Are these punchers elite heavyweight punchers?

I agree with this. Bowe had power no doubt, but it seems to be a little overrated on here. His combinations were more impressive than his one punch power. His KD of Holyfield in fight 1 was after 11 rounds of landing an incredible amount of punches. Holyfield looked more exhausted than anything. Same thing in fight 3. Holyfield couldn’t even throw a decent punch after dropping Bowe in round 6.

Bowe landed at will against Coetzer but never had him down. The TKO started with a low blow.

I’d probably rate Morrison as a bigger puncher than Bowe.

Having said that I’m still impressed by his KO of Ferguson. He dropped him hard with a left hook in round 1, and it was one of the longest counts I’ve ever seen. The finishing combination in round 2 is something you don’t see from heavyweights these days.

Witherspoon probably had similar power. His KO over Andres Eklund is highlight reel material. I’d guess Lyle are Briggs ranked at the top of this list but it sort of splitting hairs when you have heavyweight power.

 

It depends what you mean by elite puncher.

I don't consider any to be great punchers. To be a great puncher, you need to possess not only elite raw power, but the skill to land your hardest punches on world class opposition, as well having KO'd world class, durable opposition, to prove it.

In terms of raw, concussive, 1-punch power, regardless of skill to land that power and/or record against world level opposition, Briggs is the only fighter on this list I consider to have possessed elite power, though he'd arguably be ranked the lowest on a H2H list.

 

1 Bowe
2 Ike
3 Lyle
4 Povetkin
5 Mercer
6 Briggs

That based on hitting power combined with applicator of power

 

I think for Tim it was more about good technique than full on elite power. He had a good oomph to his punches, but they were maybe 2 or 3 times harder to take due to how crisp he threw and landed em.

 

Doesn't hit harder than Bowe IMO.