Shannon Briggs always comes to mind. Knocked out more than one fighter with the first punch he threw. Accurate, started unbelievably fast, loved to counter punch and did it well. On top of all that, I think he might have the record for first round knockouts, slightly above Dempsey even. Also, Buddy Baer. Even bigger than his brother with comparable power and better boxing fundamentals. Also has a amazing amount of first round stoppages.
At the upper most echelon... Joe Louis, of course. In 72 fights against great, great competiion he only went 429 rounds. Most of that from fights that went the distance very late in his career.
Looking for less mentioned names. Riddick Bowe, whatever his other faults completely smashed more than one decent fighter quicker than anyone else ever had. I can't remember anyone else destroying Bert Cooper in two like he did. Dokes? One Round. Who else blew out Jesse Ferguson in two? We know about Seldon's dive against Tyson, but Bowe legitimately crushed him in two.
Tyson, and Foreman comes to mind too. Joe Louis as well. Tyson could really put the hurt and pressure on early.
bob satterfield. well known but not as famous as those mentioned here. was most dangerous in the first round, less as the fight went on. a classic example is his fight with ezzard charles. had charles on ***** street first round, which ezzard had to rely on instinct to get through it. second round..charles kayoed with one punch. if you want to go obscure...nick wells,the hardest hitting amateur i ever saw, and i saw a lot of them. not always in the best shape. as a pro, i think his short career was all kayoes, either for or against. short southpaw....if he had been able to get into condition i think he would have kayoed his way to the top. :
..............I cannot ****ing believe this thread got to ten posts before someone mentioned Shavers. atsch Christ, you guys.........