Note from Mike Tyson on most powerful puncher of all time

I incidentally watched that today. Thanks anyway

 

I think you are mistaken my friend, Liston's jab was considered the strongest.
And it's between him and Holmes as to who has the best jab in HW history.

 

Untrue.

 

I meant the second part. Ali, Liston, and Holmes are generally regarded as having the best jabs.

 

Joe Louis, Lewis, Foreman and Wlad do get a nice share of mentions too, probably less than those on the whole but some good posters are quite partial to Louis.

 

My personal ranking would be Liston>Ali>Foreman>Holmes>Lewis>Louis>Wlad.

One thing about Foreman is, though he had an excellent jab, he didn't bring it in all his fights (in his first career at least). It was noticably missing during the Rumble. Not that it would've made a difference in the end result.

 

I think one could have it a dozen different ways and not be wrong. I have Ali as the GOAT jab partly because he could pump it on the move like nobody and not get countered.

Yes Foremans jab was often underutilized as (first) his career progressed.

 

Yeah I was debating between Ali and Liston, you could go either way. Holmes' is somewhat overrated imo. Didn't have the versatility of Ali and Liston, and couldn't change the direction of the jab after throwing it, like Ali did which is why I think he'd always have a tough time against the likes of Frazier and Tyson.

 

Holmes has a great jab, absolutely. Where he gets points is that he relied on it very heavily so it's at the forefront of every fight he had. It's also a fine blend between power and speed. I still like Ali's, personally, and so did a few common opponents most notably Ken Norton. I posted his comments what feels like 100 year ago, may not even be on here anymore.

 

Holmes had a great jab. An ATG jab even but it's not all it's made it out to be. Weaver, Norton, Shavers, Snipes all found ways to get past it, with varying degrees of success.

 

Solid point. Most imagine Larry battering people off all fight with his jab but numerous guys got around it numerous times. They got battered by it at times too but it didn't stop them getting in and having their chances. The Berbick fight is a fine example. Larry lost about two rounds but Berbick had many good moments (plenty of flush punches landed over 15) and found his way inside too many times to count. Holmes was actually planting his feet and getting the better of many exchanges which is where he truly won the fight. He exchanged a helluva lot more than most seem to realise and did it very well. Berbick tho still steamed out of his corner at the start of round 15 and went to war.

Have a look at the last round, a fine one. Barely a jab to be seen to kick the round off as Berbick attacks, a couple of excellent jabs then later in the round they just go to war as Berbick can't be held off. Berbick lands a ripping left hook and right uppercut and Holmes lands a superb uppercut among other good punches. I thought the commentators missed Berbicks knees dipping for a split second from a right. It's a good example of a fight where one guys wins by miles on the cards but it's actually more competitive than the cards reflect.