A tale of three heavyweight jabs

Holmes#1
Liston #2
Ali #3
Of the 3, Liston's was the most feared

 

I don't disagree with your list but I think Pinklon Thomas is up there, and Buster Douglas vs Mike Williams is probably one of the best jabbing exhibitions in Heavyweight history. Douglas floored him amazingly 3 times with a jab.

 

Always felt that Louis jab was not given the credit it deserved , not as hard compared to Listons, or fast like Alis, but it was hard and accurate and broke down the other fighters defences, and pathed the way for Joe's devastating right cross , catch the Bear fight to see his jab in its full glory.
stay safe guys.

 

I would say Thomas had possibly a harder jab than Holmes, Ali. Not trying to stir the pot just trying to create an interesting debate, so it's not an open and shut case on the top 3. Although it is very hard to argue against those 3 fine boxers. Lewis was also one of the best in history at controlling a fighter with the jab.

 

Like General Grevious lol

 

Though I'm simpatico with the three mentioned, Foreman cannot be underestimated in this department. imo.

Louis had a great one too.

 

I think Ali's jab was generally the weakest but also seemed to annoy his opponents more than any of the other jabs listed. I think a lot of the time Ali wanted to frustrate his opponent into mistakes with the jab as well as getting points on the card.

Holmes and Thomas landed much harder but they themselves were easier to hit. Imagine fighting for 15 rounds and getting jabbed by the feather duster and while it doesn't hurt, you cannot seem to ever land a jab back, or build on your jab. Its infuriating and guys like Norton saw the folly in Ali's jab but wasn't wise to the fact that it still made him frustrated even if Norton out jabbed him.

Ali also has one of the cleanest right straight's that anyone has ever thrown that his jab set up magnificently.

 

Speaking of Norton, great but dumbly underused jab.

 

Foreman had one of the hardest jabs in history, Tyson although short for a Heavyweight also had an underrated jab.

 

Tyson threw such a fast jab, I'm not sure how powerful it was but for a jab, fast and accurate is generally the name of the game and Tyson had those two attributes in spades. Still I wish we saw a more Patterson-like Tyson, if Tyson shifted into orthodox more and utilized his jab I think he would've been more effective against guys like Tucker.

 

Hard to discuss great heavyweight jabs without Wladimir Klitschko's jab. It was super versatile; used it as a regular jab to reset the other guy, stepping in as a heavy jab, as a setup for the 1-2, as a means to blind the other guy to the right steaming in, and he also sometimes left it hanging for a bit of control over the opponent. And who can forget his hooks off the jab?

 

Definitely three of the greatest, Stevie.
I always thought, if a fighter has a great jab, like my favourite jabber, Larry Holmes, then he's won half the battle.
Liston s jab probably made most of his opponent s feel like throwing up with that jab alone!