I have been watching a lot of Bob Foster recently, and I really do think he was one of the most concussive punchers in history. Personally, he would get my vote over Hearns. But I am sure there are many who would disagree. So, let's discuss gents... Foster or Hearns for single shot power?
Foster wasn't a particularly huge LHW weight wise. He weighed in under the 175 LHW limit his entire career, on and off. Hmm.
I still say Hearns...He carried his power all the way up to lightheavy but Bob didnt so much up to heavy. Tommy destroyed one of the toughest fighters ever, rocked one of the hardest middleweight chins you will see and in general stopped guys that didnt usually get stopped. His destruction of Pipino is still one of the most brutal first title wins I have ever seen. Very close though. Bob was so relaxed in his delivery but so damn destructive, it was kinda scary.
I pick Foster. His KO's of Mike Quarry and Dick Tiger were very dramatic. He was a lethal puncher. So was Hearns. His KO of Duran stands out. Look, it is a good question. They were both tall and lean for their divisions and both punched like mules. I just give Foster the edge.
I think Foster might have had more one punch power than Hearns at their originating weight, but Hearns had better knockouts than Foster did after he moved up- these two guys are very comparable. They were both tall with the long reach and leverage with speed. In Foster's time there was not a cruiserweight division which Foster could have possibly thrived at. Great fight would have been Foster vs. either 1980's Spinks or Qawi. Not sure what the left hook would have done to Qawi but my guess it Foster would have beaten Qawi my stoppage. Spinks is a whole different story. The difference I see with Foster and Hearns is probably that Foster would knock guys out cold with the punch and Hearns usually softened them up with punches before the right hand would land again. Cueves and Duran were not one punch knockouts really. Too bad Foster could not have weighed more with Ali or Frazier. He was too small to fight them.
I'd take Hearns narrowly, these two wouldn't exactly be out of place as the two best P4P hitters ever.
I did not know that. Great information. When they fought at heavyweight Ali outweighed him by 40 pounds. I think Ali even said that if Foster weighed the same as him there would be big trouble, which makes sense if Foster beat him in the amateurs, he knew how it felt to lose to Foster, even though it was amateur and not professional.
Tell me more, i've never heard much on this one. Was it a stoppage? If not how vast was the decision?
For actual power i'd go for Foster,he could render top ranked Light Heavies unconscious,his knockout of Vicente Rondon is scary.
This is very close both guys are two of the hardest hitters p4p but I'll go with Foster the way he ko'd people with his left hook was scary it looked like they were dead.
If this is true....Foster would have been 4 years older than Ali as amateurs, though Ali turned pro a few months earlier than Bob (1960 era).