Are these punchers elite heavyweight punchers?

I think this is a list of very good punchers, none of whom I would call elite.

To me, Briggs had the heaviest hands of the bunch but wasn’t a crisp enough puncher to be next-level.

 

My own view is that all of them had good power with maybe Mercer's power being a little less than his reputation at his peak. He had a couple of scary KOs when he was fighting for the WBO belt. For example he caught Damiani on the point of his nose which ended the fight. A bit of a fluke. Ofcourse the scary knockout of Morrison which had more to do with Tommy's gas tank than Mercer's power.

Terrible Tim had a helluva right hand. Especially his overhand right. That had real power. I dont know that he had elite two handed power. I could be wrong on that.

Ike had that power but will be a question mark because his career stopped. That is unfortunately the way that goes.

Ron Lyle had the punch certainly but he started late and he did well for starting at the age he did. Lyle just based purely on power would be at the top of this list behind only Riddick Bowe, perhaps a 9 out of 10.

Riddick Bowe imo is the creme of the crop of this list as far as punching power is concerned. Big Daddy had his share of problems but power was never one of them. Look what he did to Bert Cooper compared to Mercer and Holyfield etc. Just being one example.

Shannon Briggs a notch or two below IMO.

1.Bowe
2. Lyle
3. Ike
4. Tim
5. Shannon
6. Mercer

Can't rate Potevkin due to Wlad forcing me to stopping watching heavyweight boxing at that time. Not familiar with him.

 

Holyfield knocked Mercer down, which to me is impressive (I don’t think Mercer could knock down a mirror universe version of himself with an equal chin), but in other fights he landed big shots against lesser chins without toppling them.

 

Interestingly, he seemed to hit harder than ever in 1995/1996.
He was the first one who dropped Mercer and Bowe, he knocked down and stopped Tyson.
All of those knockdowns were realised with one punch, which is extremely impressive.

 

PEDs influence?

 

Bowe, Lyle and Briggs are legendary punchers. Bowe and Lyle are some of the best fighters to be punchers ever and Briggs is one of the best HW punchers ever.

Ray Mercers power is very overrated. In his 10 fights against non WBO HW contenders Mercers got a 0% KO rate like 2 KDs. Sometimes power punchers go 0% in their big fights because they are facing ATGs who are hard to win against at all much less knock out. While Mercers group includes Wlad, Witherspoon and Lennox it also includes Ocasio, Bert Cooper, old Holmes, old Witherspoon and Jesse Ferguson twice.

Witherspoon and Povetkin aren't strictly point fighters but if they were fighting a peer opponent you'd expect that fight to go the distance.

Ibeauchi didn't really fight enough quality opponents for us to know or even get an idea.

Holyfield very clearly had power but against the best HWs it was touch and go. Whether his landmark performances were because of the PEDs or because he was in the zone in 1996/1997 we can just guess. But after the Douglas fight Holy had an 84% KO rate presumably without the PEDs. Whatever assistance from PEDs he had thereafter it would drop 20 points the rest of the way.

 

Bowe at his best had the elite power.

Bowe was the only one who KO'd Holyfield in his 28-year long career with a headshots.

Bowe stopped very durable Bert Cooper early and clearly, right after Cooper went full 12 vs Mercer.

Bowe brutally KO'd very durable Jesse Ferguson cold in 2nd round. Mercer couldn't drop Ferguson in 20 rds.

Bowe vs McCall punching power comparison. Bowe KO'd Lionel Butler in 2, McCall went full 10 rds. Bowe KO'd Ferguson cold in 2, McCall went full 10. Bowe KO'd Seldon in 1, it took McCall 9 rds to stop Seldon.

Bowe had elite power.

 

I'd say Lyle is #1

 

Briggs is a harder puncher than Bowe, but Bowe is a better puncher and more talented fighter.

So for raw power Bowe might be an 8/10, I'd still say hes the best puncher of the bunch and might score quicker stoppages than guys who hit harder.

Sometimes these things can get confused.

 

Bert Cooper was stopped 16 times in his career I'd hardly call him very durable.

Bruce Seldon had a below average chin 7 out of his 8 losses were stoppages.

Jesse Ferguson was a journeyman at that point and was stopped in 1 round by Frank Bruno on the comeback trail less than a year later.

Holyfield had Heptatis B and had no energy after the 3rd round in which he looked like an old man. Outside of the out of the blue knockdown in which Holyfield couldn't capitalise on due to having no energy levels.

 

Cooper had sturdy chin at that time, and most of his stoppage losses were because he quit. Bowe was the one who KO'd him, and early.

You obviously never watched Bruno vs Ferguson. Bruno should have been DQ'd right in the 1st round for blatant fouls - rabbit punches. He basically hurt and dropped Ferguson with numerous shots behind the head. The 1st KD came after Bruno hit Ferguson AT LEAST 8 times behing the head. The corrupt ref didn't do anything. Bruno was a very dirty fighter.

If Ferguson was that easy to KO, who McCall couldn't hurt him once? Why other top HW's couldn't do it? Why Golota and Rahman weren't able to KO 40+ y.o. Ferguson many years later?

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Cooper was stopped 16 times in his career historically he's not a hard man to stop.

Ferguson was past his prime and a journeyman at that point in his career.

Bruno always hit fighters on the back of the head ? He still stopped Ferguson quicker than Bowe.

None of these are good examples of Bowe being an elite puncher ?

You can easily comeback and say why couldn't Bowe stop a past it Tubbs ? Who Tyson stopped in 2, Butler & Ellis stopped in 1 ?

A past it Biggs went 8 rounds with Bowe who Tyson, Damiani, Lewis, Mason, all stopped quicker.

Bowe couldn't get rid of Golota in 2 fights who Lewis/Brewster smashed up in 1 round.

 

Anyone over 200 lbs can hurt you. The best of the list is Ron Lyle.