“George Foreman – the heaviest puncher. I couldn’t match somebody’s power who’s that big, with that much mass. The only thing that allowed me to be exciting was that I threw punches so much faster than all the other guys.” So it's not Earnie Shavers after all
That quote tells you why Mike didn't want to fight even an old Foreman. ....and it's still Shavers as the hardest puncher though Wilder has an excellent case.
I'm sorry but you've never been a heavyweight champion, Tyson has, more than once. Naturally, I will take his word over yours every day of the week. Mike was a student of boxing, not just a brute force maniac. You have to consider that you are now in a disagreement with arguably the greatest boxer who ever lived. (and that goes for all the Ernie Shavers boilerplate believers)
Oh does Mike have carte blanche over this does he, and only his opinion counts? What about those who actually fought Foreman...or Shavers...or Wilder (etc)?
Most of Georges opponents got knocked out so we really can't know what they thought of Foremans power. lmao
By the way, i don't necessarily think that means Shavers hit harder 'per se', just that he caught Ali with cleaner, heavier shots than George did.
George isn't the most explosive, but he probably had the heaviest hands with the most thump and force behind his blows. The way he destroys heavy bags and knocks guys out with seemingly slow arm punches is crazy.
Eh, look at Tyson being humble again in his old age. He's ignoring the end portion of his career where he'd score one punch KO's and KD's with punches that weren't particularly fast. Look at the Botha KO or the Golota KD -- that was pure power, not some combo of above average power and high speed. He's way up there in terms of power. Also, when he wants to talk about size/mass, at the best he ever looked, he was a lean 225 @ 5'10" (against McNeely). That's insane. Scale him up to be 6'4" and he'd be, what, 275 lean? He's actually "bigger" in terms of bone density and skeletal structure than all of them.
Good point. Ali had slowed up considerably in between his fights with George and Earnie thus the latter was hitting Muhammad with far more headshots than the former.
wilder is just rangy so it appears he's fast, but he doesn't come close to Foreman in terms of impact forces.
Prime Foreman was taller than Tyson but he didn’t weigh more than Tyson. They were both about 215-220 so being shorter wouldn’t that mean Tyson has actually more mass taking into account their respective heights?
Shavers ain't even top 5, let alone no. 1. Wilder, Wlad, Lewis, Bruno, Liston - all hit harder than Shavers.
Yes correct. That's where Tyson's incredible build is second to none. But the facts remain, Foreman would have dwarfed him in the ring.
