In George Foreman's comeback, did he ever fight a boxer who hit harder than he did?

I agree with most of that! It is well said.
Although you are debating a "Straw Man"-besides that you at first used 10X, mainly I was just saying that nobody can increase ability by more than a small fraction of that amount. The exceedingly rare adrenaline bursts when survival is at stake is an exception.

I think it is not "perhaps: Spinks would have lost at some point against Tyson-he could have had the most confidence ever & given differences in style & absolutte ability at HW, he would be very unlikely to win.

Also even though Tyson hit much harder than Byrd, I was also saying the absolute differences-certainly between HW boxers-is less than you think.
Tyson could not hit literally twice as hard as Byrd. Any more than the tallest person ever is close to twice the height of the average man.
But power & height is an impressive thing, & a relatively small difference in absolute terms makes a big practical difference.

Oh about the karate boards-if people are untrained, they very possibly will break their hand anyway, regardless of confidence or a lack of hesitation.

 

Possibly Briggs and Morrison.

 

Agreed with most of the post except this. Having gotten punched by many different guys in boxing, karate, muy thai, you can indeed have 1 guy who literally hits twice as hard as another even at the same weight class.

Ironically, Chris Byrd himself says this about the difference between the Klitschko brothers and how they compare in their punching power. He said Wladmir hits 3x harder than Vitali.

 

I would say the real trinity of heavyweight punchers would be Shavers, Foreman and Liston.

 

I would say I can't argue with that...though you might try checking out some serious Wilder (again). He really did have a phenomenal shot.

 

And this has exactly what to do with Foreman-Briggs?

 

Just a fond memory of some #classic boxing.

 

Shavers is scarily underrated, in this department. He'd often disguise his power punches, and use them mid-combo.

 

This is an often forgotten ability.

My coach taught me to intentionally wait until the end of a combination to throw with bad intentions to lull the opponent into a false sense of security.

 

Ah, maybe a feather fisted guy compared to a top striker.
Even then it is dubious-if the lighter hitting man really gives it his all.
That is different from not hitting as hard *and* not committing to punches, not setting your feet due to a defensive &/or flurrying/high volume style.

Wlad certainly hits harder than his Brother.
But even *if* Byrd meant it literally....It is just not true.
Vitali was more about volume than raw power, but given his size-& from testimony-he still hit harder than an average HW.

So any measurement scale is a bell curve. And the extremes may be a bit more than additive...So a "10" may actually be a "12"-if you say were measuring absolute force.

But machines can be faulty. Janitor has said that he has seen girls get a highs scores just by slapping at them!
They may measure more speed that force.

If Wlad is a "10" in force produced, Vitali cannot be less than a "7".
That is a big difference, & especially with a prolonged beating a 3 point difference can seem even huger.
But that is in large part because of the exponentially greater damage-& psychological effect-a top hitter can produce.

But Wlad was not really hitting, say, in effect over a "20" in power!
If you *accurately* measured his power it would be significantly harder than his Brother...
But it would not be anything like 3X as hard...But when the blows reach a certain "Tipping Point"...
It may feel like it.

 

Idk, like I said power is tricky because of the state of mind of a boxer, their conditioning, if they are putting everything into a shot, how healthy their hands are, timing, accuracy, etc. There is so much going on. That's why rematches can have such unexpected results. Nobody on planet Earth saw the 4th Pacquiao vs Marquez fight ending in a KO, let alone seeing Marquez the last man standing since Pac was perceived to be the harder hitter and the more durable guy. Adjustments can be made either during a fight or in training camp.

That being said, I still stand by what I said. You can have 2 men of equal weight and height and yet 1 hits far harder than the other. Tillis and Shavers are roughly the same height with similar reach and were close in weight and I don't think for 1 millisecond that Tillis could ever hit even half as hard as Shavers no matter how confident he was even if he put every ounce of strength and weight into his best shot. Some men just hit much harder than others for some reason. I've witnessed this personally and in the gym and in several other fights. Even when trained by the same exact coach.

To use the number scale, a 1-10 rating may be too limiting. But let's say we use it, I don't think there's anything unreasonable about having Vitali a 6 and Wladmir a 10. Maybe 3x harder is a bit of an exaggeration, but if you simply look at the knockouts and the effects their punches have on opponents, with or without Chris Byrd's testimony it's as plain as day Wlad hits anywhere from 1.5-2x harder than his brother. Vitali has dozens of fights where he unloads everything but the kitchen sink at stationary zero head movement men like Briggs, Peter, or Areola yet cannot drop them. In contrast, Wladmir just completely turns guys lights out with basic 1-2's. The two brothers are of a similar height and weight and trained together frequently so it can't be a matter of drastically different size/dimensions or training methods.

 

Really good interview.

 

100℅. I'd say all fighters who fell in love with their power were worse off for it.
The busybody father thing is absolutely true as well.

 

Ruddock is one of the worst offenders. The irony is had he continued to develop the good jab he had and worked on defense to go along with his frightening smash (using at as a supplementary tool rather than his primary approach) he might have won some of the fights he lost.

I think to an extent Tua is guilty of this as well. He looked confused if he couldn't just take a guy out with one big hook and was clueless when it came to cutting off the ring, neglected his right hand, etc.

Whenever I work with guys who have power I drill it into their skulls that they better work on defense and stamina because it might not be able to bail you out.

 

Yeah, I agree on all points. Power is easy to fall in love with it, if you have it. I understand the allure of being able to clock a guy and seeing them fall, time after time.
But someone is eventually going to be able to take that shot, or avoid it altogether.
And then what?

And as fans, I think many rate power too highly. I'm guilty of it sometimes.