Not in exact order, just top-5 Skills Ezzard Charles Joe Louis Sonny Liston Floyd Patterson Max Schmeling Power Liston Louis Marciano Dempsey Baer
Chronological, not rating them 1-5, but… Power: Dempsey, Baer, Louis, Marciano, Liston Skills: Johnson, Tunney, Louis, Charles, Walcott Speed: Dempsey, Tunney, Louis, Charles, Patterson IQ: Fitzsimmons, Johnson, Tunney, Louis, Charles Chin: Jeffries, Dempsey, Tunney, Baer, Marciano
- punching power Liston, Dempsey, Baer, Louis, Marciano. - skills Louis, Charles, Tunney, Johnson, Marciano. - speed Patterson, Dempsey, Marciano, Walcott, Tunney. - boxing IQ Louis, Schmeling, Tunney, Corbett, Charles. - chin Marciano, Dempsey, Willard, Jeffries, Louis.
This, except Charles instead of Marciano for speed (clearly) and Sharkey in for Marciano for skills (arguably).
Power M Baer, Louis,Liston, Fitzsimmons, Tom Sharkey Chin Tunney, Marciano, Burns,Louis, Braddock Skills Tunney, Louis, Ezzard Charles, Jack Sharkey, Marciano I'm going to pass on speed and fighter IQ because you really need clear video to rank that especially speed. Numbers and testimonials are not enough IMO.
punching power liston marciano louis dempsey fitzsimmons skills charles tunney louis walcott fitzsimmons speed patterson tunney dempsey charles corbett boxing IQ charles walcott corbett fitzsimmons schmeling chin patterson clearly marciano jeffries braddock dempsey tunney
Many of these are interchangable and the differences between them arent substantial in most of these categories. If I include a fighter in any category it means they are good in that aspect even if they are last. PUNCHING POWER Max Baer Sonny Liston Joe Louis Jack Dempsey Rocky Marciano Max Schmeling Joe Walcott Floyd Patterson Jim Braddock SKILLS Ezzard Charles Gene Tunney Max Schmeling Jersey Joe Walcott Joe Louis (Jack Sharkey, Sonny Liston, Floyd Patterson, Jack Johnson honorable mentions) SPEED Floyd Patterson Joe Louis Jack Dempsey Max Schmeling Ezzard Charles Gene Tunney Joe Walcott BOXING IQ Ezzard Charles Gene Tunney Joe Louis Max Schmeling Joe Walcott Jack Sharkey CHIN Jim Braddock Max Baer Jack Dempsey Rocky Marciano Gene Tunney Joe Louis Sonny Liston Max Schmeling
Punching power: 5. Rocky Marciano 4. Joe Louis 3. Jack Dempsey 2. Sonny Liston 1. Max Baer (hardest puncher of all time imo, but lacked much else aside from durability) Skills 5. Gene Tunney 4. Ezzard Charles 3. Floyd Patterson 2. Sonny Liston 1. Joe Louis Speed 5. Gene Tunney 4. Ezzard Charles 3. Joe Louis 2. Jack Dempsey 1. Floyd Patterson (fastest heavy of all time imo at least in terms of hand speed). Boxing IQ 5. Ezzard Charles 4. Jack Johnson 3. Gene Tunney 2. Joe Louis 1. Liston. Yeah I said it. I think Liston's ring IQ was superior to Louis's which is a tad overrated. He was second to none at adapting in rematches but as for on the fly adjustments, he could at times be less than stellar. For example the issue with dropping his left against Schmeling. He could never adjust the whole fight. Then there's the Conn fight. Liston was an excellent adapter in his prime, as seen by the Williams bouts, and especially the Machen bout. He put away the heavy artillery, kept his punches short and sweet, and displayed excellent footwork. Chin 5. Jim Jeffries 4. Rocky Marciano 3. Jack Dempsey 2. Max Baer (overrated, but with a defense like that, he kind of had to have had an elite chin) 1. Sonny Liston
