Boxers who seemingly lost their knockout power

It’s not unusual for a safely-matched or well-matched pro to have a higher KO percentage out of the gate (as in JJ Leija) but see his KO percentage lowered as he steps up in opposition.

In the case of Leija, those 10 knockouts came against guys who were like 48-54-4 combined … helped greatly by the last two, who were 10-1 and 12-3-1 … so eight of them came against opponents with a combined 36-50-3. The last of them was his first scheduled 10-rounder, so from then on he’s facing more main event level opposition and, fairly soon, guys who were top national or world-level guys.

That’s probably the case with most guys who ‘lost their power’ after a fast start — they’re fighting guys who are harder to hit, who are trained and there to win, and who offer their own offense to make the opponent think twice about barreling in with guns a-blazin’.

You also have guys encounter hand problems, which can make them less effective punchers because they don’t want to bust up their own mitts by putting full power into their shots. You have guys who don’t take as many chances because they get hit hard somewhere along the way (see Camacho, Hector) and decide discretion is the better part of valor. In more modern times, you also have better scouting because opponents have fights on video (or film before that) so they pick up on things — Fighter A has a bunch of KOs, but he’s now facing a main event guy with a trainer who looks up Fighter A’s fights and notices that he likes to double-jab before throwing the right, so he trains his guy to look out for it; or Fighter A has trouble landing his right against an opponent who circles away from it; or Fighter A is a big puncher when he’s coming forward but doesn’t get good leverage and doesn’t throw power punches if you back him up. So now his opponents have a better idea of what to expect, whereas there isn’t as much film of him earlier in his career and he’s often fighting guys who are there for a short-notice payday and don’t bother with scouting him.

 

I know most if not all these points (and then some) have been already been prudently covered in the preceding posts.

Just my 2c worth.

A few possible reasons for a decreasing KO % are: -

1) Improved quality of opposition who aren’t as easily hit. Simple but true.

2) Opposition who have more to lose in terms of status/rating than lower tier guys who might say **** it, I ain’t getting paid enough for this nor do I have the future prospects to justify putting myself completely on the line.

Finally, I think there are better chins on average among the upper echelon fighters.

Not always (see defensive masters who by and large avoid getting tagged) but I think a natural selection process applies - many weaker chins being weeded out before hitting the top 10 -
the more solid chins progressing through.

Also, even when some guys carry legit power, there are still some patsies lined up for them
whilst building up their early career KOs -
and in quite a few instances the guys they KO aren’t necessarily so easily KO’d by other fighters - even though they are still easily beaten otherwise.

 

A high KO% often just reflects on a good manager. Hearns could hit at every weight but as you go up you face guys who are used to it and so he has to fight a different way. Eddie Mustafa didn’t lose power going up… Snipes literally ran from him the whole bout, Toney carried his “pop” up, Duran could still hit all the way to 168lbs but for similar reasons as Hearns his results didn’t reflect that.

 

Hearns later on. Some of it had to do with moving up, but he became a boxer, one way or the other.

Sultan Ibragimov because of the hand problems.

 

Ray Robinson couldn’t dent Maxim… not many could, hard stylistically and the fella had a legit chin on him.

 

Canelo and Pacquiao.

 

May Jr. Lost a lot of "pop" in his punches as he went up in weight.
Bad hands probably the main reason, also facing stronger, heavier
opponents, and developing a safety 1st style also contributed
to his lack of punching power at higher weights.

 

Pac
Canelo
Bivol

 

Wonder how many people know that Usyk first 11 matches ended in 10 stoppages.

 

In this case, it's the opponents ability to absorb the punishment,
than Robinson lack of firepower.

 

I’d guess that Ray’s power might’ve degraded markedly during the bout also given that he literally succumbed to heat exhaustion.

Obviously Ray came to outbox, not slug. Had he let it all hang out he just might’ve hurt Maxim that much more but of course that strategy wouldn’t have been the most prudent.

But yeah, Maxim was also extremely durable.

 

Felix Trinidad.

LOL. What a fraud.

 

Oh no, are you the same as the last guy? Wait… @Ney you still with us to bash Trinidad?

 

Louis and Foreman.

At the star of ones career a fighters KO rate plummenting once they reach a higher level is normal. Even from 100 to near 0.