Frazier takes some beating because he based an entire career on it, short, long, looping, leaping. Frazier was his left hook. Tua, in the early days, had a numbing left hand, his right hand developed but it was the wrecking ball left that led the way. Shame he got fat and disinterested. Dempsey's was a killer to, usually followed by an elbow of course in those less sanitised years. Tyson, damn. I'm wincing thinking about his fizzing left hand to the body. A cripling blow.
He had a great left hook. It probably wasn't as accomplished as Dempsey/Frazier/Tyson but when he hit people properly with it they genuinely looked like they might have been shot. He's up there with the second clutch. EDIT: Patterson had a great left hook.
There are a lot of heavyweights who had at least as good or a better left hook than Liston AND used it more often than he did. He was throwing them at midddle range, but even here his right hand was more effective than the left, and from outside he wasn't known to throw left hooks at all. Weird choice.
I'm surprised you have a Tua ahead of a Frazier, who had a much more efficient left hook, near as hard and proven against better overall opposition IMO.
Indeed, Liston's was definitely on the very top level. Good to see Patterson get a mention as well. His KO of Johansson in the rematch is a great example of a perfectly excecuted left-hook. :yep
They are different type of hooks. If i had to take one Tua hook on the chin or one Frazier hook, i'd rather take Frazier hook. But Frazier's hook was applied more consistently, more often and combined with more pressure. But if we're talking about the left hook alone, i think Tua's is harder. He knocked John Ruiz out cold for several minutes in 15 seconds including the count. Say about Ruiz what you want, but he's never been stopped before or after this fight, despite facing pretty tough opposition. He flattened Moorer in 30 or so seconds with it, also out cold. It's been a while since i saw the first Rahman fight, but from memory he hurt Rahman with a left hook and Rahman could not recover despite having an entire minute between rounds. Frazier dropped guys with his left hook, but didn't really knock them out. I don't want to take anything away from this great weapon of his, but Ellis made it out of the round, corner stopping it, Quarry was stopped on his feet twice. He did knock Foster out badly though, with one of the most beautiful double left hooks you'll ever see. Interestingly, he landed exactly the same double left hook on Ali in the 2nd or 3rd round. The difference between a heavyweight and a light heavyweight.