the time he fought Ruddock. Even though he knocked out Smith, he was never mentioned in Smith list of hardest punchers that includes Tyson, Bruno and Weaver. Even with all that, he still punches damn hard regardless